Raleigh OKs budget without a tax increase or new benefit for city firefighters
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Raleigh passes $1.8B budget with no property tax hike, despite rising fees.
- City approves pay raises up to 11% for nearly 3,000 hourly and safety workers.
- Firefighter separation benefit excluded; majority favor pay increases instead.
Raleigh leaders passed a $1.8 billion budget Monday that gives city employees significant raises without increasing the property tax rate.
The vote was unanimous, with City Council member Jonathan Melton-Lambert absent from the meeting.
“It’s a budget that’s pretty easy to support, in that there’s no tax increase,” Mayor Janet Cowell said. “And that we are trying to take care of the people that take care of Raleigh.”
The budget holds the property tax rate at 35.5 cents per $100 valuation.
The annual city property tax for a $470,000 home will remain $1,668.50. (The median sales price of a Wake County parcel was $470,000 in April.)
Some monthly fees are going up, including:
- $1.50 increase for solid waste
- $1.91 increase for water and sewer
- 57-cent increase for stormwater
The Wake County Board of Commissioners approved its $2.17 billion budget with a 0.36 cents per $100 valuation property tax rate increase last week.
City pay raises
The city budget doesn’t set aside money for significant new initiatives, something Cowell mentioned Monday.
“The one thing I get a lot is ‘What’s the next big thing?’ And ‘What else is Raleigh doing?’” she said. “This is a budget that’s putting a lot of money into people. We are not starting a lot of new big projects because we already have some big projects. We’ve got Lenovo Center. We have the convention center. We just cut the ribbon on Gipson Play Plaza, which was a big lift for both the city and the philanthropic community.”
Raleigh wants to increase funding for transportation but will need to rely on state and federal money, and the city is contemplating another affordable housing bond to help boost those efforts.
Nearly 3,000 non-exempt employees, usually hourly employees, and public safety employees will receive an 11% pay increase and just over 1,000 exempt employees will receive a 9% increase. The city’s part-time employees will get a 5% increase. Those raises will start in September.
The budget also raises the minimum starting salary for firefighters, police officers and 911 call takers after a study found city workers were underpaid compared to peer cities. It will cost $35 million to implement the full study.
Firefighter benefit debated
Despite advocacy by the Raleigh Professional Fire Fighters Association, the city budget does not include a separation allowance for firefighters.
The allowance would have let firefighters with 30 years of experience retire and receive a portion of their salary until they become eligible for Social Security at 62.
“Many firefighters experience cancer and other health risks in retirement and die early,” according to the association. “Firefighters have an exponentially higher risk of cancer due to the job-related conditions of hazardous smoke and firefighting gear.”
City leaders agreed not to raise the tax rate to pay for the benefit but did debate not providing 11% raises to pay for it. Results of a survey sent to firefighters, revealed on Monday, showed a vast majority preferred the pay increase.
Several council members said this was one of the hardest decisions so far this term.
“In the end I could not find a path forward that I could support,” said member Mitchell Silver. “My vote today is not a no vote for the fire [department] or its personnel. We entered the budget process with a goal not to raise taxes, and this recent survey shad shown at least those that responded would prefer compensation at this time. I would encourage the city manager to continue exploring opportunities to acknowledge the risk associated with firefighting.”
This story was originally published June 9, 2025 at 5:55 PM.
