GQ budget holds tax rate steady, includes new vehicle fee
Published 12:10 am Sunday, May 18, 2025
GRANITE QUARRY — Granite Quarry Town Manager Jason Hord’s recommended budget for the upcoming fiscal year does not contain any surprises, keeping the tax rate steady and proposing a new car fee along with an increase to environmental fees.
If the Town Council approves the budget, the primary change that Granite Quarry residents will see is the newly implemented $20 annual car fee. The fee, which will be collected annually for each registered vehicle, will be used to pay for paving and other street projects throughout the town. Hord noted in an email that the funding would be only used for town-maintained streets and would “allow for more frequent projects than the current state Powell Bill allocations.”
During a previous budget workshop in March, members of the town council said that they could only support the new fee if the revenue was placed into a fund only used for street maintenance and improvements.
“If we allow this to supplement that Powell Bill and build up, every time you go to pave a road we’re not dipping into the revenue of property taxes,” said Mayor Brittany Barnhardt during the workshop.
The proposed budget also includes an increase in environmental fees from $13 to $15 monthly, which Hord wrote would pay for increasing costs for the town’s pickup services. Town Council members also discussed the issue during a prior budget workshop, during which it was noted that the fees covered the town’s contract with Waste Management for trash pickup but did not cover limb and leaf pickup services.
The budget also keeps the town’s tax rate steady at $0.44 per $100 of property valuation, which Hord and other town officials have often noted as a point of pride is the third lowest rate in Rowan County, only ahead of Faith and Cleveland.
The budget process is not complete, however, as the town recently received notice that the Town of Faith does not plan to renew its half of the agreement providing for Granite Quarry Police to cover Faith. That change leaves Granite Quarry with a hole in its proposed budget, as the town had planned for Faith to contribute $225,000 to the police budget of approximately $1.3 million.
Town officials said on Friday that the town does not plan to reduce the police budget, instead focusing on keeping their gains in competitive salaries and other employee retention strategies.
“Our proposed 2025–2026 police budget of $1,183,449 will remain despite the news from the Town of Faith. This represents our council’s commitment to excellence and readiness. It includes salary increases, adjustments for increased insurance costs, an expanded part-time staffing budget, increased fuel allocations in anticipation of increased patrol staffing, and critical funding to replace aging equipment that no longer meets safety or operational standards,” wrote Hord in a release.
The town has called a special planning meeting for Tuesday at 1 p.m.
The proposed general fund budget stands at a total of $4,781,856, down from the current year’s $4,852,841.
That decrease is partly due to how Hord and the Town Council chose to approach the budget process. The town spent from surplus funds for the current budget year, which were not spent due to being budgeted for unfilled positions.
Those changes primarily came in the police department’s budget, where the town had a budget surplus of $153,881 in payroll. The Town Council gave their consensus for Police Chief Todd Taylor to take the majority of that amount, $148,000, and use it to purchase and upfit two vehicles.
With those purchases completed, the proposed budget for the upcoming year does not include any large capital expenditures. It does include a debt payment of $123,094 for the town’s purchase of a fire truck in the 2024-2025 budget year.
As for other expenses, the budget includes a two percent cost of living adjustment and an annual merit adjustment ranging from zero to three percent for all employees. The budget also included additional adjustments and pay grade changes for the public safety departments in an effort to keep them competitive and remove salary compression.
The recommended budget also includes the creation of a community engagement coordinator at approximately $38,000, a public works technician at approximately $32,500 and several new part-time police and fire positions, wrote Hord.
The proposed budget is available for viewing online at granitequarrync.gov/Departments/Administration or at the Town Hall, 143 N. Salisbury Ave. The Town Council scheduled the public hearing for the budget for its regular meeting in June, set for June 9 at 6 p.m.