Raleigh council unanimously adopts FY26 budget; council declines firefighter separation allowance after survey

The Raleigh City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved the fiscal year 2026 budget, adopting multi‑percent salary increases and a slate of service and capital investments while leaving out a proposed firefighter separation allowance after staff presented survey results showing most survey respondents opposed trading current pay for the benefit.

The budget was moved for approval by Councilor Branch and adopted without recorded opposition, after a work session in which Budget and Management Services Director Sadia Sitar and Human Resources Director Charnell Jones presented follow‑up data requested by council. Assistant City Manager Evan Raleigh and transit and department staff answered questions about service changes and cost drivers.

The separation allowance for uniformed fire personnel was not added to the adopted budget. Human Resources Director Charnell Jones told council that the survey sent to uniformed firefighters produced 509 responses. In that survey 67% of respondents said they were not willing to accept a general wage increase of 2.2% instead of an 11% increase in order to fund a separation allowance; 33% said they would be willing to…