VOLUME 145 ISSUE 35 | WEDNESDAY, MAY 7, 2025 | STANLYNEWSJOURNAL.COM
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Stanly NewS Journal THE STANLY COUNTY EDITION OF NORTH STATE JOURNAL
A celebration de Mayo Above, left to right: Rich Almond, Cambi Rogers, Zac Brafford, Rogers Brafford and Sierra Springer enjoy drinks at El Ranchito restaurant in Albemarle on Saturday for a Cinco de Mayo event. Left: Alexis Almond tries her hand at the mechanical bull.
PHOTOS COURTESY PHOTOGRAPHY BY LOUELLA
WHAT’S HAPPENING Hall named president for League of Municipalities Albemarle Albemarle Mayor Pro Tem Martha Sue Hall is the new president of the North Carolina League of Municipalities, the result of an election last Thursday. She succeeds Durham Mayor Pro Tem Mark-Anthony Middleton, who will stay on as immediate past president. Hall has served for 22 years on the Albemarle City Council and was a Stanly County Commissioner for six years. She previously served on the executive board of the Centralina Regional Council of Government.
Supreme Court allows ban on transgender military members to take effect, for now Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court is allowing President Donald Trump’s administration to enforce a ban on transgender people in the military while legal challenges proceed. The high court acted Tuesday in the dispute over a policy that presumptively disqualifies transgender people from military service. The court’s three liberal justices said they would have kept the policy on hold. Just after beginning his second term in January, Trump moved aggressively to take on identity politics. Among the Republican president’s actions was an executive order that claims the sexual identity of transgender service members “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life” and is harmful to military readiness.
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Albemarle Council hears 2025-26 budget proposal The new budget has no property tax increase
City Manager Todd Clark presented the proposed 2025-26 city budget on Monday night.
By Jesse Deal Stanly News Journal ALBEMARLE — On Mon‑ day night, City Manager Todd Clark presented a budget pro‑ posal for 2025-26 to the Albe‑ marle City Council, the first in a series of steps to final approv‑ al, including a series of budget workshops next week. “I want to say thank you to all of the leadership team, particularly (Finance Direc‑ tor) Jacob Weavil, for help‑ ing me work through this bud‑ get as it’s my first,” Clark said. “A lot of time, effort and energy went into doing this. I do want to recognize the staff for your time and effort ... to present a responsible budget to the City Council.” The proposed budget tallies
COURTESY CITY OF ALBEMARLE
to roughly $94.6 million, up $11.4 million or 13% from last year. It includes spending for city operations from July 2025 to June 2026, as well as capital spending previously outlined in the city’s capital improvement plan, and bumps to employee compensation and benefit plan funding. The general fund would be just under $25 million, up nearly $4 million or some 20%
from the original budget of $21 million. There is no property tax in‑ crease in the proposal. Albemar‑ le’s current rate would remain at 61 cents per $100 of value, gen‑ erating nearly $2.7 million of revenue over the revenue neutral rate of 50 cents per $100. “The general fund is bal‑ anced with a tax levy of 61 cents” plus an appropriation of roughly $500,000 of unre‑
Ford, Huneycutt discuss tariffs, economic issues with Stanly Chamber “I think tariffs will work in the long run. I think we’ve been hoodooed by the rest of the world ... and it’s time to straighten that out.” State Sen. Carl Ford
The pair gave support to trade tariffs and infrastructure funding By Charles Curcio Stanly News Journal ALBEMARLE — Tariffs, state bills and their impact in Stanly County were among the topics discussed by North Carolina Sen. Carl Ford (R‑33) and Rep. Cody Huneycutt (R67) at Friday’s Stanly Cham‑ ber of Commerce Legislative Breakfast. Representatives from local governing bodies, county of‑ ficials and Chamber of Com‑ merce members met to receive
updates on state and nation‑ al legislation from Ford and Huneycutt, hosted at Pfeiffer University’s Center for Health Sciences. Stanly Community College (SCC) President John Enamait acted as moderator. “Anytime I can cut red tape and get government out of the way, I know people and busi‑ nesses will succeed,” said Ford, touting his work on govern‑ ment efficiency. Locally, Huneycutt said he supports House Bill 23, which would give SCC a new offsite culinary program. He also mentioned multiple bills which, he added, would See CHAMBER, page A5
stricted fund balance, Clark added. The fund balance trans‑ fer “is for capital purchases, as well as a small shortfall which the 61 cent property valuation will not cover.” General fund expenditures include employee health insur‑ ance cost increases, 10 new fire‑ fighters funded through a FEMA grant, and three new patrol vehicles for the po‑ lice department. The general fund also in‑ cludes money for additional tax collection fees, IT spending to secure data and operation‑ al compliance, a new fire de‑ partment records system and roof replacement for Station One, an OpenGov permitting software system for planning and development services and street resurfacing projects to‑ taling $1.1 million. “Good job considering what we had to work with,” said Councilmember Benton Dry. “I’m really quite amazed at what we’ve been able to get in here, and thank you for every‑ body’s time and effort putting this together.” The Albemarle City Coun‑ cil is set to meet again May 19 at 6:30 p.m. in the City Hall Council chambers.