Cumberland County cut its property tax rate by 30 cents to 49.9 cents per $100 worth of value when the Board of Commissioners on Thursday unanimously approved its 2025-26 budget. The new tax rate takes effect July 1.
The $406.2 million budget marks an increase from the current year’s $392.8 million spending plan.
“This year’s budget delivers transformational investment in our strategic priorities: public safety, education, infrastructure, economic prosperity, and quality of life for all Cumberland County residents,” commissioners’ Chair Kirk deViere said in a video statement following the vote.
The reduced tax rate was made possible because the county this year re-appraised property values for the first time since 2017. Since then, property values leapt on average 64.7%. Higher property values give local governments the opportunity to collect the same amount of money with a lower tax rate.
Whether Cumberland County’s new rate results in a true tax cut for individual property owners depends on how much their property values changed with the new appraisals. The average value of a single-family home rose 84.2%, while commercial property values rose just 27%.
A property owner with a home that was previously valued at $150,000 paid $1,199 in annual property taxes under the old rate of 79.9 cents. If the home’s value rose 84.2%, then the home is now valued at $276,300 and will have an annual tax bill of $1,379 under the new rate of 49.9 cents. That’s an increase of $180.
Meanwhile, a commercial property valued at $1 million before the revaluation paid $7,990 in taxes this past year. If the property’s value rose by 27% with the revaluation, it’s now worth $1.27 million. With the new tax rate of 49.9 cents, the property’s new tax bill will be $6,337, a $1,653 decrease from the previous bill.
These calculations don’t include the 15-cent volunteer fire department tax levied outside municipal limits, or 5-cent recreation tax levied everywhere in the county except in Fayetteville and Eastover. Those two taxes were not reduced with the new property values, so those taxes are expected to generate more revenue for the fire departments and county recreation programs.
Households also will pay $130 in annual solid waste disposal fees, the same as before.
People who own property inside city and town limits pay municipal property taxes in addition to county taxes.
What are the taxpayers getting for their money?
The county budget covers expenses for public safety, education, human services, and other government services.
Here are some spending items mentioned at Thursday’s commissioners’ meeting, in the budget ordinance, or listed in a county news release:
- $103.7 million for the Cumberland County Board of Education for educational expenses, plus $300 million for school facility maintenance and $160 million earmarked for future new school construction.
- $16.25 million for Fayetteville Technical Community College’s operations, plus $11.5 million in capital funding.
- $10 million for the Methodist University Cape Fear Valley Health School of Medicine, which is under construction. The school is to begin operations in 2026.
- A 4% cost-of-living raise for county employees.
- Some of the nonprofit agency funding: $300,000 for the Cumberland County Partnership for Children, $75,000 for the Fayetteville Cumberland Economic Development Corporation, $100,000 for the Second Harvest Food Bank, $35,000 for The Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County, $50,000 for the Vision Resource Center, $100,000 for the 82nd Airborne Division Historical Society, $20,000 for Legal Aid of North Carolina, and $25,000 for the Miller’s Crew organization that teaches job skills to people with developmental disabilities at the Miller’s Brew coffee shop.
Tax rate is below ‘revenue-neutral’
County Commissioner Marshall Faircloth proposed the 49.9-cent tax rate during a commissioners meeting on Tuesday. The rate is notable because it is about 6 cents less than the “revenue-neutral” tax rate of 55.93 cents that County Manager Clarence Grier initially proposed in May.
After a new tax appraisal establishes new tax values for homes and businesses, cities and counties often look at setting a new “revenue neutral” tax rate that would collect the same amount of money collected before the new appraisal.
“The one constituency that we haven’t really talked about too much in the budget process is the small homeowner, the taxpayer who no matter what we do with the tax rate, we can’t lower it enough to get that person a tax decrease, or even revenue neutral,” Faircloth said on Tuesday. “But we’re going to take a stab at a rate that I think if we look at, and support, I think it will mean tremendous opportunities and economic development.”
After his proposed rate was approved on Thursday, Faircloth said he could not remember Cumberland County ever having a tax rate at or below 49.9 cents. “This was quite an achievement. It was not easy to do,” he said.
DeViere highlighted several points.
“We made historic investments in education by fully funding the school board’s requests, including teacher supplements, new school construction and maintenance for existing facilities,” he said in the news release. “We strengthened public safety through targeted resources for our Sheriff, and funded a much-needed inpatient mental health facility to address our region’s service gap. Essential infrastructure investments include clean and safe drinking water systems, while economic development funding enhances our ability to recruit industry and create quality jobs.”
Senior reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at pwoolverton@cityviewnc.com.
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