Following a fiscal year with improved revenues and a new town manager at the helm, the Town of Chapel Hill may go into the next one without a tax increase or significant cuts.
Town Manager Ted Voorhees unveiled the staff’s proposed budget for 2026-27 to the Chapel Hill Town Council during its Wednesday meeting, sharing details though a recorded video instead of a typical presentation. The requested $169.7 million-budget represents a 3.4% spending increase compared to Fiscal Year 2026, with $100 million of those costs coming from the town’s general fund.
“This recommended budget strengthens our financial foundation, advances community priorities, and ensures Chapel Hill remains resilient, well run and ready for the future,” Voorhees said to end the video. “I believe that it reflects our values and advances our mission of learning, serving, and working together to build a community where everyone thrives.”
The town manager is not recommending a tax increase this year, holding Chapel Hill’s rate at 50 cents per $100 of valuation. He credited this, in part, to sharper increases in property tax values from last year’s revaluation process and a greater amount generated by the town’s sales taxes (5% more than projections) allowing the town to have more financial flexibility. That money was also generated from a tax increase by last year’s town council that passed in a split vote, going 5.8 cents above the revenue-neutral tax rate.
“Fortunately, with no tax increase and a promising revenue picture,” Voorhees said of the upcoming fiscal year, “we’re able to offer a budget that we think meets your needs without having to go through cuts and other scenarios that usually make these processes a little harder to to get through smoothly. I’m blessed by inheriting some good work from the current fiscal year and I look forward to working with you as we go forward.”
The Fiscal Year 2026-27 proposed budget is built around four areas of “strategic investment,” according to Voorhees. Those are: advancing the council’s strategic priorities — like its Complete Communities planning framework, more housing development, environmental sustainability and a fully connected greenway network — competitive compensation for town employees, strengthening core services, and continuing Chapel Hill’s progress toward long-term fiscal sustainability through its five-year budget planning model.
A major part in achieving all of those priorities is retaining town employees, the manager said. The budget proposal includes a 4% market pay increase for current staff, which includes mandatory increases in the state retirement contributions and a 10% increase in medical insurance costs. In addition, the town staff is also suggesting dedicating $544,000 to address inflationary costs across all departments — with Voorhees sharing examples of how things ranging from road salt used to melt icy roads to rental uniform costs for Public Works employees to basketballs for the recreation centers have all seen steep increases in prices since 2022.
Among the spending increases, Voorhees’ recommended budget includes funding to staff three new positions: a fleet technician, a library experiences assistant, and a destination coordinator for the economic development department. It also suggests increasing funding allocations for new vehicles in the town’s fleet, adding six more vehicles to the 17 projected for replacement in the upcoming fiscal year. Those replacements align with the local government’s long-term goal of balancing a backlog of operational needs with broader costs — as does the proposed increases to support for the Chapel Hill Fire Department. Voorhees’ proposal would double the capital project allocations for the next fiscal year to help the fire department replace vehicles and equipment while beginning designs to update Fire Stations 3 and 4.
The town manager’s recommended budget included a 5.7% increase in expenditures for the Chapel Hill Public Library, raising its budget amount to $5.26 million — which may need to be updated. The estimates include more than $651,000 funded by the Orange County government, which it has granted for the last fiscal year and helped fund since 2012. But in County Manager Travis Myren’s budget presented on Tuesday to the Orange County Board of Commissioners, that funding is halved. The budget proposal cites Orange County’s opening of the Drakeford Library Complex in Carrboro as a reason to phase out financial support of the Chapel Hill Public Library, with little to no funding proposed in Fiscal Year 2027-28. The detail sparked a wave of response from library supporters in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, with Council Member Wes McMahon bringing up the topic on Wednesday night to Voorhees. The town manager said his plan is to bring the council members funding options for the Chapel Hill Public Library to its work session next week.
Speaking with 97.9 The Hill on Thursday, Chapel Hill Mayor Jess Anderson said her main priority coming out of Voorhees’ presentation is understanding more deeply how the budget would align with the town council’s strategic planning and financial goals. His tease about using excess fund balance to help earn build “smaller-scale, quick wins” in the town’s eventual greenway network especially stood out.
“One of the exciting things that Ted talked about in the [presentation] video was this idea of moving toward some sort of internal capacity to create greenways,” Anderson said. “I’m looking forward to learning more about what that looks like. That would really be kicking off in next year’s budget, so what are we anticipating and how are we budgeting for more internal capacity for something that’s really expensive when you contract out and there’s not a lot of support at other levels of government at the moment. We’re trying to fill those gaps in smart ways — but what is that actually going to look like?”
With this being the first budget cycle under Voorhees’ leadership in the town, the Chapel Hill Town Council members will be engaging with the staff differently compared to prior budget deliberations. Council Member Amy Ryan referenced this in her comments on Wednesday, saying the council is breaking into smaller groups to ask questions of staff about budget items to help cut down on meeting times. But, she pointed out, those discussions will not be public. Many of the others council members’ comments to the town manager were not about the budget itself, but about the staff’s engagement efforts with community members. Voorhees said his office has an draft engagement plan, which includes sharing the presentation video on social media, and which could be developed further to add specific public information or engagement sessions for residents.
The Chapel Hill Town Council will have a work session on Wednesday, May 13, where it will be discussing the budget items with more depth, and the dedicated public hearing on the budget is set for Wednesday, May 20. The draft Fiscal Year 2026-27 budget, as well as past budgets, can be found on the town’s website.
Featured photo by Brighton McConnell/Chapel Hill Media Group.
Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
No Tax Increases and Increased Spending Featured in Chapel Hill Staff’s Proposed FY27 Budget Chapelboro.com.
Hence then, the article about no tax increases and increased spending featured in chapel hill staff s proposed fy27 budget was published today ( ) and is available on chapelboro ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( No Tax Increases and Increased Spending Featured in Chapel Hill Staff’s Proposed FY27 Budget )
Also on site :