The Moore County Board of Commissioners approved a $235,000 land purchase for a new fire and EMS station on J. Dowdy Road, during its meeting last week.
“This is a project we’ve been working on for a couple of years to increase the EMS coverage by putting a [quick response vehicle] out on J. Dowdy Road and also in partnership with the local fire department to have a fire station out there to help reduce the insurance rating out there,” said Public Safety Director Bryan Phillips.
The board also approved a pair of change orders on the courthouse project, amounting to $235,000 in construction costs that will come out of contingency funding, plus another pair of change orders worth $155,000 on the Moore County Convenience Center in order lower the site by six inches and remove underground water that was discovered.
“It’s going to be a great site,” said commissioner Jim Von Canon on the Convenience Center. “It’s going to help out the Moore County citizens. It’s another indicator of how much it costs to move dirt and excavate and when you run into fresh water that you didn’t anticipate.”
The commissioners also saw the Moore County Schools 2025 Budget.
“On behalf of our board, we want to thank you for your generosity and your funding formula because it’s made it a lot easier for us to do what we need to do,” said Board of Education Chair Robert Levy. “It may not be all the money we want. Clearly there are many, many things we would like to do that, if we had more money, we would do it, but we do recognize that your board has made a deep commitment to public education and our budget does reflect that.”
The operating budget for fiscal 2025 totals $166.6 million with $38.8 million coming from Moore County.
“Being on the budget, I woke up with threes and fives and Excel spreadsheets in my head for a week, but you’re going to get the $38.5 [million] because that’s what we agreed upon and that’s the working budget,” said Vice Chair Kurt Cook. “That’s what it takes for our children to get educated. That’s our future and we have to invest into our future.”
Finally, the commissioners also approved the allocation of $25,000 in opioid settlement funds to Bridge to Recovery for recovery support services.
The Moore County Board of Commissioners will next meet May 21.
