Clerk of Court Wayne Dixon swears in Marion Welborn, David Moxley and Kevin Austin at the Dec. 3 Yadkin County Board of Commissioners meeting.

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Lindsay Craven

Staff Writer

The Yadkin County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to accept the NC Parks and Recreation Trust Fund grant for phase one of the 5-D Reservoir Recreation Area at the Dec. 3 meeting. The grant totals up to $500,000 from the state with the county matching with $677,025 for a total project dedication of $1,177,025.

The board voted to maintain Kevin Austin as chairman of the board and elected David Moxley to replace Frank Zachary as vice-chairman. Austin, Moxley and Marion Welborn all sworn in after being re-elected in the general election on Nov. 6.

“I want to thank my fellow board members,” Austin said. “I feel honored to serve on this board. I think this board has done a great job of running the county conservatively. I feel great about the things that we’ve done as a board over the last couple of years and I look forward to what we’ll accomplish in the years to come.”

Other business from the meeting:

-The board recognized Jerry Wishon for 20 years of service to the county in the solid waste department. County Manager Aaron Church, Chairman Austin and Vice-Chairman Moxley presented Wishon with a plaque honoring his service.

-A representative with Martin-Starnes and Associates made a presentation on the county’s fiscal year 2012 financial audit. The audit showed that the county’s available fund balance for 2012 was $14,931,110 as compared to the 2011 fund balance of $14,416,666. The report showed that the top three revenues for the general fund were taxes (57 percent) restricted intergovernmental (19 percent) and sales tax (14 percent). The property tax revenue is down $1,064,585 from 2011 after the commissioners voted to maintain a tax cut in 2012. Sales tax is up $305,087 since 2011. The top three expenditures for 2012 were health and human services (31 percent), public safety (22 percent) and other expenditures (26 percent) which include general government, economic and physical development, cultural and recreational and debt service. Human services, public safety and education expenditures were all done from 2011.

-The board voted unanimously to approve Piedmont Land Conservancy to apply for grant funding for a farmland preservation plan.

-The board voted unanimously to designate Kevin Austin to act as the county’s voting delegate at the 2013 Legislative Goals Conference.

-County Manager Aaron Church informed the board that in order to receive Local Government Commission financing for the proposed agricultural center the property must belong to the county during the term of financing/debt service and the board must meeting with the LGC staff to discuss the details of the building and its functions. Church said that before the meeting the county needed to have a design with better estimated costs for construction, a bid document prepared and issued, conversations and bids to the banks, permits issued for the building and the LGC application for financing completed and submitted for approval prior to awarding any construction contracts.

Reach Lindsay Craven at 679-2341 or at lcraven@heartlandpublications.com.