BLACK MOUNTAIN – Budget talks continued in Black Mountain April 9 as more department heads presented their proposed budgets to Town Council.
Fire Chief John Coffey said the department’s budget would be down more than $58,000.
“We’ve already hacked away at this budget once,” Coffey said. “Trying to be reasonable with the overall costs for the town, so I am being very mindful of that.”
Coffey said the continuing inflation impacts his budget. Town Manager Josh Harrold said the tariffs put forth by the federal government also impact the town’s budget.
Coffey said he asked for three additional firefighters, one for each shift, last year and he was approved for two. He is asking for that third position again for this budget as well as a position that will serve as a training officer and community outreach coordinator. These two positions along with a cost of living increase for current firefighters amounts to a more than $247,000 increase in salaries.
In the current budget, all town employees are being given a 3% cost of living increase.
Coffey said the department was “so successful” during Tropical Storm Helene because of the amount of training the firefighters put in every day.
“Training is important,” Coffey said. “I can’t stress that enough. The more advanced training we have, the better firefighters you’re going to have, and it also helps our retention because these guys love to train.”
Coffey said the department was “stretched beyond the limits” during Helene and that staffing needs to be addressed. He said he was not asking this year due to the financial strain the storm put on the town, but staffing at the fire department does need to be addressed.
“If it wasn’t for my request for additional staffing from the state, it probably would have been disastrous,” Coffey said. “We would have had many lives lost.”
The fire department is also joining the same mental health services as the Black Mountain Police Department, amounting to a $30,000 increase in contract services.
In a new line item for emergency disaster preparedness, Coffey said he is asking for a $20,000 one-time expense.
“This is to get us up to par on the materials that we need to have a better operating emergency operations center if or when we go through this again,” Coffey said.
Recreation and Parks Director Josh Henderson said the budget for his department would be nearly $24,000 less than the previous fiscal year.
Part of this decrease comes from a $7,200 decrease in programs and event expenses. Henderson said this is due to the Park Rhythms concert series that takes place each summer going from eight shows to four shows this year.
The series will take place at Town Square this year rather than Veterans Park. Henderson said food trucks will not be offered this year, with the idea being to encourage concertgoers to go to downtown restaurants.
The town is also working with White Horse Black Mountain as a possible location in the case of rain.
The Lakeview Center’s budget is down $35,350, largely due to a $28,350 decrease in salaries. A part-time position at the center was eliminated.
“We’re doing the best that we can with what we’ve got,” Henderson said. “I hate that it is where it is, but it’s like everything else. We’re having to adapt.”
The recreation and parks staff are currently working out of the Lakeview Center as the department building was impacted by Helene.
The Black Mountain pool budget is decreasing by more than $13,000, but there is a $15,000 increase in specialty operating supplies to fully fund the swim team.
Henderson said, in the past, the swim team has had to fundraise to be fully operational, something other town-operated athletic programs have not had to do.
“I just don’t feel like it’s fair to ask them to fundraise when we don’t ask the other athletic programs to do that,” Henderson said.
Golf Operations Manager Brent Miller presented the budget for the golf course, which he said is down more than $256,000. Miller said the town-owned golf course is looking to operate nine holes through the end of the fiscal year. The back nine holes are predicted to open in early May.
The golf carts have been paid for, leaving a more than $57,000 decrease in debt principal for the golf course.
Miller said he was proposing creating a driving range on the front nine holes until they can be reopened to increase revenue. He also proposed selling 32 out of the 72 golf carts to increase revenue because not as many carts are needed to operate half of a course.
Assistant Town Manager Jessica Trotman presented the planning budget, which she described as “pretty simple” this year. The biggest increase came in the form of a more than $92,000 bump in salaries. This increase will pay for the new planning director and a part-time building inspector moving to full-time who will also work in code enforcement.
The next Black Mountain budget workshop will be held at 8:30 a.m. April 23.
Karrigan Monk is the Swannanoa Valley communities reporter for Black Mountain News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at kmonk@blackmountainnews.com.