Monday’s county council meeting quickly became contentious after the board voted to deny additional funding to the Treasure’s Office. Beaufort County’s Treasurer Maria Walls used her time during the first public comment period to make her case before the board for funds to increase hourly wages that would assist in recruiting and retaining staff members.

During the meeting Councilperson Logan Cunnigham put forward a motion to support Walls’ request by relocating $100,047 from the county’s payroll contingency directly to the Treasurer’s office’s budget.

“She gives us a budget and says what she needs for her needs and it’s our job to either support or not support it based on her findings,” Cunningham told the papers. “I think Maria has done a great job and if she thinks that she needs this to continue that great job, then so be it.”

After the council voted narrowly 6-5 to deny the request, Walls returned to the microphone during the second public comment period and delivered a passionate and stinging response to the board’s action.

“It requires a degree and multiple years of professional experience in fields similar to a bank teller,” she said. “We simply cannot retain or attract qualified team members willing to work for that amount.”

Details of the request

The county’s overall payroll contingency is much larger than $100,047. That amount was requested to be specifically allocated for the Treasurer’s department. At one point in the discussion, there was a mention of allocating a quarter of that total to pay credit card transaction fees.

Currently, the funds reside in the county’s payroll contingency line item. As positions are filled, funds from the contingency line item are applied to pay those salaries. Instead, Cunningham’s proposed motion would remove the funds from the contingency line item and place them in the Treasure’s budget. If the positions aren’t filled, a problem that is created in part but the difficulty to recruit staff at existing wages, the funds then go into a holdover account. According to Walls, the transfer of funds into the holdover account is problematic because it prevents her department from controlling that resource.

Walls is highly respected by council members

Walls’ job performance as Treasurer was not questioned by council members, conversely they heaped praise on both her and her team. But a few of the council members who opposed her request cited a fairness issue if her department received higher wages increases than employees in other county departments.

“Having 13 children, which are the 13 county elected officials,” Councilperson Mark Lawson said. “One is doing much much better and doing a great job compared to everybody else, but you have to treat your children all the same.”

Councilperson York Glover agreed.

“I echo what Mark said about Ms. Walls, she’s done an excellent job there’s no question about that,” he said. “I am with you Ms. Walls, I just don’t know how to get there. I want to get to you, but I also know that there are staff members within the county at this time that we can’t hire because of the low pay and a lot of those are in public works.”

Ultimately Cunningham’s motion failed after a tight 5-6 vote, denying Wall’s request.

Near the end of the meeting Walls returned for the second public comment section and delivered a biting response to the vote.

“I’m not your child,” she said. “I’m a professional in this building and I’m doing a gosh darn good job with a great team of people behind me.”

“What the taxpayers should resent, is that before councilman Cunningham’s motion this evening, your denial was made through silence, in ignorance of what the consequences could be,” Walls added. “For the first time, rather than being equipped to be the best state for the past 12 years, you are forcing the treasurer’s office, should you vote for this exact budget in third reading, to backslide into less than what our taxpayers deserve.”

Under Walls’ the county’s treasurer’s office has received multiple awards like the Thomson Reuters’ Office Holder of the Year in 2019. The award recognizes government departments and officials who achieve excellence in planning, leadership, and service.

The county does provide a yearly 3% increase to its employees but, Walls says it’s just not enough. A 3% increase of a $17.98 wage equates to an increase of about 54 cents per hour.

As an aside to the motion, Cunningham made clear he doesn’t like percentage-based increases for salaries.

“$5,000 is $5,000, $3,000 is $3,000 but 3% on $30,000 is not nearly equivalent to 3% on $100,000,” he said.

Since Cunningham would need to only convinced one more council member to vote he’s confident the council can find a solution and is working on a couple ideas with county staff, he told the papers Tuesday morning.

“And maybe it’s not just the treasurer’s office, maybe it is county wide.”