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Mebane council reviews FY26 budget snapshot, $37.3M total and $4.5M gap
Summary
Staff presented a FY26 budget snapshot that totals $37.3 million and leaves a $4.5 million funding gap; council reviewed capital projects (playground phase, library roof, a proposed tiller for fire), a proposed developer fee for third-party engineering reviews, and options to use debt to narrow the shortfall.
Mebane staff presented a draft snapshot of the proposed fiscal year 2026 budget to the Mebane City Council that totals $37,300,000 and leaves a projected funding gap of about $4.5 million.
The presentation, which staff emphasized is not the manager’s recommended budget, listed the largest capital-improvement requests under consideration: Kate’s Farm Park Playground Phase 2, a basketball court at the MAC, replacement police vehicles (with a move toward paying cash rather than financing), the Mebane Library roof replacement, municipal building plumbing repairs, a knuckle-boom truck, and a proposed tiller apparatus for the fire department.
“This is not the manager’s recommended budget. It’s just a snapshot of where we are at this particular point in developing our budget,” Staff member said at the session. Staff also noted the draft includes proposed increases such as a 3% cost-of-living adjustment and merit increases and several requested full-time positions (an IT classification, an HR analyst, a planning technician and three firefighters).
Staff detailed the arithmetic behind the gap: projected revenues of $32,800,000 versus proposed expenditures of $37,300,000. The presentation noted that if the council approved roughly $3.1 million in debt to cover selected equipment — specifically the tiller, the knuckle-boom truck and half of the proposed police vehicles — the apparent unassigned fund-balance gap would fall to about $1.4 million, because borrowed proceeds are recorded as financing rather than current revenue.
Staff cautioned that the $1.4 million estimate remains preliminary: insurance-rate changes, pending retirement-rate information and increased merchant processing fees for developer credit-card payments are among items that could raise or lower that estimate before the manager’s recommended budget is released.
On capital timing, staff told the council the tiller truck would not arrive in the next fiscal year but could be ordered now and appear in the following year’s capital plan. Fire leadership explained the operational case for the tiller — consolidating rescue capabilities and extending the life of existing rescue and ladder trucks — and estimated lifecycle savings compared with purchasing two separate apparatus.
The council also heard a recommendation from staff’s engineer to add a special fee to the city’s fee schedule to recover the cost of third-party specialty engineering reviews (structural and geotechnical) from developers on a cost basis. The engineer cited prior third-party invoices (an example of roughly $16,000 for a bridge review) and said passing those costs to developers would protect the city and its infrastructure and clarify long-term maintenance responsibilities.
The council did not take formal votes at the work session. Staff said the presentation and the study items will be refined ahead of the manager’s recommended budget and will be brought forward for formal action at a future council meeting.
