Rowan County manager presents balanced roughly $216 million FY2025-26 budget; tax rate held steady

County Manager presented the recommended fiscal year 2025–26 budget to the Rowan County Board of Commissioners on May 19, proposing a roughly $215.98 million general fund budget while keeping the property tax rate at $0.58 per $100 of assessed value.

The manager said the recommended budget uses about $10,604,361 of fund balance to balance the books while projecting a $21.225 billion tax base and a conservative $40 million in sales-tax revenue for the general fund. A public hearing on the budget was set for June 2 at 3 p.m., with a final vote scheduled for June 16, as required before the July 1 fiscal start.

The budget matters because it combines service priorities, one-time capital requests and recurring personnel costs under a projection the manager described as unusually weak. "This is really bad. This is the absolute worst projection that Rowan County has had in the last 10 years with the exception of COVID," the County Manager said, referring to the sales-tax forecast that helps fund operations.

Key facts and figures

- Recommended general fund: approximately $215.98 million, a decrease from the current year. - Property…