In a public hearing held on Tuesday, the Aberdeen Town Board detailed plans regarding the proposed fiscal year (FY) 2025-2026 budget. The meeting showcased a presentation by Town Manager Paul Sabiston, who broke down the budget for examination.
“Last year, the challenge was predicting and managing inflationary increases across various regular expenses,” explained Sabiston. “Despite the challenges many citizens faced in an economy with varied results across different business sectors, the Town’s revenues for 24/25 remained strong.”
Sabiston also pointed out, “Moore County’s local governments’ sales tax revenues continue to perform well compared to other jurisdictions.”
Breaking Down the Basics
Per Sabiston’s presentation, the “FY 25/26 combined Recommended Budget totals $21,500,188 for all Town operations, capital improvements, and debt service requirements.”
The recommended budget provides a clear and defined spending plan for general funds, enterprise funds, and various capital projects. It maintains a property tax rate of $0.42 per $100 of valuation, which is the same rate as the current fiscal year.
In the proposal, Sabiston wrote, “I believe [the budget] will adequately fund the level of services that our citizens expect while conservatively protecting our revenues, thus ensuring the Town of Aberdeen remains in good financial standing.”
Operational appropriations in the General Fund include allocations for administration, police, fire/rescue, planning, parks and recreation, streets and beautification, sanitation, and debt service.
Town Employees and Staffing
Sabiston noted that the budget sustains employee benefits and provides a 6.0% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) salary increase to keep compensation competitive in a challenging employment market.
“The overall state economy continues to show signs of inflation,” said Sabiston. “Locally, however, Moore County’s economy appears stronger, as the housing market remains robust.”
During the meeting, the Board reviewed employee initiatives including retention bonuses, increased longevity pay, enhanced vacation benefits for new hires, and annual tuition assistance. Some of these have already been implemented.
“The changes are working extremely well,” Sabiston told the Board. “They’re starting to appreciate what they mean and how much better [Aberdeen] is than a lot of other municipalities, so those are good changes.”
Civic Upgrades and Expenditures
General Fund expenditures are estimated to cost $15,542,164.
The board addressed infrastructure investments and providing funding for cybersecurity upgrades, which is an area Sabiston described as increasingly critical given today’s digital landscape.
“These are some big-ticket items that we have been talking about for a while,” noted Sabiston. “You just can’t exist in this world today without taking some of those protective measures. It’s so we’re protecting us, protecting our customers, protecting our residents.”
Law enforcement and public safety received their share of funding, as well. The Aberdeen Police Department is slated to receive additional market pay adjustments and funding for capital upgrades, including a new drone program, firearm replacements, and vehicle leases.
Similarly, the Aberdeen Fire Department will benefit from planned equipment upgrades, potentially including replacing a fire engine.
The monthly residential garbage rates are increasing by $1 to align with a county-wide increase. The new rate will be $20. Commercial garbage rates are increasing by 50 cents.
Parks, recreation, and downtown improvements are also included in the budget. Improvements will extend to street lighting and pedestrian safety initiatives downtown, where targeted revisions to the Unified Development Ordinance are expected to improve usability.
Projects involving water and sewer improvements constitute one of the largest segments of capital spending.
Among the projects is a major SCADA system (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) replacement that will modernize the town’s monitoring and control capabilities for water and sewer systems.
The SCADA upgrade, costing roughly $550,000, is designed to replace aging equipment with new controls supporting “long-term system sustainability.”
However, Sabiston noted that associated costs for line replacements continue to rise due to inflation and materials costs, with figures previously estimated at $670,000 ballooning to nearly $2 million.
To offset the cost of managing and improving the water and sewer system, consumers will likely see a rise in prices.
“The budget includes a recommendation to raise water and sewer usage rates by 3% by volume for all usage, but there will be no increase in the water and sewer base rates,” notes the proposed budget. “All utility rates are determined by the revenue needed to cover operational expenses and some capital expenditures.”
Sabiston suggested that the Town find ways to establish “suitable rates and billing systems that incentivize customers for efficient utility usage.”
The Verdict
Sabiston explained that in preparing the FY 25/26 budget, “Town staff again adhered to the Town Commission’s directive to create a proactive budget that balances existing Town programs and services while developing new initiatives addressing the Town Commission’s six strategic focus areas.”
These six areas are:
1. Create An Engaged Economic Development Program;
2. Maintain County, Regional, and Intergovernmental Cooperation & Participation;
3. Encourage Citizen Communication & Participation in Town Events, Celebrations & Volunteerism;
4. Strengthen Business & Residential Partnerships;
5. Enhance Town Departmental Core Services; and,
6. Maintain Balanced Capital Improvement Plan & Long-Term Planning Documents.
In the proposed plan, Sabiston states the following in his conclusion: “The Town staff has worked diligently during the current fiscal year to control costs and make prudent decisions regarding the expenditure of the Town’s funds. The Town aims to deliver the highest level of services to our residents at an affordable cost.”
The Board determined that the proposed budget aligned with Aberdeen’s needs. The public hearing concluded with a vote on the FY 2025-2026 budget ordinance, receiving unanimous support from board members.
~Written by Sandhills Sentinel Assistant Editor Abegail Murphy. Abegail has been writing for Sandhills Sentinel since 2021.
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Downtown Aberdeen captured by Sandhills Sentinel photographer Cow McFarland.
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