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Rocky Mount councilors signal support for 4¢ property tax increase to shore up fund balance and cover employee pay
Summary
City staff presented tax-rate scenarios and budget cuts; council members gave informal consensus to pursue a 4¢ increase while prioritizing fund balance replenishment and employee COLA/merit funding. Council directed staff to return with detailed allocations after the year-end audit.
Rocky Mount City Manager Benjie Daniels presented scenarios showing how one penny of the city tax rate would generate about $600,000 and laid out how 1–5¢ increases would translate into household impacts. After extended discussion, a majority of council members gave staff informal direction to proceed with planning for a 4¢ property tax increase, with the understanding that final allocations will await the city’s audit and formal adoption.
Daniels said the city’s current rate is 58¢ and that a 1¢ increase would raise roughly $600,000; the manager also calculated that a 4¢ increase corresponds to roughly a 2.4% revenue increase. “Our recommendations align with the best practices in the industry,” Daniels said during the presentation on potential “real dollar impacts.”
Why it matters: Council members repeatedly cited…
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