Rocky Mount manager presents $276.7 million proposed FY26 budget; council weighs freezes, fee changes and deferred raises

City Manager Daniels presented the City of Rocky Mount’s proposed fiscal year 2025–26 operating budget of $276,722,140 at a Committee of the Whole work session, calling it a starting point and emphasizing that it is “proposed” and subject to council changes. The proposal includes no property tax increase, a recommendation to freeze 62 vacant positions and a package of operating and capital reductions intended to balance the budget without drawing on fund balance.

The proposed budget covers eight funds, with the general fund presented at roughly $95.4 million. Daniels said the proposal would put $1.5 million back into reserves and that “there is no property tax increase proposed.” He described five focus areas for staff work on the budget: public safety, people, fiscal stewardship, quality of life and infrastructure.

Why it matters: the plan would reshape services, capital projects and personnel decisions citywide while the council decides whether to restore cut items, authorize fee changes or raise revenue. Daniels and budget staff said the document aims to preserve essential services while improving fiscal transparency after recent years’ budget practice changes.

Major figures and proposals

- Total proposed operating budget: $276,722,140 across general, utilities and enterprise funds. - General fund size (proposed): about $95.4 million (reduced roughly $4 million from last year’s adopted general fund figure in the manager’s presentation). - Net proposed reductions across funds: a total reduction of about $7,227,220 compared with the prior baseline presented in the slides. - Frozen vacancies: 62 vacant positions recommended frozen (manager said this equals about a $4.0 million conservative savings estimate); staff clarified that the 62 includes 54 in general funds and 8 in enterprise funds. - No appropriation of fund balance in the proposed budget; managers instead…