Tyrrell County is battling a tough budget and, as sometimes happens, disagreements can evolve into heated arguments and that scenario continued during a budget workshop Wednesday evening, June 18.
In his budget message, manager David Clegg relates, “this year the county will feel tremendous loss from pandemic federal and state funding,” which propped up its budget in recent years.
That loss exacerbates the nominal three-percent, or $307,000, general fund spending increase into a proposed 12-cent, or 13 percent, proposed tax hike.
Commissioner Rob Thompson strenuously argues that Tyrrell County residents simply cannot afford that kind of hike and that commissioners, as government leaders, must find a way to minimize the increase.
“Nobody can afford to pay more,” he said, “we need to do anything we can to save money.”
When we face tough times at my house, we tighten our belts. That’s what we need to do here, Thompson said...
