Thursday, October 1, 2026
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Cherryville, NC (WNN) - The city of Cherryville held its annual budget meeting alongside its regular April work session on April 28, 2026. The full budget session video will be included at the end of this article with timestamps in each section header to let readers know when each topic starts. There will also be clickable timestamps in the description on our YouTube channel. When the full 2027 Cherryville budget is available, it will be added to this article as well. Check back here to see the full document.
The first item of the day was a public hearing by David Twigg of Burch Environmental to discuss grant opportunities for Cherryville. The grant the city is seeking is the 25 - 26 North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Community Development Block Grant - I, or the CDBGI. The city plans to use this money for two projects related to Cherryville's water and sewer infrastructure. Cherryville is seeking $1.175 million to rehabilitate the water systems and $1.8 million for the sewer system. They will be replacing aged or undersized galvanized lines with around 4000 feet of PVC 6-inch lines in the water portion of the grant. This will include 14 new fire hydrants. The sewer portion will include relining roughly 9500 feet of the sewer and will restore any roads it disturbs to prior conditions.
Brian Sciba, a Gaston County Assistant Manager, led the next portion of the session. The city of Cherryville plans to allow zoning enforcement to be managed by Gaston County. This was due to the announcement of Planning and Zoning Director Richard Elam’s retirement. This won’t mean that Cherryville loses its ability to make decisions about its own ordinances or zoning decisions. It will mean adopting the countywide fee schedule for things like building permits, and those seeking to build here will have to contact the county office. Sciba mentioned that state law currently prevents local governments from downzoning without the property owners' request. This means that they can't make zoning decisions that would cause a property to have less developable area, making development more restrictive. This will also restructure how zoning decisions are made by making the Gaston County Board of Commissioners the final stop for zoning changes. The decisions, however, will still pass through the regular local planning and zoning board, and city council.
The first major change to the budget, as is, is to not to purchase additional flock cameras. This will save $10000. This decision was made in order to save money for the new police department. Hunsucker asked for an additional $1,000 toward uniforms. A larger increase is the request for $ 10,000 more towards vehicle fuel. This year is expected to go over budget, so they plan to prepare for it going forward. They also requested a $1000 increase for department supplies, which range from toiletries to office supplies. City Manager Brian Dalton mentioned that there is a possibility of adding one more vehicle to the department's lease. The trucks currently in use have been well-received and useful, so they may consider adding another. They also discussed that the budget for wages/ salaries would be raised by the required 2% cost of living increase. This department's budget request is for $2.829 million.
The overall budget request for the fire department is about $1.56 million. This is a small increase, and according to Heffner, is due to the added positions at the fire department, which was partially negated by cutting the Assistant Fire Chief position from the staff. Outside of this, the department expects to make all necessary purchases within the normal range of operating expenses. The sticking point here was the overtime line item. In a previous meeting, it was discussed that adding the new positions should eliminate overtime, so Mayor Wade Stroupe was concerned about this line item being raised rather than disappearing entirely.
Bryan Williams was brought forth to speak on the needs of the water treatment plant. This department only requires one major planned purchase this year: the High Service Pump No. 2, which needs a new electrical control box. The department completed several upgrades last year, including installing a new SCADA system.
The Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator raised several issues regarding system maintenance. This includes needed upgrades at the Robert Road and Keystone Plants, oxidation ditch maintenance, and lagoon cleanup. The main discussion is the need for generators to keep the city's sewer infrastructure operational during a power outage. Heedick has been presented with two options: either install standalone generators at the pump stations or purchase a large mobile generator. Mayor Stroupe mentioned that the mobile generator option is a good investment because it can be used by other city entities when the Wastewater division is not in need.
Despite being one of the most visible departments in Cherryville, the Main Street Program didn’t see much change in its budget. One way it changed is due to purchases over the previous years; additional Christmas lights have been removed from the budget. They also discussed the fireworks for the yearly 4th of July celebration. Despite Chief Heffner obtaining his certifications, the city will not be insured to shoot fireworks on its own, leading to the use of a third-party company.
After a short lunch, the meeting resumed with what City Manager Dalton described as the main event. Which is certainly true, as the Public Works department has jurisdiction over many of the city's services. This portion began with a discussion of the Street Department. This has a $265000 budget for paving and, along with Powell Bill funds, will leave Cherryville with a little over half a million to devote to road infrastructure. Dalton mentioned that paving decisions should be made cautiously, as there is no point in repaving a road that will be ripped up again during water and sewer improvements. Public Works Director Chris King mentioned that the spots left by Ripple Fiber during their installation phase are still being patched and that Ripple will continue to do so. The department also plans to purchase a chipper truck and one-man leaf machine to be shared with the electric department.
The Sanitation Department was brought up next, and while the fleet size will not increase, the rates charged by this department are likely to increase. The thing everyone in town will see if they choose to change them is the garbage pickup rates. The plan is to raise it by two dollars for both commercial and residential customers. Several other topics were discussed here, such as the cost to customers of buying a new garbage can and the city losing money on bulk pickup. The rates are fairly low, and customers seem to be taking advantage of this. Solutions included either doubling these rates or passing the final disposal cost on to the customer, leaving the city neutral rather than at a loss.
