Talkback – June 27, 2021: Cumberland County Budget Process

For our Sunday, June 27 edition of our Talkback Public Affairs show, host Paul Johnson invited Cumberland County Board of Commissioners Chair Charles Evans and Cumberland County Manager Amy Cannon to discuss the building and virtually unanimous approval (Commissioner Michael Boose was absent, and therefore, did not vote) of the FY 2022 Balanced $539 Million Cumberland County Budget ($342 Million General Fund and $197 in Special Funding) on June 6, 2021. They spoke about the challenge of developing and then passing a budget featuring no increase in property taxes that still met the county’s biggest needs (expenditures for employee retention and recruitment competitiveness, funding for schools and post-secondary education, budget for body-cameras for sheriff’s deputies, and funding for new positions and needed replacement vehicles. They also addressed the process of discontinuing some programs the county felt no longer fit objectives as they had in the past (pet licensing fees was one example.) The show also addressed the necessity of those hard-hit economically by the pandemic to get signed up for the City of Fayetteville and Cumberland County’s jointly administered Rental (and Utility) Assistance program. PRESS PLAY BELOW TO LISTEN TO THE EPISODE NOW [audio mp3="https://wkml.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/53/2021/07/Talkback_210627_CannonEvansPJ.mp3"][/audio]