To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

ALAMANCE COUNTY, N.C. – Alamance County officials say they're trying to get the budget out of the red before the new fiscal year. Leaders say the county is more than $5 million in the hole and they're calling on a few key departments to help.

The Alamance-Burlington school district set aside thousands to give back to the county, but school leaders say the cutbacks from the school system won't mean cutbacks inside the classroom.

"Alamance-Burlington School System is this community, and if we are having some struggles economically at the local level, then we are a part of that as well," said Superintendent Dr. Randy Bridges.

Bridges says the district came up with $400,000 to give to the county. He considers it returning the favor.

"Last year, when school systems were being cut, our commissioners gave us a 2.4 percent increase," said Bridges.

More than $200,000 will come from vacant positions. $50,000 will come from materials and supplies, and another $90,000 will come from money set aside for professional training programs.

"It's kind of what we did with the state cuts," Bridges said. "We just tried to take a little bit from a lot of different places."

It's only half of what the county originally asked for from the district, but county leaders say it's more than enough.

"We are over 60 percent of the budget year, and it was very difficult sometimes to ask for funding to come back especially were monies may have already been spent," Alamance County Manager Craig Honeycutt said.

Honeycutt says the county is $5.9 million over budget and to avoid dipping into the general fund, it's pulling from several internal and external departments.

"We've just noticed some trends that we've seen in our fund balance, and we just want to make sure that those trends don't continue," said Honeycutt.

With Tanger Outlets coming on board in the fall, county leaders are confident the new budget year will be much better than year's past.

"Hopefully this was just a bump in the road and we will be able to move forward from this point," said Honeycutt.