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On Monday night (May 12), the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners received the Manager’s Recommended Budget for the Fiscal Year 2025-2026.

A copy of the Recommended Budget is available for public inspection online at BeaufortCountyNC.Gov, and a physical copy can be viewed at the Beaufort County Administration Building located at 121 W. Third St. in Washington.

 The Board of Commissioners and county staff will participate in budget workshops over the next several weeks. These workshops are open to the public and will be held in the Board of Commissioners Meeting Room at 136 W. Second St. in Washington. These meetings will be livestreamed on the County’s Vimeo channel, and recordings of the meetings will be posted on the County website and YouTube page. Each meeting will begin at 5 p.m. The Budget workshop schedule is as follows:

Thursday, May 15 – General Fund

Tuesday, May 20 – General Fund and Enterprise Funds

Thursday, May 22 – Service Expansions

Tuesday, May 27 – Finalize Budget

 The new fiscal year begins July 1, 2025. 

Before viewing the recommended budget, it is helpful to understand what a revenue neutral tax rate (RNTR) means. The RNTR is the tax rate in a revaluation year that brings in the same amount of revenue as the previous year, adjusted for average tax base growth since the last revaluation. NC General Statute 159-ll(e) defines the RNTR and requires that it be included in the proposed budget submitted to the governing board “for comparison purposes” in reappraisal years. The revenue neutral spreadsheet, provided by the Local Government Commission and used to calculate the rate, is included in the budget document. The “revenue-neutral” aspect of the RNTR refers to the aggregate tax burden for the entire county, not the tax burden for individual taxpayers.

Here’s an overview of the recommended budget:

• Sets the County ad valorem tax rate at 44.5 cents for each $100 of assessed valuation. The revenue neutral tax rate (RNTR) is calculated at 44.51 cents. The tax rate in the prior year, before the property tax revaluation occurred, was 62.5 cents. The tax rate was cut in the FY 21-22 budget by $0.01, and because the RNTR is used in this budget, the rate remains flat for the fifth straight year despite increased inflation pressures. At the assumed collection rate, this will generate approximately $42.25M in property tax revenues.
• Maintains all the county services and programs provided in the prior year. This is done at the RNTR despite the impact of rising inflation costs, increased health insurance rates, increased property insurance rates and increased local government retirement contributions required by the state.
• Includes a 3% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). The south region CPI for the 12-month period as of January was 2.8%. The recommended budget has historically not included a COLA but has instead listed it as a service expansion. The Board has worked hard over the past several years to strengthen the pay and classification plan for the County by conducting market studies, adjusting rates as needed and maintaining those rates against inflation by including COLAs. This has proved to be beneficial in retaining and recruiting qualified staff members. Including a COLA in the recommended budget works to continue these efforts.
• Maintains the K-12 public school system funding level from the prior year at $18.46M. The school system is projecting a $1.76M local fund savings from the closure of SW Snowden school. The recommended budget leaves those local savings with the school system to be used in support of current operations
• Meets Beaufort County Community College’s FY 25-26 funding request, adjusting for a $128,039 one-time funding reduction from last year.
• Adjusts the prior year EMS and fire district tax rates in all districts except Richland Fire and Rescue District. The adjustments for EMS are related to increased operational costs and an effort to reduce the general fund subsidy for EMS. The adjustments for fire are related to increased operational costs and efforts to provide daytime coverage for response.
• Increases the solid waste fee by $5 to offset the costs of increasing solid waste disposal and inflation. This is a 2.7% increase from last year but below the 2.8% CPI increase.
• Increases water rates by 3% due to inflation pressures. Rates are equal across all districts.