Wake County presents $1.2 billion requested county capital plan, schedules bond issuances and tax impacts

Wake County staff on April 7 presented a recommended seven-year capital improvement program that requests about $1.2 billion in county capital investments for fiscal years 2026 through 2032 and ties spending to a mix of debt and cash funding.

County budget manager Molly Marcarelli said the county uses a seven-year rolling plan for capital work and links each project to an identified funding source. "Capital projects are those that cost more than a hundred thousand dollars and last more than a year," Marcarelli said. She told commissioners that nearly half of county capital funding in the plan is expected to come from debt.

The plan includes large facility projects the county has discussed in prior years: a planned detention center expansion (total project roughly $146 million), an animal control replacement (about $57 million), a decedent storage and medical examiner facility (about $52 million), a replacement/general services administration (GSA) facility (about…