NEW HANOVER COUNTY — After the passing of the New Hanover County budget brought with it a 70-person cut in the workforce, how the plan will pan out is becoming more clear as the new fiscal year begins.
READ MORE: NHC cuts $36M and 70 people to downsize tax rate, abandons pre-K, food co-op
ALSO: ‘Borderline shady’: Constituents, 2 commissioners ask for reconsideration of budget
According to internal messaging shared with staff and commissioners on June 19, the reduction will consist of retirement incentives and layoffs. Vacant positions — around 30 — also will be frozen and additional employment openings are on hold until otherwise noted.
Port City Daily asked the county how many positions are anticipated to be cut from each department and costs associated with them. A county spokesperson said it could only provide limited information shared by County Manager Chris Coudriet last month.
According to the message, retirement incentives and vacancy freezes affect all departments, excluding the sheriff’s office, Senior Resource Center, veterans and 911 services. The incentives will be offered from the general fund and include two buyout options:
- A $10,000 bonus will be offered to retirees with 30 years of credible service in the retirement system and at least five years working for New Hanover County. These retirees also retain their 30-year retirement health insurance benefit.
- A $5,000 bonus will be offered to those who are at least 60 and have a 30-year retirement health insurance benefit, with 25 years of service.
“The 30-year health insurance benefit is a bump up from customary policy,” Coudriet wrote in his message.
Employees who wish to accept the offers must let the human resources department know by July 21 and no later than Oct. 18.
As for layoffs, the county will “offboard” employees on three dates beginning at the end of summer and ending in fall: Aug. 18, Sept. 15 and Oct. 21. The goal is to give ample time for “potential retirements and vacancies to reduce reductions and minimize overall impact,” according to the county.
The cuts overall amount to $9.86 million in operational spending.
Last month, commissioners approved in a 3-2 vote down party lines, Republicans in favor, to reduce the county’s budget by $36 million from the county manager’s original plan and cull 70 positions. This was to achieve a property tax rate of 30.6 cents per $100 value after months of push-and-pull among commissioners and staff.
Since this year’s revaluation affected countywide properties on average by a 67% increase, it means an escalation in property tax bills. County commissioners sought to cut the current 45 cents as to shoulder some of the financial burden from taxpayers.
The county manager’s first recommended budget came in with a 35-cent rate to allow the same level of services as before. Commissioners Dane Scalise and LeAnn Pierce advocated for a revenue neutral rate, 29.2 cents, but Democratic Commissioner Rob Zapple suggested 33.9 cents.
For a property appraised at $300,000 in 2025, it means the homeowner will pay $918 on New Hanover County’s approved 30.6 cents rate. That same home, appraised at $200,000 in 2021, would have owed $900 in taxes at the former 45 cents rate.
Had the county manager’s 35-cents rate passed, the $300,000 home would have amounted to $1,050 in NHC taxes paid — or $1,017 at Zapple’s suggested 33.9 cents.
A higher tax rate could have amounted to less reductions, as each penny on the rate amounts to around $8 million. But some Republican commissioners argued the cuts were the consequence of “growing government.” However, Democratic commissioners and Coudriet pushed back that the recommended budget was not full of bloat and unnecessary additions, but rather the amount needed to continue operations.
“This does not represent the values of New Hanover County, this is a dismantling of everything we worked hard for,” Zapple said at mid-June’s agenda review meeting, when a vote suddenly was put forth to pass the $445-million budget — though the 30.6-cents rate hadn’t been suggested until the night before.
The cuts not only affected county administration but also led to doing away with New Hanover’s $3 million workforce housing commitment, $975,000 for six pre-K classrooms, $1.6 million in non-county agency funding (picked up by the Endowment), and $875,000 in merit increases for high performing employees. The budget dips into the fund balance for $8.1 million to offset the cuts.
“I think that a lot of folks are saying, ‘I’m cutting at home and you want more of my money so that the government can expand to provide more services to people for services’ that they don’t use,” Vice Chair LeAnn Pierce said at the agenda review meeting before the vote.
New Hanover County Democratic Party Chair Jill Hopman spoke during public comment at the regular commissioners meeting four days later. She accused local GOP party members of putting pressure on commissioners after Republican Chair Bill Rivenbark teetered on supporting further cuts from 33.9 cents suggested at the beginning of June.
