The Spruce Pine Town Council passed the first reading of its 2025-26 budget in a recent meeting. The budget will be read and voted on one more time before becoming official.
The proposed budget includes some changes, including adding a full-time code enforcement officer to the town’s staff and merit raises for employees.
Council member Rocky Buchanan was the sole vote against the budget. There will be a public hearing on the budget on Monday, June 23, at 5:30 p.m. at the Spruce Pine Town Hall before the second reading is voted on. Citizens can go to town hall during business hours to review the budget if they so choose.
Town Manager Daniel Stines said that he is concerned about the town’s ability to retain trained employees. Losing and replacing staff members, he said, is costly in terms of retraining and other institutional adjustment.
“The cost of turnover is generally 160-some percent of the employee’s salary,” Stines said.
Buchanan said that the turnover Spruce Pine has experienced has been mostly limited to administrative staff, but Mayor Phillip Hise said that the police department has also been a factor.
“I think public works has had some turnover,” Stines said. “It kind of ebbs and flows.”
Buchanan also said that he doesn’t believe the town has enough code enforcement needs to hire a full-time officer. Stines said that while code enforcement alone is probably not enough for a full-time employee, if that person is also enforcing zoning there will be plenty of work.
If the second reading of the budget passes, the new code-enforcement officer will be hired with a salary of $71,800. The town has sought a part-time code enforcement officer, but Stines said there simply isn’t enough interest in that position from qualified applicants.
“I don’t think (the position has) had a single application,” he said.
Stines noted that training and credentials for code and zoning are important.
“Zoning is probably one of the most legalistic things that the town (does),” he said. “There’s a lot of things that need to be in place to do that and not get ourselves or the employee in trouble.”
Buchanan said he still disagrees that the town needs a full-time code-enforcement position, and that in his experience merit raises cause employee discontent.
“I have those two issues, the code enforcement officer and merit raises,” he said. “I’ve been through the merit thing — if you get 3 percent and I get 1 percent, it’s going to make me mad. I’ve seen it. I’ve been through it.”
Council member Jackie Rensink said that she is in favor of making code enforcement a full-time position, and that during her education career merit raises had seemed to be an effective motivator.
“I have spent parts of the last two days with Main Street … and this constantly comes up … about our vacant buildings, about our buildings that may have someone in them but are in disrepair, are unsightly,” Rensink said. “We need to step it up.”
Rensink said that Spruce Pine gets compared to Burnsville and Blowing Rock and other small towns in the area as having a less regulated appearance.
“We do not have the same appearance as Blowing Rock,” she said. “We don’t even have the same appearance, in my opinion, as Burnsville. They’ve cleaned it up.”
After extensive discussion, Rensink made a motion to approve the first reading of the budget. Council member Wayne Peight seconded the motion.
The motion passed. Peight, Rensink and council member Beth Holmes voted for the budget, and Buchanan voted against.