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City boosts pay—no tax hike, but fees rise.
Tax hike? Not this time. Raleigh’s newly approved $1.78 billion FY2026 budget delivers big wins for city employees and public services—without raising property taxes.
While Wake County raised property taxes in its $2.1B plan, Raleigh took a different route—investing in the people who power the city without asking homeowners to cough up more, holding the rate steady at 35.5 cents per $100 of value.
But fees? Expect to see a ~$4/month bump in water, stormwater and solid waste bills—which mixed with some classic belt-tightening helped fund a $350M boost over last year’s $1.43B budget.
More than lip service, it’s all part of City Manager Marchell Adams-David’s theme for the year: Our Greatest Asset: Our Workforce. A $35M compensation study rollout will overhaul pay for 450+ job types, boosting salaries for 7,000+ city employees. Firefighters, police and telecommunicators will score double-digit bumps, with across-the-board pay hikes baked in for full- and part-time staff.
Budget Highlight Reel
- Raises, Raises, Raises
- +11% Nonexempt + public safety employees
- +9% Exempt employees
- +5% Part-time staff
- Public Safety’s Payout
- +11% Firefighters starting pay
- +11% Police Officers
- +17% Telecommunicators
- Strategic Spending
- $600K Cybersecurity
- $1.3M Second Fire Academy
- $20.8M Capital upgrades across city departments
- Fee Increases
- +$1.91 Water
- +$0.57 Stormwater
- +$1.85 Solid waste
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