Highlights
- Based on the discussion, especially the desire to avoid a tax increase and to fund raises to be consistent with market rates, it seems unlikely that a separation allowance for RFD will be funded.
- Firefighters will be polled on their preference for a significant raise and no separation allowance or a much smaller raise with a separation allowance.
- Councilors decided to drop budget note #1 and not hire a City Historian.
June 2 Budget Work Session
A. MEETING CALLED TO ORDER BY THE MAYOR
B. AGENDA
1. FY26 Proposed Budget Documents
- The proposed operating and capital budget documents are available online from the Budget and Management Services department webpages on the City website.
2. FY26 Budget Notes and Follow Up
- Budget Notes requested by City Council are listed below:
- Budget Note 1 – Creation of a City Historian; requested by Council Member Patton, Lambert-Melton, and Branch
- Budget Note 2 – Funding Opportunities for intersections with safety concerns; requested by Council Member Lambert-Melton and Harrison
- Budget Note 3 – Separation Allowance; requested by Council Member Forte and Patton
- Follow-ups to Council questions after the FY2025-26 proposed budget presentation are listed below:
- Property Tax rate for median Raleigh home is $.3550, but that does not include likely tax increase from Wake County
- Information on demand for renovation projects funded with the Housing Bond program vs the number of renovation projects we are able to fund: 670 projects were funded; 1335 projects were not funded
- After robust discussion, Council agreed to drop Budget note #1 to create a City Historian.
- Councilor Jones started out suggesting a property tax increase to fund a separation allowance for firefighters, but others did not favor a tax increase because of promises made to Raleigh residents, especially after last year’s increases and recent revaluations, and also the fact that fees for water, etc. are increasing. And it was also noted that Wake County will likely increase property taxes this year.
- Councilor Branch suggested the only options to fund the separation allowance are a property tax increase or a bond, neither of which he would favor, but he did not suggest looking at other budget line items. And he pointed out the need for more affordable housing.
- Mayor Cowell said the consultant report did not show a statistically significant difference in mortality rates between firefighters and other personnel, so she was inclined not to support funding a separation allowance. She also pointed out that funding the separation allowance would be a liability in perpetuity, which several agreed was concerning giving current economic uncertainties.
- One possibility would be to take the $6M that has been allocated in the budget for RFD raises, which would result in raises of about 11% and instead spend $4.6M on the separation allowance, resulting in much lower salary increases with the remaining $1.4M. It was pointed out that younger firefighters seemed to favor immediate salary increases while veteran firefighters were more interested in the separation allowance. The City Manager also pointed out that reducing salary increases this year would put the firefighters behind market rates and that would continue to be an issue going forward.
- Other departments were waiting to see how RFD fared before asking for separation allowances, but the consensus seemed to be that RFD jobs are much more dangerous than in other departments.
- HR will do a flash poll of firefighters to ask their preference for a larger raise and no separation allowance versus a smaller raise to accommodate a separation allowance.