Durham County’s new $1B budget will raise taxes to fund public schools

The Durham County commissioners passed a $1 billion budget Monday night that will raise homeowners’ tax bills to provide more money for schools and other needs.

County Manager Claudia Hager’s spending plan is $71.55 million, or 7.41%, more than the current year’s budget, and includes an effective tax-rate increase of 3.5 cents per $100 of assessed property value.

The budget prioritizes public safety, workforce development and education, with new positions in several county departments.

Employee raises and new positions

All county employees will receive a 3% to 4% pay increase.

There are 44.5 new positions in the budget, partially offset by 24 vacant positions that are being reallocated and nine that were eliminated this year. The new positions include

• 12 to the Office of Emergency Services to support increased call volume
• 5 to the Durham County Sheriff’s Office for more coverage in the Research Triangle Park area
• 5 to Information Services and Technology for operational needs
• 8.5 to the Durham County Youth Home for programs and staff for the new facility on Broad Street

A few departments, like the Sheriff’s Office and the Office of Emergency Services, will be getting new vehicles to replace older ones and for the new positions, Hager said.

Property tax impact

This year, property owners received new tax values as the county completed revaluations. The average homeowner saw a 70% increase since 2019, the county’s biggest increase ever, according to the tax administration department.

The new tax rate is 55.42 cents per $100 in property value.

▪ That’s lower than the current rate of 79.87 cents but above the revenue-neutral rate of 51.92 cents per $100 in property value. Revenue-neutral refers to the rate needed to generate the same amount of property tax revenue with the new, higher tax values that revaluations bring.

▪ The owner of a home valued at $640,000 after the revaluation will see a Durham County property bill of $3,546 based on the new rate.

Homeowners inside Durham also pay a city property tax bill. City Manager Bo Ferguson proposed a rate of 42.71 cents per $100 in property value for fiscal year 2026.

Tax increases are planned for several unincorporated fire districts. Rates will rise 0.74 cents per $100 in the Redwood Fire Tax District, 1.05 cents in the Bahama District, 1.5 cents in the Lebanon District, and 1.5 cents in the New Hope District.

Commissioner Wendy Jacobs said the board recognizes that property tax increases challenge many low and fixed-income residents.

“We made it a priority to not raise taxes further,” she said. “Our single largest budget priority continues to support education.”

DPS funding increases

A month after Hager proposed $285.5 million for Durham Public Schools, the commissioners increased the funding by $15.9 million. Originally, Hager had recommended a $10.4 million increase, short of the school district’s requested $16 million increase.

Several educators attended Monday’s meeting to request additional funding for DPS, including for exceptional children’s services positions.

“It is critical that we fund this, because our most vulnerable population, which are our students, are at risk,” said Christy Patterson, a special programs teacher at Carrington Middle School. “And on top of that, our students with disabilities are more vulnerable than our neurotypical children.”

With the county funding increase, DPS will be receiving $300.5 million from the county to fund improvements to aging buildings, build the new Durham School of the Arts, and pay teachers, staff and bus drivers, and fund the master’s pay supplement.

Commissioner Stephen Valentine, a newly elected commissioner, said while he saw his valuation “go sky high,” he has always advocated for schools.

“I feel very happy about where we landed, with the ability of not raising taxes more than the 3.5 [cent] recommended rate,” he said. “It was a little iffy here and there, but I think we did as good as we could with what we’re being dealt with, of financial headwinds and the economic headwinds that are heading our way.”

The new budget for fiscal year 2026 goes into effect on July 1.

Kristen Johnson

The News & Observer

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Kristen Johnson is a local government reporter covering Durham for The News & Observer. She previously covered Cary and western Wake County. Prior to coming home to the Triangle, she reported for The Fayetteville Observer and spent time covering politics and culture in Washington, D.C. She is an alumna of UNC at Charlotte and American University.