FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – The Cumberland County Board of Commissioners held a work session for the FY 2025 Budget Thursday at 5:30 p.m. in Room 564 of the Judge E. Maurice Braswell Cumberland County Courthouse. During the work session, Commissioners discussed the recommended FY 2025 Budget, which was presented by Cumberland County Manager Clarence Grier on May 23, 2024.
Board of Commissioners Chairman Glenn Adams noted that the budget did not include a property tax increase with the County’s tax rate remaining at 79.9 cents per $100 property valuation. He also noted that the Board’s decision in April to change the County’s tax distribution method from per capita to ad valorem effective July 1, 2025, might allow for the Board to lower the property tax rate in the future.
He said the current per capita distribution method has required the County to have a higher tax rate to make up for a larger portion of taxes going to the County’s municipalities under that distribution method.
“Those funds have been going to the cities,” he said, “when normally, the County would get more of it and so would the schools, fire districts and Parks & Recreation.”
Adams said the recommended budget continues to fund Cumberland County Schools at 43.47% of the County’s projected ad valorem tax collections, which resulted in an increase of more than $3.5 million for FY 2025 over the FY 2024 adopted budget.
He and other commissioners said they had received calls asking why increases to teacher supplements were not included in the recommended budget, but that the Board of Commissioners provide the school system with funding, but don’t have a say in how those funds are spent.
“We give them the funds and they spend them as they want,” he said.
Adams also noted the proposed increase to the County’s Solid Waste user fee and several other Solid Waste fees, but said he believes the increases are warranted because the Ann Street Landfill is projected to run out of space in less than seven years and the County has not received additional property adjacent to the landfill that he said could add decades of additional capacity.
“We need to take care of the citizens of Cumberland County,” he said.
Grier noted that there were two omissions from his recommended budget that he wanted to make commissioners aware of under Community Funding – an additional $1,000 for the Child Advocacy Center and an additional $95,297 for the Council for Older Adults.
Additionally, the Board directed Grier to pull back the funding that was recommended for the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office to provide School Resource Officers and vehicles within the county’s municipalities into the General Fund following the Sheriff’s Office decision to no longer provide those services within the municipalities.
The Board will hold a public hearing on the recommended budget Wednesday, June 5 at 7 p.m. in Room 118 of the Judge E. Maurice Braswell Cumberland County Courthouse, located at 117 Dick St., Fayetteville.
Citizens who wish to comment on the proposed budget during the public hearing must sign up prior to the start of the meeting. A sign-up sheet will be available in the room. Individuals may also call the Clerk to the Board at 910-678-7771 or email atebbe@cumberlandcountync.gov, or sign up on the County’s website at
cumberlandcountync.gov/departments/commissioners-group/commissioners/register-to-speak/public-hearings.
A budget work session may be held following the public hearing in Room 564 of the Courthouse. Additional work sessions may be held as follows if needed:
- Tuesday, June 11, 2024 at 1 p.m. in Room 564
- Wednesday, June 19, 2024 at 5:30 p.m. in Room 564
- Thursday, June 20, 2024 at 5:30 p.m. in Room 564
Cumberland County Board of Commissioners meetings (including the budget public hearing and work sessions) are streamed live on CCNCTV (Spectrum Channel 5), the County’s website cumberlandcountync.gov and the County’s YouTube channel at youtube.com/CumberlandCountyNC.
The Fiscal 2025 Recommended Budget can be viewed online at cumberlandcountync.gov/departments/budget-performance-group/budget_division/fy2025-recommended-budget.