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Raleigh passed its budget Monday, which raised the city’s property tax rate despite cutting spending by around 1%.
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The new tax rate of 37.2 cents per $100 of assessed property value will give the owner of a $391,000 home, the median assessed value in Raleigh, a city property tax bill of $1,454.50. That’s a nearly $67 increase.
The fiscal year 2027 budget, which will take effect July 1, totals $1.76 billion, a decrease from this year’s budget of $1.78 billion.
It funds almost two dozen new police officer positions as well as a dozen new firefighter positions. However, it eliminates 45 currently vacant city positions and holds vacant another 26 positions.
The City Council didn’t change anything from the original budget proposed by City Manager Marchell Adams-David.
Combined with an average of almost 5% in increases in fees for solid waste, water and sewer services and stormwater services, a resident could see a total increase of $122 to annual bills just from the city.
Wake County also passed a tax rate increase, meaning Raleigh property owners will have to pay additional costs from both bills.
The combined tax increase for the median homeowner is approximately $144, bringing combined bills up to nearly $3,600.
While the budget total remains the same as the city manager’s proposal, the city moved around some money to help pay for a tree-planting program.
Two years ago, Raleigh set a goal to plant 24,000 trees by the city’s 240th birthday in 2032 as part of an initiative called “Leaf Out.”
But the budget did not originally include funds for the first year of the program, and council members raised concerns about starting it off on the wrong foot.
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On Monday city staff outlined a plan to pay for the first year of the program. Through regular operations like planting trees alongside streets, the city already plants around 3,300 trees annually, according to city parks director Stephen Bentley.
Developers of two-acre or larger areas are required to either conserve part of their property for trees to grow undisturbed or pay a fee. The city is taking $100,000 of money from these fees to help pay for Leaf Out.
“We would also reallocate some funding within our ongoing operating budget for simple things like a phone, a computer, and then access to our motor pool or vehicles that we already have,” Bentley said.
The city’s also moving part-time positions around in the parks department to help manage the program.
All told, those adjustments will allow the city to plant between 500 and 1,000 more trees as part of Leaf out, Bentley said.
The reason the city had to make those cuts is because revenue increases it normally expects from property taxes aren’t materializing next year.
The city relies on property tax revenue to consistently go up, but due to several factors, it’s not expected to this year. The city expects to lose millions from property tax exemptions, for example.
Thousands of property owners have appealed higher assessed home value s that came out in 2024, and in April city officials said many of those cases have yet to be resolved, placing another $125 million of Raleigh’s tax base in limbo.
This story was originally published June 8, 2026 at 6:14 PM.
CORRECTION: This story has been corrected to reflect the city is requiring 10 more years of service from employees to qualify for some retirement benefits
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