Wilmington City Council approves first reading of FY ’25 budget with tax increases

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — A divided Wilmington City Council approved the first reading of a proposed budget for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.

Council had to vote on ordinances making appropriations to the General Fund; for Grant Projects, Financial Plans, Enterprise Funds, Debt Service Fund, Special Tax District, and Convention Center Fund; for Capital Projects Funds; and a Fee Schedule. While votes on most of these latter options were less divided, the initial vote on making appropriations to the General Fund narrowly passed 4-3, with Mayor Bill Saffo and Councilmembers Clifford Barnett, Charlie Rivenbark, and Salette Andrews voting in favor.

One of the key conflicts involved funding aspects with tax increases.

“I’m cognizant of the fact that nobody wants to pay taxes; nobody,” said Mayor Saffo. “We also have a responsibility to try to make certain that we are keeping pace with the impacts that we are seeing in our community.”

Saffo notes that much of the expenditures will go toward capital improvement projects.

“We have an aging infrastructure,” said Mayor Saffo. “One of the things we’ve seen in all of surveys from citizens is roads, roads, roads, and the condition of roads.”

The three votes against the proposed appropriations to the General Fund were Councilmembers Kevin Spears, Luke Waddell, and David Joyner.

Spears raised a number of issues with funding mechanisms, saying that the city should have more ways to raise money from people traveling from other counties through Wilmington to other areas of New Hanover County, including Wrightsville Beach, Carolina Beach, and Kure Beach.

Waddell also raised a number of issues, including a proposed hike in the motor vehicle tax.

“Originally the proposal in the work sessions was to take it from 5 to 15; my proposal was to take it from 5 to 25,” said Waddell. “To generate that $1.8m in revenue, my proposal for this was contingent on eliminating the new program — the Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program — and instead dedicating [that money] to transportation-related capital improvements.”

In a statement, Joyner noted his concerns with a property tax increase and how it relates to last summer’s purchase of the former PPD building on N. Front St.

“The previous city council purchased the Skyline Center in July 2023 for $68 million; it was presented as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that would not require a tax increase,” Joyner wrote in a statement. “I was elected to council in November 2023 and the very first budget presented to me now proposes a 2.75 cent property tax increase. I cannot vote for this budget and thereby absolve the previous city council of the purchase of the Skyline Center, which had virtually no buy-in from the public.”

You can view the city’s proposed budget here.

A second and final vote on the budget will take place at the next Council meeting on June 18.