Cumberland County’s leaders want the state legislature to give them $98.5 million for water and sewer construction, school maintenance and construction—including a new E.E. Smith High School—mental health services, construction of a regional aquatics center, and emergency responder equipment.
However, they may not ask for the full amount, depending on what they glean from a meeting with their lawmakers scheduled for March 12. Commissioners discussed their legislative agenda during a meeting on Tuesday.
The commissioners also want to talk to the county delegation—two state senators and four state House members—about the state and federal practice of imposing costs on them. Examples of the unfunded mandates include the costs for the Medicaid federal-state health insurance program for low-income people, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and implementation of a new state law that requires the jail to house more inmates.
Yet the unfunded mandates are happening while the state House has a special committee whose job is to come up with ways to make it harder for county governments to collect property taxes used to pay for those and other public services.
In Cumberland County, more than half of the county government’s revenue—about $211 million—comes from property taxes. That money helps pay for public education, social services, animal control, the public libraries, 911 operations and emergency services, law enforcement, assistance for the homeless, and other services.
Capital from the Capital
When it passes a budget, the North Carolina General Assembly routinely earmarks money for local projects. In 2021, the legislature allocated $412 million to Cumberland County—an unusually high amount—for higher education, capital projects, economic investment, and other items, The Fayetteville Observer reported.
Requests for money and for laws and policy changes come from a variety of sources, including county commissioners, Fayetteville City Council, other town boards, colleges, and nonprofit organizations.
Money has been allocated over the years for parks, new buildings at Fayetteville State University, the renovation and partial building replacement of the Cape Fear Regional Theatre, the Gilbert Theater’s operations, and construction of the NC History Center on the Civil War, Emancipation & Reconstruction.
Cumberland County’s Monetary Wish List
The $98.5 million in requests includes:
- $60 million for the planning and construction of water and sewer service across the county. This includes $5 million for an ongoing project in Gray’s Creek, $5 million toward a new water intake on the Cape Fear River for a regional water supply, and $50 million toward modernizing, regionalizing, and expanding water and sewer across the county. The project is estimated to eventually cost $1 billion to $1.4 billion.
- $30 million for public education, with $15 million for improvements to the school buildings and facilities, and $15 million for “a new state-of-the-art school” to replace E.E. Smith High School’s existing campus. Cumberland County Schools has said it needs $806 million for its facilities. A new high school is estimated at $160 million.
- $4 million to expand mental health and substance use treatment services for youth.
- $2 million for architecture and design work for a planned regional aquatics center.
- $2.5 million for emergency services. This has $2 million to buy a mobile incident command unit vehicle, and $500,000 for digital dispatch equipment for 911 services.
Policies, Practices, and Services
The commissioners want to avoid being required to cover more costs for government services. Their issues:
- The federal government is shifting costs of running SNAP—the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program—to local governments. This shift will cost $2.98 million in Cumberland County, the draft legislative agenda said. The county is asking the state government to pick up the cost.
- North Carolina should upgrade or replace a computer system used to help social workers assist families in order to reduce errors in payments. A new federal law says that local governments will have to cover more SNAP costs based on their states’ error rate in payments. Cumberland County anticipates its share of the added cost, based on North Carolina’s statewide error rate, will be $23 million.
- Implementation of Iryna’s Law is expected to cost Cumberland County $480,000. The law requires more people to be jailed when arrested, and more people to get mental health evaluations. Iryna’s Law was passed in 2025 in the wake of the killing of a woman on a commuter train in Charlotte.
The commissioners have additional asks of state lawmakers:
- They want the state to preserve local governments’ ability to levy property taxes. “Property tax is the primary and most stable revenue source counties have to fund mandated services,” the draft legislative agenda said. The state House Select Committee on Property Tax Reduction and Reform is studying “options to reduce the property tax burden on taxpayers in North Carolina.”
- They say the state should route the planned Interstate 685 through Cumberland County instead of Dunn in Harnett County.
- They want passenger rail service from Raleigh to Fayetteville, and from Fayetteville to Wilmington.
- The commissioners would like the state to change its formula for teacher pay allocations so Cumberland County teachers can be paid more. The county boosted local spending for teacher pay by $14 million this fiscal year.
Senior reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at pwoolverton@cityviewnc.com.
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