Johnston County Board of Commissioners Adopt FY 24-25 Budget

The Johnston County Board of Commissioners adopted a $376,345,949million budget at yesterday’s regularly scheduled Board meeting. Commissioners approved a reduction to the property tax rate from 69 cents per $100 of property value to 67 cents per $100 of property value. 

“We, as a Board, remain focused on our established priorities and committed to our role as financial stewards of County funds,” said Board Chairman, Butch Lawter. “This budget is the result of extensive planning and in-depth deliberations, anchored by the hard work of Commissioners and County staff. The combination of a healthy fund balance and a robust credit rating puts our County in a strong financial position to accomplish many of our long range goals moving forward.”

Commissioner Lawter also emphasized the importance of highlighting the Board’s established priorities in the budget. “Public safety, education funding, infrastructure, land use, County employee retention and recruitment, and financial stewardship remain a focus of this Board and we believe all of these priorities have been addressed in this budget,” stated the Board Chairman. “We appreciate our continued partnership with Johnston County Public Schools and Johnston Community College and value their input in helping us develop this budget.”

Commissioners appropriated a total of $104,000,000 to Johnston County Public Schools for current expenses, while also approving $3,500,000 million for capital outlay. Johnston Community College will receive $6,912,390 for current expenses and $1.2 million for capital outlay. 

Commissioners also approved a Countywide fire tax rate of 14 cents based on recommendations from the fire service advisory workgroup.

Funds are included in the budget for a County employee pay adjustment in July of 3% with the potential of a performance pay adjustment of 2% in October. 

Funding highlight’s from this year’s budget include:

• Allocation of $275,000 to the JCATS Quick Ride Program
• Harbor, Inc. will receive $325,000 
• The Board appropriated $24,000 to the Smithfield Rescue Mission
• Approval of the Research Training Zone (RTZ) tax rate at eight cents per $100 valuation
• $285,000 workforce development debt payment will be deleted from the general fund
• Allocation of $150,000 to the Clayton Civitan Club for athletic field lighting and repairs
• Appropriation of $173,392 to the North Carolina Forest Service
• Approval of the Moccasin Creek Service District tax rate at three cents per $100 valuation and also allocating $250,000 match for the state grant on the Moccasin Creek project 

To learn more about the Johnston County fiscal year 2024-2025 adopted budget, visit www.johnstonnc.com/budget today.