Will $1 billion in bonds be more than Raleigh taxpayers can bear? Some want more.
Voters in Raleigh could see a trio of bonds totaling more than $1 billion on this fall’s ballot, forcing local leaders to balance how much household budgets can bear.
The Raleigh City Council is weighing whether to ask for $203 million, split between affordable housing and transportation projects.
Neither of those is expected to raise the city’s property tax rate, though members note that other borrowing needs are looming alongside the two bonds that would push Raleigh’s rate higher.
While the $101.5 million housing bond has the council’s tentative go-ahead, members stood cautiously only adding the same-sized transportation bond for several reasons:
- sobering news is expected next week on how much property tax revenue will come in this year;
- work remains unfinished from transportation bonds in 2011 and 2017.
“I’m a little challenged to sort of give a check mark at this moment,” Councilwoman Megan Patton said at a Tuesday work session. “We’re under a lot of pressure from our taxpayers. They’re facing affordability issues at every turn.”
Schools will be costly
Wake County, meanwhile, will likely add hundreds of millions in bonds to the ballot for school construction.
Crowding in along with Raleigh’s potential $203 million, Wake could add $842.7 million for school system and Wake Tech bonds on this year’s ballot. Paying that would raise the property tax rate by a half-cent, or $22.50 more per year on a home assessed at $450,000.
Further complicating Raleigh’s plans, both affordable housing advocates Livable Raleigh and One Wake have asked that the city at least double the amount going for affordable housing, stressing the urgent need.
Along with that, some projects that are proposed for Raleigh’s $101.5 million transportation bond include unfinished street work from bonds voters passed in 2011 and 2017, namely Marsh Creek and Ebenezer Church Roads.
It also, however, includes money for the “Big Jump,” which would add five miles of sidewalk and 50 miles of “bikeways” to Raleigh in five years.
Looming in this discussion is the unfinished Six Forks Road expansion project, which Raleigh canceled due to cost overruns after voters approved money for widening the road in the 2017 bond.
“We all support a transportation bond,” Councilman Mitchell Silver said, adding, “I am still hearing a lot about Six Forks.”
Citing the stress between needs and resources, council members Tuesday opted to ruminate.
This story was originally published March 12, 2026 at 5:30 AM.