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Winterville holds public hearing on $39.6 million FY 2026-27 budget; no tax rate increase proposed
Summary
Winterville's assistant town manager presented a balanced $39,621,555 FY 2026-27 budget with no proposed tax rate increases and a proposed flat-rate sewer increase to cover debt service; one resident praised the lack of a tax hike and urged caution about growth and infrastructure strain.
Winterville held a public hearing on the town's proposed fiscal year 2026-27 budget, which Assistant Town Manager Mr. Ber described as balanced with a total of $39,621,555 across all funds and no proposed tax-rate increases.
"This budget is balanced and the budget total is $39,621,555 across all funds," Mr. Ber said, and added that the administration proposes a flat-rate increase in the sewer fund to cover debt service for recent sewer pump station projects.
The proposed budget uses a mix of fund balance, retained earnings and some debt proceeds to balance individual funds. Mr. Ber said the General Fund totals $20,452,000, including a $2,350,000 appropriation from fund balance and about $2.4 million in debt. He said the recreation fund totals $1,834,000, including $345,000 in debt proceeds, and the electric fund totals $9,456,896 with $1,351,000 in retained earnings applied and no new electric debt planned. The water fund was presented at $2,336,000, with $515,841 in retained earnings and $92,000 in debt proceeds.
Mr. Ber reported retained-earnings uses and debt proceeds for the sewer and stormwater funds but the spoken totals in the record were unclear: the sewer fund's total was spoken as "4,16,000" in the audio and the stormwater total as "1,78,881." He did report that $257,700 in retained earnings and $222,000 in debt proceeds would be applied to the sewer fund, and that $492,623 in retained earnings would be used for stormwater.
A member of the public, Ross Peterson of Winterville, addressed the council during the hearing and thanked officials for not raising taxes. "First of all, thank you for not raising taxes," Peterson said, and he expressed appreciation that town employees received raises and that healthcare costs are being covered. He urged the council to "be mindful" of growth, saying that rising development can strain utilities and infrastructure even as tax revenue increases.
The public hearing was closed by Mayor Ricky Hines. Mr. Ber told the council the proposed budget will appear on the council's agenda for formal consideration and possible action at the Monday meeting.
On procedural items during the session, the council approved the meeting agenda by voice vote (motion identified in the record as made by Councilman Moy, seconded by Councilwoman Dr. Brandon Herell) and later moved to adjourn; the adjournment motion, moved by Councilwoman Robinson and seconded by Councilwoman Dr. Brandon Herell, carried by voice vote.
Staff recommended that the council consider future rate studies to evaluate utility rates before the next fiscal year, noting that the current plan uses fund balance and retained earnings to balance the budget. The council did not take final budget action at this hearing; the budget is scheduled for council consideration on Monday.
