The Mebane City Council purchased a dentist's office and parking lot for $325,000 in a unanimous vote. The property is located across from the City Hall.
North Carolina requires local governments to keep a minimum reserve — called a fund balance — equal to 8% of their annual general expenses. Although 8% is the legal minimum, according to Mebane city council member Katie Burkholder, the state prefers local governments to be at 20%.
“However, in the eyes of the state of North Carolina, 8% is like the red light is on, they're not happy if we're at 8%, they really want to see us over 20%, the cushion,” Burkholder said.
According to Burkholder, the money for the purchase and other expenses comes from the general fund.
“In beginning of that particular meeting, we were looking at budget items in anticipation of prepping for our 26-27 fiscal budget,” Burkholder said. We're pretty fresh on all of our numbers, which was well timed. In this instance, we are using funds from our unallocated general fund that we have.”
Burkholder said the new purchase was not something that the council was expecting.
“In the short term, we'll use it for parking, long term, we may have some other plans,” Burkholder said. “It kind of was not something we were expecting to have the opportunity to do so. In some ways, it's kind of neat that we're at the beginning of this and being able to think through some things.”
Burkholder said that the general fund balance is how they paid for the property. She also said that she sees this new purchase as growth for the city and the city staff.
“I think it's a step towards acknowledging our growth and making sure that our staff is growing to accommodate the growth we've had in the community,” Burkholder said. “My hope is that, because I love our city staff, I really think that we have some of the best city employees that anyone could have, and so I hope that they also take that as a sign of we're continuing to do what we need to do to support them.”
Council member Sean Ewing said that infrastructure was something that was top of mind when making this decision.
“Something that's really important when buying land for the city is infrastructure,” Ewing said. “What I mean by that is water, sewer and the associated infrastructure. Is it available for the land that we're going to get? Something that we've learned in the past is we can get cheap land, and it can be way out from the city, and even though the land is cheap, the running infrastructure can cost an arm and a leg.”
Ewing said the location, specifically, is something important.
“It's going to be right there by City Hall, so it's going to be very close in regards to the rest of city departments,” Ewing said. “That's a good thing. That's a really, really good thing, because the last thing we want is, if this does offer city services to constituents, for the constituents to go to one side of the town and the other side of the town.”
In a written statement to Elon News Network, Mebane Mayor Ed Hooks said the purchase was introduced to the council, and they considered how beneficial it could be for the staff.
“We were approached by the owner, letting us know they wanted to sell. We had our lawyer look into it and upon his advice on price, we made the deal,” Hooks wrote in the email. “Before the purchase, we discussed the need for additional parking as we grow our employees. It is rare that a piece of real estate comes available. Council supported the purchase and voted 5-0 to move ahead.”