I won’t bury the lead here – when I speak with citizens, I tell them the truth: without significant cuts to the services we have today, I don’t see a path to avoid additional property tax increases in our current economic climate. I know voters don’t like to hear it any more than I like to say it, but I do not want to get re-elected by pandering or lying to voters. I have pored over the hundreds of pages in our budget, and I know what our debt service and operating costs are, and to avoid additional increases, we’d have to cut services that people enjoy today or raise taxes. Any conversation about cutting your taxes without a plan for what we won’t provide or do less of in the future is simply pandering at best, lying at worst. And I won’t do either of those things to win.
I have had a lot of conversations about priorities and where potential cuts could or should be. The answers are as unique as the people I have spoken to.
Current Critical Maintenance Budget
Our council – democrats, unaffiliated, and republicans – voted unanimously to pass our last two budgets and the associated tax increases to fund them. I didn’t join council and immediately set to work to increase our tax rate, economic forces have changed signifcantly from the last 15 years. Our current fiscal year budget is a critical maintenance budget; we have chosen to fund existing services at their current levels and put a hold on non-essential capital projects. This is not a long-term, sustainable solution.
I approached our budgeting process for the upcoming fiscal years with the assumption that intergovernmental funding, as well as sales tax revenues, are at risk. This is part of my fairly conservative approach to finances as I spent a lot of years living paycheck to paycheck, so I do not make assumptions that the money will be there when leading indicators, federal policy, and lessening consumer confidence are telling me that those dollars may not be.
How Did We Get to the Current Tax Rate?
The 2024-2025 property tax rate of $0.3245 per $100 of assessed value was the result of a necessary, strategic financial decision approved unanimously by council and designed to protect Cary’s long-term financial stability and its top-tier financial standing (our Triple A credit rating). For 2025-2026, we had to increase it by an additional 1.5 cents to $0.34. Our budget required raising the rate above revenue neutral to generate the revenue necessary to address major costs without gutting our reserves. Many of those costs are due to the same inflation hitting your pocketbooks. That 8-cent adjustment is strictly and transparently allocated: 3 cents went directly to fighting inflation, which had driven up operational costs for personnel and services by over $25 million; 2 cents covered our long-term borrowing costs; 2 cents payed for the ongoing operating expenses of important community assets, and the final 1 cent rebuilt our town’s financial savings to ensure we maintain stability and our excellent credit rating.
This tax adjustment ensures that our core community values—safety, excellence, and sustainability—are fully funded even as we navigate a period of high inflation, slower growth, and flattening in our other primary funding source – sales taxes. Our choice to continue funding services at their current level was paired with aggressive internal cost controls as we shift into a focused “maintenance mode.” We are actively delaying non-essential spending, pausing important projects, and reducing discretionary costs to manage the 11% overall rise in town expenses. Over 60 capital projects were paused or canceled. This balance of near-term strategic, targeted investment and rigorous cost containment allows us to preserve our financial health, continue providing outstanding services, and secure our status as one of the most financially stable communities in the nation for the future.
Short Term Action
Locally: Tax rate smoothing
I support property tax rate smoothing to lessen the burden of sudden shocks to taxpayers, such as the one we experienced when I first joined the council, which required us to replenish our reserve funds. Based on our financial projections for required maintenance funding, especially for our roads and other important capital projects, and the revenue needed to sustain current service levels, I believe we must prioritize future financial stability.
I hope to introduce rate smoothing as a discussion topic at a work session soon after the election. I prefer this approach rather than risking unpredictable, large reactive tax hikes; we should commit to a predictable and stable tax rate for the immediate future. This proactive planning ensures responsible governance and avoids unnecessary surprise burdens on our residents. And smoothing the rate will give us a framework and revenue limits that can guide us in our cost-cutting and allocation efforts and project prioritization.
State: Property tax relief
I am often asked for us to institute tax relief for lower-income homeowners, seniors, and those on a fixed income. We do not have the power to do that at the municipal level. I co-chair the housing workgroup for the NC Multi-Sector Plan for Aging, and one of the recommendations from the plan we are trying to establish is the county and municipal power to give property tax relief for seniors and others on fixed or more modest incomes. We cannot do that locally; it would require a change to state law. I lead this smart, dedicated group that is working on doing just that.
A Savings Example
I want to point out that one critical ongoing savings we have implemented this year is moving our elections to November. I am enormously proud of having led the charge to move our municipal elections away from a standalone October date, where we could not cost-share with other municipalities. Once council members Bansal and Craig joined me in advocating for this money-saving change, we had constructive discussions at the council table and were able to agree unanimously that it was the right choice to save the town hundreds of thousands of dollars every two years.
We also switched to a plurality method to avoid costly and low-turnout runoffs. These election changes will save the town and taxpayers as much as half a million dollars every two years, while also increasing voter engagement. Anything we can do to make voting more accessible is essential to our health as a community, and anything we can do to make our processes more efficient and less expensive is a win.
Maintaining Our AAA Credit Rating
I want to set the record straight on where I stand on our bond rating. The Town of Cary maintains its triple-A bond rating through strong financial management, robust economic metrics, and conservative budgeting practices. The town has held the highest possible rating from all three major rating agencies—Moody’s, S&P, and Fitch—since 2001 for general obligation debt. I won’t support depleting our reserves and losing our bond rating. In the past, the town had the luxury of extra money in reserves to use for initiatives, but those days of surplus are behind us. Our tax increase when I first joined council replenished our reserves, and I stand by that decision.
No Smoke and Mirrors
I will always own the votes I cast and the strategic decisions we make, refusing to engage in pandering when the financial stability of our community is at stake. My promise to you is unwavering: total transparency and a commitment to telling you the unvarnished truth about what is required to keep Cary excellent today and for generations to come. I am ready to have the difficult but necessary conversations with Cary residents about what they do or do not want to fund and what our priorities are for future budgets.
Want more details? Review the 2024-2025 State of Cary to understand the 8 cent increase https://www.carync.gov/mayor-council/town-council/state-of-cary