The Cumberland County Commission met last night. Highlights from the session included the following resolutions and budget amendments (all passed):

ACCEPT THE 2021 VERSION OF THE CUMBERLAND COUNTY ROAD LIST –  The 2021 county road list consists of 1,752 roads that total 1,022.2 miles.  The length of Cold Springs Road was changed to 2.7 miles. There were no roads added or removed from the list, and no road name changes.

APPOINT MEMBERS TO THE ADULT-ORIENTED ESTABLISHMENT BOARD – Sandy Brewer, Kevin Poor, and Wanda Reid were unanimously appointed to four year terms.

APPOINT A MEMBER TO THE ETHICS COMMITTEE – This was filled by Travis Cole, the new Emergency Management Agency Director.

BUDGET AMENDMENT, SOLID WASTE/SANITATION FUND FOR RECYCLING IN THE AMOUNT OF $1,750 – The commission accepted a grant for promoting recycling.

BUDGET AMENDMENT, DRUG CONTROL FUND, SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT, DRUG ENFORCEMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF $58,945 – This resolution approved the recordkeeping for the acceptance of funds from the last gun show auction.

BUDGET AMENDMENT, ARCHIVES FACILITY, GENERAL CAPITAL PROJECTS FUND FOR $1,600,300 – The Cumberland County Archives construction/renovation project has been worked on for a few years by prior and current commissions and has been approved in multiple committee meetings.  Funding for the project comes from fees paid for various clerical transactions that are specifically allocated to the archives facility.

AUTHORIZING ISSUANCE OF INTEREST BEARING GENERAL OBLIGATION CAPITAL OUTLAY NOTES – This authorized the debt note for the archives facility that was approved in the prior resolution. The county is borrowing the money from the county Debt Service Fund Balance instead of from a third party. The fees that were mentioned will be used to pay back the funds used.

AGREEMENT BETWEEN CUMBERLAND COUNTY GOVERNMENT AND UPLAND DESIGN GROUP, INC. – A contract to hiring Upland Design Group to handle the work on the archives facility.

RESOLUTION CONDEMNING THE STORMING OF THE NATION’S CAPITOL SPONSORED BY COMMISSIONERS HOLBROOK, LOWE & HYDER – An amendment of the original resolution was submitted by Commissioner Rebecca Stone.  After discussion, a motion to remove the resolution from the agenda was made by Stone and seconded by Mall. The motion was approved 17-1 with Commissioner Holbrook voting against.

CUMBERLAND COUNTY FINANCIAL REPORT

Cumberland County Finance Director Nathan Brock in his report to the county commission said emergency medical service collections for the month were $363,063 which is $29,730 over the monthly budgeted number of $333,333. Year to date the county is $421,019 ahead of projections.

Sales tax collections for the general purpose school fund came in at $983,974 which is $90,351 above projections. Year to date the county collected $4,850,352 and are $425,385 above budget.

Property tax collections year to date are 54.0% of budget compared to 51.0% at this point last year.

Cumulative hotel/motel taxes are $289,617 which is 43.35% of the budget. The budgeted amount was revised down for this year to $668,166 from $817,283. Last year, with the larger budgeted amount, the county collected $391,209, or 47.9% of budget, at this point.

Cumulative prisoner boarding collections are $132,327, or 21.97%, of the $602,396 annual budget.  Last year the county was at $292,071, 39.3%, of an annual budget of $743,000.