Roanoke manager unveils $403.7 million FY2026 budget, presents meals-tax increase options to fund capital maintenance

City Manager Miss Turner presented a proposed fiscal year 2026 general fund budget totaling $403,689,000 to the Roanoke City Council on March 20, and outlined options to increase the local meals tax to fund capital maintenance and address a backlog of building and infrastructure replacements.

Turner said the presentation reflected “a very tight budget year” while proposing targeted investments in employee compensation, public safety, infrastructure and a five-year capital improvement plan (CIP). She told the council the budget is balanced and described proposed revenue and expenditure changes that would stabilize city finances and address deferred maintenance.

The proposal would leave real estate and personal property tax rates unchanged and increase the proposed meals tax in one scenario by 1 percentage point (from 5.5% to 6.5%) to create a dedicated capital maintenance fund. Turner also showed an alternate slide that would raise the meals tax by 1.5 points (from 5.5% to 7%). She said the additional 0.5 percentage point shown on that slide would produce roughly $2,020,000 and that one-half of the 1-percent option would add about $1,000,000 in overtime funding and $855,000 for temporary wages to staff seasonal pool and recreation…