The next thing discussed was the Electrical Department. This department will see more than half a million dollars less in funding than the previous year. The primary reason for this is last year's need to purchase a backyard machine for the department. The department remains in the lead in the municipality for the lowest electric rates for residential, industrial, and commercial properties.
Up next is the water and sewer department. This department requires a new service truck at $100k, or it can be leased with a no-penalty buyout option. The department plans to leave the rates the same for customers. Drawing back to the city manager's comments on planning paving, the department also continues work on the sewer line on Styers Street, which was one area that could have been cut up after it was freshly paved.
The last item brought up under Public Works is the cemetery. The main concern here was the flagpole, which needs attention; it is currently in a less-than-cared-for state. Another pressing issue here is that the cemetery may need to purchase additional land. However, despite running out of space for more plots, many family members are choosing cremation. This makes the cemetery have more space than it seems, as each family plot is allowed to have two cremations over a casket.
The largest change in recreation was salary and staffing adjustments. It was brought to light that Recreation Director Lance Hudson is near the bottom of the pay range for this position in the area and will likely be given a raise to bring it more in line with other cities. Hudson's concern was the department's need for a new lawn mower. Currently, one of the mowers they have is about 19 years old and simply needs an update, as one of the department's main responsibilities is keeping the grass in public areas, such as fields and parks, well-maintained. The city also took the time to discuss the city pool, which is run by the YMCA. Currently, city employees and YMCA members can use the pool for free, but Mayor Stroupe would like to see a discount offered to Cherryville citizens, as it is a city asset.
Overall, as with the police department, the city staff is to receive a 2% cost-of-living adjustment. This is also in conjunction with rising insurance costs, which, while common across the board, still pose an issue. The city is currently using Blue Cross Blue Shield. A larger topic here was the discussion of how the city is losing revenue from processed credit card transactions. Due to the larger clients costing upwards of $6000 that the city hadn’t planned for, adjustments must be made to cut these losses.
The last item brought up at the budget meeting was the improvements the council would like to see, even though they were not necessarily considered in the budget. Mayor Stroupe began this section with something simple. He has noticed that there is no consensus on purchasing supplies across the different departments. He would like to see more bulk ordering, or otherwise, which option is the cheapest and can be identified and used by all city departments.
The city's retirement policy was also brought up for review. Currently, the city allows some positions to retire at 30 years, and it pays insurance coverage for them for up to 20 years. This is one reason the city’s insurance remains high-cost.
Stroupe then mentioned the “Welcome to Cherryville” signs around town. Some of them have not received proper maintenance and are in poor condition. Others, made and placed over two decades ago, have now been found further inside the municipality, and their placement merits review. Then some town entrances lack them entirely. The proposal here is to check into which signs can be salvaged, as well as the potential costs of moving them to new locations. Council member Gary Freeman noted that if the signs were found to still be usable, he would be happy to touch up the paint at no cost to the city.
The city recycling center was also brought up as an issue. While it is not a true “recycling” center, this does not prevent the city from incurring fees when the wrong items end up in the bins. Currently, the center needs either additional pickups or more containers, as it tends to fill up completely, leaving trash in the open. While one option would be to close it down entirely to prevent these fees, it is believed that this would lead to more roadside trash, increasing the public works department's workload.
Mayor Stroupe would also like to see the council chamber returned to City Hall, with the upcoming renovations from Beam Construction this year. The idea is either to return it upstairs to its original location, since the planned elevator will make the building ADA-compliant, or to put it in the bay currently used by GEMS. If it is put in the bay, the area could be used as a hybrid council chamber and event space. The plan would be to keep the bay doors open during events such as the Cherry Blossom Festival to have an extra space for activities. While Dalton was not fully opposed to this idea, he did offer pushback on starting a new project before the current one is completed.
The last concern brought up by the mayor is that he would like to see the mayor and council receive raises. He noted that during his last tenure as mayor, he received roughly the same rate. The mayor currently receives $ 7,400 per year, and the council receives $ 6,000. He suggested a 20-30% increase as long as it puts them more in line with the surrounding areas. Dalton mentioned that when speaking with other city managers, he confirmed Cherryville is one of the lower-paid areas.
Council Member Freeman then noted that at one point, it was discussed that if a house were sold to Patrick O’Leary, he would, in turn, offer $30,000 to help with the parking situation at Ballard Park. This park is home to the softball and Little League fields in Cherryville, so it tends to run out of parking. Several solutions have been offered to ease this issue, with this being one of them.
To close out the meeting, Freeman brought up one last point. While the city has been working to align its staff salaries with those of other local municipalities, the city manager position is still at the lower end. While no hard number was suggested, the council thought Dalton is deserving of a raise and hopes to reflect his hard work in his pay, and keep him with the city as long as possible.
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