A 4-cent tax increase will be on the table when the Roanoke Rapids City Council holds its budget public hearing in June.
City Manager Kelly Traynham outlined the proposed increase for the upcoming fiscal year — from 64.1 cents per $100 of assessed value to 68.1 cents — in her budget message to the council Tuesday night. The public hearing is scheduled for June 2 at 5:30 p.m., and she said a budget session is likely.
Facing the prospects of expenses outpacing revenues in the upcoming fiscal year, Traynham said the proposed tax increase would generate an additional $560,640 in property tax revenues. Taking the additional tax revenues into account, the proposed financial plan also requires a $1,601,054 infusion from the undesignated fund balance to reach a $21,113,732 operating budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year.
“This ad valorem rate, in combination with other revenue sources including fund balance, will fund our operations for the coming year, although there were significant cuts made to bring the budget to the recommended amount,” she said. “This is a challenging budget cycle that is met with expenditures outpacing stabilizing revenues. I thank our entire management team for their assistance in the budget process and for continuing to prioritize the needs of our operational departments. I also thank our finance department staff for their assistance in preparing this proposal.”
The proposed budget represents an overall increase of approximately 6 percent from the current year’s plan.
Revenue estimates for the upcoming year total $18,952,038 — a 4 percent loss in revenue, or $884,016 — compared to the current year's revenue estimates.
“This proposed budget is also reflected by the city’s recent financial condition and operating performance,” she said. “The audit further reflects strong tax collection performance and a solid general fund position, all of which provide important financial context for the FY 2026-2027 budget recommendation.”
Following the meeting, Traynham said there are no new positions funded and there’s no reduction in force planned.
Public safety discussions
There was no debate among council members during the delivery of the budget message.
However, Traynham and the council members made it clear they have no plans to dissolve the police department, as has been suggested in a letter to the editor, comments made by a speaker Tuesday, and on social media.
“We will be maintaining, or my recommendation will always be to maintain, our police department,” the city manager said. “Our police department understands that. That is not an option to save money for us right now. We’re not that bad off and I’m not recommending dissolving the police department in our budget.”
In fact, she said, “We’re recommending funding them and trying to provide some incentives for recruitment and retention of our valued law enforcement officers.”
Public safety spending is high, she said. “It’s grown exponentially globally and nationwide.”
Councilman Rex Stainback said the idea of merging public safety agencies is a novel idea, but he added, “A lot of this is being led by people that don’t even live in the city. They don’t depend on our public safety officers. There’s no way I could support that in any form or fashion.”
Stainback, a retired law enforcement officer, said the police department is already short-staffed. “It floats between eight and 14, generally, which is the equivalent of two whole shifts of police officers. Several years ago we had seven men on a shift and now we’re lucky to work with four — sometimes three. Administrators are having to come out and work shift work on the weekends.”
Stainback said he appreciates the work law enforcement does. “I know times are tight right now. Hopefully, we’ll come out of this hole. This was left for us many years ago — a lot of debt. We’ve got that down appreciably now. We don’t owe nearly as much as what we used to owe and I can see light at the end of the tunnel myself and hopefully we’ll get there sooner rather than later, but I will not support any defunding for public safety.”
“I concur with Councilman Stainback on that,” Councilman Curt Strickland said. “I can’t see defunding any public services, especially the police.”
Councilwoman Sandra Bryant said, “When I think about living in the city and having a response time of about three minutes, compared to maybe 45 in the county, that alone just makes me know we have to keep our police department.”
Councilman Warren Keith Bell said, “The police and fire departments do a fine job and they do a lot with a little. The thing about this is they have a vested interest. Most of the people in the fire department and police department grew up here and have family here. You’ve got people that are invested in the community. They do a lot better job because their hearts are in it. They don’t look at pay first.”
The city’s main function, Bell said, should be to keep people safe. “Police and fire have a prominent effort in that.”
Mayor Emery Doughtie said, “The safety of citizens is something you talk about with quality of life. Being safe is the best kind of quality you can have. I think that would help when people are relocating to our community. We are all proud of our employees that work here. I believe we need to keep that strong. It makes me feel good when I lock my door and go to bed that there’s people out there working trying to keep us safe.”