Hopman said Rivenbark approached her at the Wilmington Chamber barbecue wanting to “do the right thing with the budget” and worried over the people who could be harmed by further reducing it. Yet, Rivenbark’s vote changed during the final tally, to favor his party. The chair was absent from the June 16 meeting Hopman attended to speak.
“We did not elect MAGA or DOGE extremists,” she said, referring to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, which also cut workforce and funding from the federal government this year; the DOGE website indicates its up to $190 billion in savings. “This is pure partisanship at its absolute worst.”
Zapple touched on the same sentiment in an email last week, in his response to a constituent trying to make sense of the cuts: “They were determined to make a political point by shrinking our local government,” he wrote.
Cuts already had begun being felt Zapple iterated at the June 16 commissioner meeting, noting an email he received from Jeannine Efting. She wrote that her daughter was hired to begin working as a therapist for Winter Park Middle School in July and even took a pay cut to leave a four-year position at a hospital, with the goal to work elsewhere for longer-term stability. Efting said her daughter did due diligence and asked questions about whether the position would be “fluid.”
“She was assured the position had been in place for years and had never been affected by budget cuts or adjustments,” Efting wrote to commissioners, but then was informed Friday after the budget passed that her daughter’s position was, in fact, sheared.
“This speaks directly to the damage that this rushed budget already caused. It lacked consideration from the direct lives it’s affecting,” Zapple told his colleagues on June 16.
Commissioner Dane Scalise also received the email and in his response thanked Efting for reaching out, also acknowledging her frustration. He then explained:
“I first want to note that setting budgets is more difficult than I could have ever imagined prior to finding myself in this role. I don’t say that to complain. After all, I was elected to advocate for and pass budgets as one of five Commissioners in a county of approximately 245k citizens. Nevertheless, it’s challenging to weigh out the many deserving people and causes who ask the county to include their items in each year’s budget. The practical reality is that not everything can (or should) make it across the line. Every commissioner agrees on that basic notion, but of course we each have preferences for how many or how few items make it across the line.”
Scalise added the county’s line item to reduce pre-K funding was the “most challenging” for him to contend with. He explained that expired American Rescue Plan Act funds meant federal dollars no longer supplemented the county money for the schools; however, he added the county gave NHCS $6 million more this year from last.
“I am well aware of what has happened since Covid funding is over,” Efting wrote. “However, the position that my daughter was hired for is not through NHCS. This position is through Health and Human Services … and not created with Covid money. Your explanation doesn’t pertain to her situation and reiterates to me that you don’t fully understand all the impacts of Thursday night’s decision.”
Commissioner Stephanie Walker apologized to Efting in a response email and also issued an apology to staff at the June 16 commissioner meeting. The commissioner said the workforce cut left dozens of county employees “blindsided.”
“These are dedicated public servants who spent their careers supporting their community, and now they’re facing uncertainty about their jobs, their income and how they’ll support their families. They deserved better than a last-minute decision that upended their lives without warning or planning and for that I am truly sorry.”
Other emails, as obtained by PCD, have been sent expressing concerns mounting across varied NHC departments.
Dru Harrison, the Soil and Water Conservation director, noted her department may not be able to hire a conservation specialist this year and potentially could lose funding for its paid intern, considered part-time. There also will be a 75% travel budget reduction and 50% supplies line reduction, she detailed.
“This is the line we use to pay for rain barrels and school gardens,” she wrote in the internal email. “These programs will be significantly impacted.”
Kirsten Kainz wrote to commissioners and the county manager as a guardian ad litem worried over DSS caseworker loads.
“[If] DSS caseworkers were to be reduced,” she indicated, “then we would start to see the signs in our own neighborhoods.”
Health director Jon Campbell informed leadership staff the workforce reduction at Health and Human Services will rely on “how many individuals retire or leave the organization, as these positions will be frozen. … I do not have direct positions or names that will be impacted.”
According to an internal email from Hans Schult, the inspections director, the county will start with management and directors. The county didn’t confirm this, reiterating it could only share certain information at this time.
[Ed. note: The piece was updated after press to add there are 30 vacancies that will be frozen until further notice at the county.]
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