SALISBURY — A budget workaround allowed Salisbury to keep more than $8 million in public safety grant funding that was set to expire this summer.
The Salisbury City Council heard from Finance Director Mark Drye at the June 16 meeting about how city staff planned to save a public safety grant. In September 2024, the city received a $10 million appropriation from the N.C. Office of State Budget and Management for public safety projects.
Early in 2026, the city was alerted that any unused funds from this appropriation would be rescinded as of June 30, which had not been the case when the funds were accepted. While over $1 million of the funding had already been spent, the remaining roughly $8.9 million was committed to long-term capital projects but had not yet been spent.
“Keep in mind that our projects were already pre-approved by the state, so we were a little frustrated because they knew they were multi-year projects. A fire truck alone has a four-year lead time, and we have three of those on order. So, we knew this was not going to be a quick spenddown, so we were frustrated,” Drye said.
The finance staff requested that the funds be spent on salary expenses that had already been spent. The city could appropriate the funding, essentially paying itself back for salary expenses already incurred this year, and then place it in a separate capital project fund that is no longer tied to a state-managed appropriation.
Typically, this type of funding would not be dedicated to compensation pay or any recurring expenses, as it is a one-time pot of money. The funding will only be used to backpay already paid salaries, not for any pay raises or salaries unaccounted for in the current general fund budget.
By February 2026, the city had already spent $302,000 on bulletproof vests and invested roughly $1.7 million in Fire Station 3 from the appropriation.
With the remaining appropriation and accrued interest, the city estimates spending $1.4 million on the Fire Station 2 addition, $1.25 million for the downtown fire loop, almost $5 million on new fire engines, $215,000 for the Continuity of Operations Plan, COOP, development, roughly $980,000 for a new police training facility and approximately $186,000 more on Fire Station 3.
With the creation of a separate fund for this appropriation, the city will be able to use this funding at a reasonable timeline rather than having to spend it too quickly in long-term capital project investments.
“This is creativity and commitment from our finance department,” City Manager Jim Greene said. “When we’ve committed to buy fire trucks and committed to station expansion and other projects, and we find out we only have six months to spend that money, it’s a concern, a big concern. I remember getting with Mark and Wade (Furches) and saying ‘we are not going to lose $10 million,’ and to their credit, they got creative.”
The finance team was alerted recently that the deadline had been extended to June 30, 2027, but decided to continue pursuing this plan. The City Council unanimously approved the fund appropriation.
