Stacy Tolbert

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By Jim Buice

For the Clemmons Courier

After becoming the town planner in Lewisville in 2018, Stacy Tolbert later assumed the duties of interim manager twice in two years before being named the new town manager in May 2024.

After serving in that role for just a little more than a year, Tolbert was rewarded with a new five-year contract with a base annual salary of $139,251 to remain in that position until June 2030 in last Thursday night’s Lewisville Town Council meeting as she presented a budget for fiscal year 2025-26 that also received unanimous approval.

Mike Horn, the longtime mayor, said that “lots of managers over the years have all made their own contributions to make our town a better place to live, but I do want to say that in observation of our current manager there has been a quantum leap in the last year in how the staff works together and our efficiencies and what we’ve been able to accomplish with a lot of projects moving forward at one time.

“And a final point, there will be a number of us, like maybe all of us or six of us, who won’t be sitting here next year as a council. Stacy’s value as a manager has just jumped exponentially because she understands where we are, how we got here and where we want to go next.”

Melissa Hunt, who is mayor pro tem, said that the administrative committee spent two-plus hours looking at her contract and her performance.

“She came to the meeting well-prepared and had her goals laid out in front of her,” Hunt said, “and three of the four this fiscal year she was able to accomplish, and the one she didn’t was out of her control. 

“We’re extremely happy with her performance and bringing staff together, putting policies and procedures in place, and doing some evaluation work that had not necessarily been done in prior years. Giving her a five-year extension regardless of what council sits in the next election, she gives us some stability.”

Tom Lawson, a former mayor and council member who was serving on the planning board as chairman before being selected to fill a vacancy on the council earlier this year, offered a unique perspective of Tolbert.

“What this town is getting with Stacy is phenomenal,” Lawson said. “I served with her when she was the lead planner, and I was on the planning board. A lot of managers can master the technical aspects of running the town, but to me the most difficult aspect is No. 1, working with elected officials, and No. 2, working with the public and being able to do that in a way that doesn’t offend anyone, that has good integration rapport with people, and she’s got that in spades. I think we’re fortunate to have her.”

Ken Sadler, a longtime council member, said that he admired Tolbert’s demeanor and performance, and that looking around at towns across the state for the work that they do, “We feel that the decision that we made about her compensation is appropriate.”

Tolbert, 40, received a bachelor’s degree in 2006 from Appalachian State with a double major in geography and community & regional planning. Her first job was as an environmental planner for Lincoln County, and then she worked as a planner for Rockingham County for 10 years.

After leaving that position, she transitioned to an addressing analyst position with the MapForsyth GIS department for Forsyth County before taking the planner position in Lewisville.

Heading the list for new business items on the agenda was the final approval of the 2025-26 fiscal year budget last Thursday night after it was first introduced in the April council meeting, followed by three budget meetings that month and then the May council meeting.

In that meeting, Tolbert announced that a 2-cent decrease in property tax from 21.7 cents/$100 of valuation to 19.7 cents/$100 of valuation in the April meeting would go down more to an even 18 cents, which would almost close the gap from last year’s 4-cent increase from 17.7 cents to 21.7 cents per $100 of valuation.

It was announced that the balanced budget of $8,056,278 for the General Fund departmental appropriations included $1,668,536 for Solid Waste, $1,063,880 for Community Policing and $1,031,827 for Administration, and revenues available led by Ad Valorem Property Tax of $4,651,751 and Local Sales and Use Tax of $1,291,420.

Tolbert said that Forsyth County released new valuation numbers as part of a four-year cycle with growth and valuation numbers for real property ranging from 20 percent to 300 percent due to an unprecedented increase in the sales prices of homes in the area. She added that the overall increase in real property values in Lewisville was 55 percent.

She also mentioned several projects being in progress, including the roundabout at Lewisville-Vienna Road and Robinhood Road, the start of construction for the Great Wagon Road, and the town being responsible for maintaining 56.7 miles of right-of-way, among other things.

Horn then told the crowd in town hall that the council took a lot of time to flush out some issues that really needed to be addressed going forward.

“The biggest issue we need to be dealing with is funding our reserves again,” he said. “For the last two or three years, we have not funded our reserves. And that’s where we get the money to do sidewalks, to do parks, all kinds of miscellaneous things. Instead of borrowing money, we try to build it up in our capital reserves. So the big increase I think in the budget this year is the contribution to our capital reserves.”

Tolbert agreed, adding, “That and street paving.”

To which Horn replied to the public works director, “Mr. (Jon) Hanna, you have $875,000 worth of money to do a great job on our roads.

In public comments at the end of the meeting, Susan Frye of Will Austin Court in Lewisville made an impassioned plea regarding House Bill 765, which has now morphed into Senate Bill 205.

“Senate Bill 205 started off as a two-page swimming pool regulation and is now 19 pages, most of which is House Bill 765 attached to it,” she said. “This is taking away the authority of all of our towns and governments. I’m begging everyone, not just in Lewisville and Forsyth County, everyone in the state please call and email your representatives. It’s got to stop.”