Livable Raleigh Chair Susan Maruyama delivered the following remarks at the November 2, 2021 Raleigh City Council meeting.

Mayor and City Council: 12 days ago, One Wake gathered 600 people online and in-person to make an excellent, well-considered proposal to provide property tax assistance to longtime, low-income homeowners here in Raleigh.  

Unless there is property tax assistance for these longtime homeowners, they will be forced to leave their homes behind for the wrecking ball. And their lives in Raleigh will be over as will the hopes of their grandchildren who always thought they had a home in Raleigh. 

These longtime homeowners are being burdened by unfair property tax policy driven by the unbridled development of historic neighborhoods which your administration supports.

One Wake’s proposal is

  • you must have owned your home for at least 10-years AND
  • have a total household income of 80% of AMI or below which is currently $61,300.00 for 2 people.
  • Property tax assistance would be granted to any property tax that is greater than 2% of the total household income.

Thank you Councilmembers Branch and Forte for keeping your word to look into this issue and to the City Council for approving a motion for the Raleigh City Staff to work with the Wake County Staff to – in your words, “see what program” could be developed or to “see what programs already exist that could help.” 

I am not confident that an effective solution will be worked out in a timely way. What I hear is bureaucratic “pass- it- off- talk” – you know, from your desk to another desk and now to the county desk. Why can’t you come out and say that One Wake’s proposal is a great proposal and you will try to make THAT proposal work?

We know you can act quickly and decisively if you want to. We saw you rush approval for John Kane’s Downtown South Project last year.

Livable Raleigh asks you to act swiftly to grant the tax relief sought by One Wake.

DO THE RIGHT THING NOW.