Mebane budget proposal includes tax hike, new fire station, park land purchase

A Mebane homeowner with $100,000 in taxable property value would pay about $20 more a year under the city’s proposed 2-cent property tax increase, and a $250,000 home would see roughly $50 in added annual tax. The draft would push the municipal rate from 37 cents to 39 cents per $100 of valuation as city leaders weigh how much more expensive local government should become while Mebane keeps growing.

City manager Richard J. White, III laid out the preliminary budget at a special work session on April 9, and the numbers show a much larger spending plan ahead. The proposed FY 2026-27 general fund budget totals $46,846,172, up from $37,311,975 in the current year, a jump of about 25.5 percent. White’s presentation says the city would face a $10,305,813 gap without debt or appropriated fund balance, and that the 2-cent tax increase is meant to cover debt tied to the Tiller, a new equipment shed and Fire Station Four.

The biggest single capital item is Fire Station Four, listed at $6 million in the capital budget. The station is planned for West End near the entrance to North Carolina Commerce Park off Trollingwood-Hawfields Road, across from the future Buc-ee’s travel plaza and near interchange work already underway along I-85/40. The Mebane Fire Department, founded in 1922, currently operates out of three stations and covers a 35-square-mile district with a population of nearly 25,000.

The fire plan also carries staffing costs. The budget projects nine new positions for Fire Station Four in FY 2027-28, including three lieutenants, three engineers and three Firefighter II positions, at an estimated cost of $1,004,815. In the current draft, Fire is the city’s largest operating line item at $11,460,478, alongside Public Works at $5,903,755 and Recreation at $3,824,433.

The capital plan also includes a new equipment shed estimated at $1,568,481, along with other police, IT, sanitation, recreation, parks, library and city hall projects. It also sets aside $1.5 million to buy land for a southside park. The council approved that 50-acre parcel on West Ten Road beyond Gravelly Hill Middle School on April 10, after Mayor Ed Hooks cast the tie-breaking vote. Finance director Daphna Schwartz estimated that choosing both park purchases would add about $200,000 a year in interest for 20 years, or $3.6 million total.

The budget now becomes a test of how much growth, staffing and infrastructure Mebane wants taxpayers to absorb as the city prepares for more traffic, more development and another expensive year of government expansion.