When the Wadesboro Town Council voted on its budget last week, there were several important items it could not include in its budget.

Two of the biggest items the town could not fund were a police station ($2,204,865) and fire station ($2,079,125).

In December, Town Manager Alex Sewell told The Anson Record that the police department only operates in a space equal to 26 percent of what it needs while the fire department operates in only 38 percent of the space it needs. The current departments also offer little privacy, have parts that are rotted, and allow truck fumes to fill the bay that officers, firefighters and visitors must walk through, among other issues.

The Wadesboro Fire Department also owns the county’s sole ladder truck, which is old and requires frequent repairs. To replace it, the council would need around $700,000.

Other items left unfunded include a pull-down screen and projector for the council room ($2,000), two patrol officer positions ($100,000 reoccurring annually), a 5 percent police officer raise ($68,000 reoccurring annually), nine in-car cameras ($44,955), a new leaf machine ($200,000), a backhoe ($80,000) and many other items.

Chief Thedis Spencer asked the council for the two patrol officer positions. According to the Crime Measurement Index, Wadesboro’s CMI is 73 percent, or 32.2 percent above the national level and 20.8 percent above the state level.

Although he was disappointed, Spencer said he understood the council’s position. “The town council has to make real difficult decisions with the budget and that the town continues to run as necessary, prioritize what’s important at times,” he said. “They have to make difficult decisions, and we will continue to function, serve, protect the public, do the job the best we can to benefit the town and citizens.”

Similarly, Sewell said the town staff will do the best they can to stretch the limited funding the town has and find more options to fill the town’s many needs. “We’ll try to do the best we can with what we’ve got,” he said. “It’s just like eating an elephant: one bite at a time. So, that’s what we’ve got to do.”

The town submitted an application for a grant to help pay for a new ladder truck. If awarded, the town would only be responsible for 10 percent of the total commitment.

If it’s not, Sewell said the town will look for a solution. “That’s an extraordinary cost for the town, but it’s the only ladder truck in Anson County, though, so obviously it’s one of those things we need,” he said. “If we can’t secure a grant, we’ll get creative. That could mean partnerships between various stakeholders and entities within our community, and when I say our community, I mean our county. I’m confident we could work something out if that was the case.”

Part of the reason the council voted earlier this month to switch to automated trash pickup was to try to cut costs. “Going that route, that could actually help with a few services, because if it goes as we planned it to go, you have less manpower that you dedicate to trash pickup,” Sewell said. “And as a result, you have more manpower you can dedicate to other services: streets, limb pickup, etc.”

While many items were left off the list, Sewell said the decisions were not easy. “Any time you’ve got limited resources, which are exceeded by numerous needs, which the town clearly has, there are always going to be difficult decisions,” he said. “Ultimately its the town council’s job to make those difficult decisions, and the town council has done their job by making their decisions.”

In the future, Sewell said he hopes the town will receive more public opinion on the budget. “One thing I’d like to strive to improve is to improve our process, because ultimately in local government, when you involve all our stakeholders, you hear everybody and you get a smorgasbord of opinions,” he said. “And a lot of times, you get to a product that maybe not everybody is excited about, but at the end of the day they feel like they were heard, and it’s a compromise. So I hope to improve our process so as to continue to make it more transparent for our public and our staff. I think we made great strides but I think we can continue to make more.”