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Huntersville presents balanced $125 million fiscal 2026 budget proposal; no tax rate change
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Summary
Deputy Town Manager Jackie Huffman presented a balanced fiscal 2026 budget proposal totaling about $125 million, with no change to the tax rate and a proposed use of fund balance; the town held a public hearing and heard comments urging elimination of the residential solid waste fee.
Deputy Town Manager Jackie Huffman told the Huntersville Town Board at a May 20 public hearing that "this budget that we propose is in balance." The proposed budget totals about $125 million across funds, with the general fund accounting for roughly $90 million, and would not change the town's tax rate.
Huffman said the proposal includes a roughly $15 million use of fund balance overall and a roughly $13 million use from the general fund balance. She said some fund-balance uses are restricted to particular purposes and that the portion of fund balance available for discretionary use has declined as a percentage of the total despite overall growth in the balance.
The proposed budget includes 14 new full‑time positions, 10 of which Huffman said are public‑safety related with seven in the police department; an overall 6% compensation package combining COLA and merit for full‑time employees; $4.6 million proposed for the park adjacent to Fire Station No. 4; $750,000 for new sidewalks in addition to the town's annual $500,000 sidewalk repair allocation; and $150,000 toward attainable housing efforts. Huffman also noted a small proposed change to electric billing that would increase an average residential bill by about $0.05 per month (roughly $0.60 per year) and a change to the meter‑tampering fee.
Huffman described certain restricted revenue sources and said the town would use emergency‑services funds returned after the municipal fire department merger for fire equipment. She told the board the budget document runs about 215 pages and that staff expects adoption at the next board meeting after considering public comments.
During public comment, 30‑year Huntersville resident Frank Gammon urged the board to eliminate the town's residential solid waste fee. Gammon said the fee currently charged homeowners is $154 and characterized it as an added, regressive charge on homeowners, asking the board to reduce or remove it. "It amounts to a repressive tax on all homeowners in the town regardless of their socioeconomic level," Gammon said.
The public hearing was a listening opportunity; no formal vote to adopt the fiscal 2026 budget was taken at the May 20 meeting. The board will consider final adoption at a later meeting after staff addresses outstanding items and public input.
