Brunswick County Commissioners approve $292 million budget, approve new Arrow program to help inmates at detention center

BOLIVIA, NC (WWAY) — Brunswick County Commissioners unanimously approved the county’s budget for fiscal year 2024-2025 Monday evening.

The $292 million budget includes several major capital improvement plans to upgrade the county’s government center complex in the coming years, with the largest portion of the budget going to education, at just under $58 million going to the school district.

The budget does not include any tax rate increases.

Chairman Randy Thompson said it’s great to meet the needs of so many departments without hurting people’s wallets.

“That still provided increases to almost every department in funding,” Thompson said. “In addition to funding increases to our school system, to our community college, to our senior resources, we were able to increase funding to all of those and still without a tax increase this year.”

Along with the budget, county commissioners also approved the Arrow Program to be implemented at the Sheriff’s Office Detention Center.

County Sheriff Brian Chism explained what the program does and how it will help inmates dealing with addiction.

“So this is a program that’s gonna, will have the people that specialize in the mental side of addiction in our detention center, doing evaluations and providing treatment for them in our facility,” Chism said.

County resident Sara Wilson said a family member has dealt with addiction for many years and was helped by the Anchor Initiative.

It’s similar to the Arrow program, but the sheriff’s office only uses the Initiative for people who are not in jail.

Wilson said she has always been in support of the Arrow program.

“And after seeing what goes on in the jails over the years, I believe that help starts in the jail and we need as much help in the jails as we could get so I’m a full supporter.”

Commissioners also approved combining Southport’s water and sewer systems with the county’s systems.