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Alamance County adopts FY26-27 budget, removes proposed 2.25¢ tax increase and shifts capital funds
Summary
The Alamance County Board of Commissioners approved six ordinances adopting the fiscal year 26–27 budget package while removing a proposed 2.25¢ property tax increase; the board offset the revenue change by transferring capital funds and appropriating fund balance, and added targeted funding for EMS and the ACC Public Safety Training Center.
The Alamance County Board of Commissioners voted to adopt a package of six ordinances that together establish the county's fiscal year 26'27 budget and related capital and project ordinances, after removing a manager-recommended 2.25¢ property tax increase.
Rebecca Crawford, who summarized the adjustments for the board, said, “After the revisions that we made last week, the total general fund budget would be $239,415,000,” and that removing the 2.25¢ recommended property tax increase lowered revenues by $6,184,562. The shortfall was offset by trimming $2,000,000 from county capital projects and appropriating $4,184,562 from the county's fund balance, Crawford said.
The revised ordinance package also included a $300,000 addition to fund operating costs at the Alamance Community College Public Safety Training Center and $147,288 added for emergency medical services to support a whole blood program and provide at least five uniforms for each permanent EMS employee. To offset the EMS increase, staff proposed delaying a compensation study for one year and removing $147,288 from the human resources budget related to that study, Crawford said.
Commissioners framed the decision as a difficult set of trade-offs. “Budgets are limited, and we gotta make some hard decisions,” said Commissioner Priola, arguing for balancing service needs with fiscal restraint. Other commissioners emphasized the county's long-term goal of rebuilding its fund balance while trying not to unduly burden residents.
The board approved the six ordinances as a package in a single vote. The ordinances in the packet included the county's FY26-27 annual budget ordinance, county capital project ordinance, ARPA project ordinance, schools capital project ordinance, state capital infrastructure fund project ordinance, and the ACC capital project ordinance.
The package also included routine appointments: the board unanimously approved library committee nominees Carolyn Burns and Stephen Squires and appointed David Woody, Mike Dunning and Elizabeth Reed to the recreation and parks commission.
The board recorded additional debate over requests from four volunteer fire districts for local tax increases; commissioners ultimately moved to decline those increases (see separate actions). The transcript shows some dispute over the recorded voice tally for the fire-district vote; the board proceeded to adopt the ordinance package after resolving motions on the floor.
The meeting ended after commissioners delivered closing remarks. County staff said meeting schedules and additional details are available on the county website.
Ending: The board adopted the six-ordinance budget package after amendments to remove the proposed property tax increase and to reallocate capital and fund-balance resources; staff will implement the changes and publish the adopted ordinances and the final budget documents.
