Wake County proposes tax hike, $62 million more revenue for budget

A Wake County homeowner with a $300,000 house would pay about $60 more a year under the county’s proposed 2-cent tax increase. A $450,000 home would rise about $90, a $600,000 home about $120, and a $1 million home about $200.

That increase is built into Wake County Manager David Ellis’s FY2027 recommended budget, a roughly $2.28 billion plan that would lift the county tax rate from 51.71 cents to 53.71 cents per $100 of assessed value. Ellis said the higher rate would generate about $62 million in new revenue, while the county also plans to draw $35 million from reserves to help balance the budget. Wake County says $450,000 is its median assessed home value.

Ellis also said the rate would be 19 cents lower if Wake County were not responsible for certain state obligations. The proposed budget runs from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027, and places education and public safety near the center of county spending.

The county’s budget fight is tightly linked to Wake County Public Schools, where flat enrollment has made the numbers harder to balance. On April 7, Superintendent Robert Taylor presented a 2026-27 budget request asking for a $25.3 million increase in local funding. On May 5, the school board voted 7-2 to approve a budget recommendation that includes more than $10 million in cuts and about $5 million in savings while still seeking that county increase.

Those school cuts include fewer assistant principals at large high schools, eliminating vacant central-service positions, ending a tutoring program and delaying a cost-of-living raise to teachers’ extra-duty pay. District officials have said rising operating costs and the loss of federal grant funding that had supported special-education staffing are squeezing the budget, and that flat enrollment matters because state and federal aid are heavily tied to student counts.

Board member Christina Gordon voted against the school budget recommendation and said the district should ask county commissioners for more money. Board member Jennifer Job supported it in part because the county will have to raise property taxes. WRAL reported that the school district’s cuts amount to less than 1% of its more than $2.2 billion operating budget.

Public hearings on the county budget are scheduled for May 11 at the Wake County Commons Building and May 18 at the Wake County Justice Center Board Chamber. Public comments can be submitted online from May 4 through May 20. Last year, commissioners adopted a $2.1 billion budget for FY2026 after months of negotiation. This year’s proposal marks a larger step up in both spending and tax pressure as Wake County weighs growth, flat school enrollment and rising costs.