A deeply divided board of commissioners voted Tuesday night for a 2½-cent property tax increase, about a 5.33 percent increase – the third consecutive year of property tax increases for Alamance County property owners. The current rate of 46.89 cents per $100 valuation will be increased to 49.39 cents per $100 valuation for the 2025-2026 year.
The vote was 3-2. Commissioner Steve Carter made the motion for the additional 2½ cents, which was seconded by both commissioners Kelly Allen and Pam Thompson. Those three voted in favor of Carter’s motion; chairman John Paisley, Jr. and Ed Priola voted against.
Carter’s original motion was for a 4-cent tax increase, but after calculations from the county’s staff, he reduced the proposed increase to 2½ cents.
Earlier during the meeting, the same lineup of commissioners had voted in the opposite configuration on Priola’s motion for a budget with no tax increase. Paisley seconded and voted with Priola; Carter, Allen, and Thompson voted no.
Quick estimates indicated that the impact on a property owner with a home at the median assessed value (of $265,200) would be about $68.45 with Carter’s 2½-cent tax increase.
Carter’s proposal was patterned on Plan C put together as one of the options by county manager Heidi York.
The school system was the big winner. Carter’s motion moved $10 million from the amount that county manager Heidi York had put in the school system’s capital fund to the school system’s current expense budget instead. Carter added an additional $1.3 million to ABSS current expenses, toward the $5.7 million “expansion budget” that the school system had requested.
All in all, the school system officials will get $11.3 million of the $15.7 million current expense increase that they asked for – or about 72 percent of their operating expense request.
Meanwhile Carter replaced the ABSS capital budget with $8 million from the county’s newly-discovered funds from the fund balance, while diverting another $2 million to the county’s own capital budget, which will allow for purchase of vehicles and a $100,000 repair of the ballfields at Altamahaw-Ossipee.
The plan also restores $275,000 in funding York had eliminated for three nonprofit organizations:
- the Rescue Squad ($125,000);
- Family Abuse Services ($75,000); and
- Crossroads ($75,000).
Another $175,000 would be restored from York’s original budget for:
- the Burlington-Alamance Airport ($125,000); and
- additional general Economic Development incentives ($50,000).
Another component of Carter’s motion was the inclusion of York’s plan to restore frozen positions at 10 months only and positions that had been recommended for elimination (combining for an additional $632,336 added back into the budget).
For his part, Paisley apologized to taxpayers for the decision of his colleagues, terming it a “dramatic mistake.”
The use of $11 million from the fund balance will still leave an amount equal to 20.1 percent of the county’s budget – which is above both the 19.8 percent that it was at the end of June 2024, and just above the commissioners’ self-imposed “target” of 20 percent.
Thompson also emphasized that the county’s percentage of unrestricted fund balance was considerably larger than other nearby counties such as Orange, Randolph, Forsyth, Durham, and Guilford.
Thompson also emphasized a desire to see the teacher supplement increased. Although superintendent Dr. Aaron Fleming said that would be difficult to do without receiving their full funding, Thompson urged him to make it a high priority.
For his part, Priola, who had made the earlier motion for a budget with no property tax increase, said, “I’m going to keep my promise not to raise taxes. I’m going to keep the promise that all five of us have voiced out loud: not to raise taxes.” Priola pointed out that despite any cuts, finding additional money in the fund balance, or any other factors, commissioners consistently vote for tax increases.
Carter repeatedly emphasized that his restoration of funding for ABSS would “avoid the potential liability” for the county if the school system instituted a lawsuit against the commissioners for failing to adequately fund the school system.
Carter also praised the new superintendent, Dr. Aaron Fleming, and his top financial officer, Tony Messer, and chief operating officer, Greg Hook, who, Carter said, were providing better leadership than their predecessors.
“I don’t think anything is here everybody likes. . . There’s not enough to do everything ABSS needs.”
The school system had scheduled a meeting for Tuesday afternoon at 1:00 where they could challenge the county’s allotment to the school system; the school board could still decide to challenge even the higher amount approved by the commissioners with Carter’s additions for ABSS.
After the meeting, school board chairman Sandy Ellington-Graves said that while the amount approved was “not as much as we asked for, it moves the needle in the right direction.”
