Gibsonville adopts $19.1 million budget, holds property tax rate steady

Gibsonville’s 5-0 budget vote means a homeowner’s town property-tax bill will not change on the municipal side this year, even as the town adopted a $19.1 million spending plan and ignored this year’s Guilford County-side revaluation. A home assessed at $200,000 would still owe $1,060 a year in Gibsonville property taxes at the unchanged 53-cent rate per $100 of valuation.

The budget takes effect July 1 and follows a public hearing June 1 that drew no speakers. Town officials presented the recommended spending plan May 18 before the board of aldermen, a five-member body elected at large under Gibsonville’s council-manager form of government.

While the tax rate stayed flat, residents will see higher utility bills. Water and sewer rates rose 5 percent across the board to cover a matching increase in Burlington’s charges for purchased water and wastewater treatment. In-town water customers will pay $7.18 per 1,000 gallons, up from $6.84, and in-town sewer customers will pay $15.71, up from $14.96. Customers outside town limits will pay $15.71 for water, up from $14.96, and $31.42 for sewer, up from $29.92. Sanitation fees will remain $24 a month per cart.

Town employees will receive a 2 percent raise, costing an estimated $158,784, and merit raises of up to 3 percent are budgeted at another $141,605. The clearest winners in the new budget are Gibsonville’s workforce and its elected leaders: Mayor Bryant Crisp’s annual stipend will rise from $4,100 to $6,000, Mayor pro tem Mark Shepherd’s from $3,700 to $5,500, and each alderman’s from $3,400 to $5,000.

Ben Baxley, the town manager, said the stipend levels were tied to a 2025 salary study by the N.C. League of Municipalities that compared pay by municipal population. Gibsonville’s population was estimated at 9,876 in July 2025. The budget marks a shift from last year, when aldermen raised the tax rate from 49 cents to 53 cents and paired it with large utility increases, including a 25 percent jump in water rates, a 7 percent sewer increase and a sanitation fee hike from $18 to $24.