BRUNSWICK COUNTY — As Brunswick County’s population grows, so do its expenses and spending. With the Fiscal Year 2017-2018 under its belt, Brunswick County will review how it spent its funds last year at its Board of Commissioners regular meeting.
Population and utility capacity
In just four years, the county has welcomed 15,892 new residents, but a majority of the residents Brunswick County has attracted are around retirement age.
Meanwhile, average daily membership in the county’s public schools has remained stagnant, with a slight bump in charter schools, with 430 more students compared to 2014.
The county has added 1,456 new water customers and 1,140 sewer customers since last year but its water and sewer capacity has not changed.
In total, the county is at 50 percent of its water capacity and 56 percent of its sewer capacity.
At the Northeast Wastewater Treatment Plant, a 2016 report found the plant’s capacity was at 76 percent. The plant is set for a $39 million expansion, from processing wastewater at 2.4 million gallons per day (MGD) to 4.9 MGD.
Municipalities in the area will help share the county’s expansion cost, with Leland, Navassa, Northwest and Brunswick Regional Water and Sewer H2GO all set to chip in.
In May, Commissioners approved moving forward with a $99 million water expansion project with a new, reverse osmosis water treatment system. This expansion of the Northwest Treatment Plant will increase the plant’s current water capacity at 24 MGD to 36 MGD.
Finances
Revenues continue to exceed expenditures in Brunswick County. Compared to last year, the county increased this difference in its enterprise operating fund by $3.7 million, coming out on top by $9.7 million this fiscal year.
Of the $191.2 million the county spent this fiscal year, funding its 19 schools took up the highest percentage of funds.
Brunswick County Schools operated on a budget of approximately $50 million, at 26 percent of the county’s total budget. Public safety has operated with 41.3 million, at 22 percent of the total budget.
Debt service takes up 17 percent of the total budget, with $14 million spent this fiscal year.
And how does the county pay for these services?
Over half its revenue — 63 percent — is earned by collecting $124.3 million in property taxes.
Next, the county transfers money to itself from various funds it maintains. About $23.6 million was transferred this year, with $17.2 million coming from its general fund and $3.5 million from its enterprise operating fund.
This fiscal year will end steady for the county, with its general fund balance sitting at 31 percent in consideration of the fund’s total expenditures and transfers.
Brunswick County’s 2018 fiscal year-end report by Johanna Ferebee on Scribd
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