Editor's Note: In a 3-2 vote after publication time, the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners voted Thursday evening to adopt the 30.6-cent budget that cuts 70 employees and 29 vacant positions. Republican commissioners LeAnn Pierce, Bill Rivenbark and Dane Scalise voted in favor of the budget while Democrats Stephanie Walker and Rob Zapple voted against it. Read an updated story here.

New Hanover County government jobs could be on the chopping block.

Presented with a new county budget proposal Thursday afternoon, the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners engaged in a heated, and at times partisan, discussion about a plan that would cut 99 jobs out of next year’s budget, officials said. Twenty-nine of those positions are currently vacant.

The latest budget proposal is based on a property tax rate of 30.6 cents per $100 of tax value, down from the 35 cents the county staff had recommended in May, after two of the three Republican commissioners on the board, Commissioner LeAnn Pierce and Commissioner Dane Scalise, sought a tax rate closer to the revenue-neutral rate of 29.2 cents.

Taking issue with potential job cuts, Commissioner Rob Zapple, a Democrat, said, "Firing as many as ... 68 or 70 employees for doing nothing other than their job as a way to work a political agenda is not the way to do this. ... I am really proud of the work that our county has done and that our county manager has managed over the past 12 years now to kind of raise us up to where we are one of the wealthiest" and most "vital" counties in North Carolina.

Scalise said taxpayers, some of whom will pay higher property taxes no matter what the rate because of the county's recent revaluation, should be the priority.

"It does not start with our employees. It starts with the taxpayers. It starts with the people. I absolutely love our employees. Our employees do a great job. But the fact of the matter is, organizations, on a regular basis, have to evaluate what their revenue is and whether or not their expectations for revenue are being met, as well as the economic pressures that they're under," Scalise said. "And our constituents, our taxpayers, the people we represent should be our primary thought, not employees. Employees are a secondary consideration behind taxpayers."

The 30.6-cent proposal "achieves $36 million in property tax savings vs. recommended budget of 35.0 cents," according to a handout at Thursday's meeting.

In addition to eliminating positions within the government, the budget for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, also slashes workforce housing funds.