Town Council - Regular Meeting

Hello everyone. I'm town manager Jody Miller and I'm excited [music] to share a quick behind-the-scenes look at Garner's annual budget. Our budget team and I wanted to reach out to you to share our community's proposed game plan for fiscal year 2027. It's a plan that helps build and maintain town infrastructure, supports public safety, keeps our parks and recreation amenities beautiful and ready for you to enjoy, and invest in the future we're building together. This year our team has worked hard to balance needs, opportunities, and resources in a way that reflects what matters to you. We've listened, planned carefully, collaborated across departments, and we kept a focus on what matters [music] most in our community. Ultimately, this is your budget. So, let's take a quick look at what we've planned. Hi, I'm budget director Sarah Warren and I'm honored to present this overview of the FY27 budget. The recommended budget for FY27 [music] totals 97.9 million. It includes using one-time fund balance revenues and a 2.5 cent property tax rate increase. For a home valued at 400,000, the proposed [music] tax rate increase would add $100 to the homeowner's tax bill. Property taxes are the town's main source of revenue and provide the fiscal foundation [music] for ensuring the delivery of essential services such as public safety, inspections, solid waste collection, street maintenance, and more. Still, we do not take the proposed [music] tax rate increase lightly and are aware of the impact that property taxes have on our residents. The proposed FY27 [music] tax rate of 54.5 cents includes 45 cents to support the operating budget [music] and 9.5 cents to support the debt service fund, which funds the town's capital projects. This represents a 7.2 [music] million increase from the FY26 amended budget. The recommended budget also proposes fee increases for parks, recreation, and cultural resources, including the implementation of weekday

rentals [music] at the Garner Senior Center and user fees for Ye Organ Park. These fees allow for the town to remain in line with our regional partners [music] and will enable us to maintain the quality of our recreational programming and amenities. The budget includes funding for projects supported through the 2021 bond program, including the completion of Jones Sausage Road improvements, the South Garner [music] Greenway extension, open space at Meadowbrook Park, and downtown infrastructure projects. The fiscal year 27 [music] recommended budget also covers the operating impacts of Ye Organ Park, the town's much-anticipated signature [music] athletics park, which will open this fall. And the opening of a much-awaited splash pad at White Deer Park. In addition to supporting these exciting projects, the budget also continues funding for civic engagement and community support activities, such as the Garner Youth Council and Civic Academy, [music] both launched in this current year, fiscal year 26. The proposed budget also maintains the town's commitment to finding affordable housing solutions and provides ongoing funding for preserving home and support for the creation of the Garner Housing Advisory Committee.

[music] The FY27 recommended budget supports our most important resource, our staff. Garner is recognized as an employer of choice in the region and has gained that reputation through a multifaceted compensation and benefit approach. The FY27 recommended budget includes an update to the town's classification and compensation plan [music]

to ensure Garner remains a competitive employer in the region. Providing high-quality and affordable health insurance for town employees remains a priority, so the recommended budget includes funding to cover a 5.2% increase in the town's health insurance plan. The recommended budget funds several new positions that will strengthen public safety, bolster town infrastructure, enhance fiscal responsibility, and maintain excellent service [music] delivery. These positions include a crime analyst to oversee development of a real-time information crime center in our police department, a position in the fire rescue department to support ongoing data needs that inform operational decision-making, strategic planning, and community risk reduction. A fire inspector [music] to improve fire safety services and ensure compliance with fire codes, a storm water utility supervisor [music] who will help establish and manage a new storm water utility that ensures superior service levels and ongoing maintenance and repair of storm water infrastructure, a grants administrator to help leverage external funding and align partner resources with community priorities, an executive assistant and paralegal to support the town's [music] executive leadership, and two public works positions to continue the support of opening of Yurian Park. That's a quick look at our proposed FY27 operating budget. We encourage you to stay up-to-date on the development of the budget and to offer your input by visiting our budget portal at garnernc.gov/fy27budget. [music] We look forward to working together with you to continue moving Garner forward. We'll see you around town.