KANNAPOLIS — After debate during the previous city council meeting about the proposed fiscal year 2026 budget ordinance, members at Monday night’s meeting approved the budget as proposed by a 6-1 vote.

The total budget for the upcoming fiscal year is $126,007,842 and there is no increase in the property tax rate, which remains at 55.95 cents for every $100 in valuation.

A priority for several on the council was making sure city employees across the board received salary increases this year. In the past, an issue arose with the employee review policy and procedure that interfered with increases, and councilor Ryan Dayvault said at some point he hopes the council and city staff can and will discuss that issue so there is a clearer understanding of how it works and if changes need to be made.

“The main thing is always our employees, and because in this budget you have made arrangements for them to have increases, I will vote to approve it,” said councilor Doug Wilson.

“This is not a perfect budget, it never is,” said councilor Tom Kincaid. “There are some things I didn’t like, but not enough to disrupt the entire budget.”

Mayor Pro Tem Dianne Berry was the lone dissenting vote, and she expressed frustration that the council, rather than have a completed budget handed to them in which the council had no input, had not had a chance to workshop financial planning.

“I regret the council did not get together in February and really go through this line item by line item,” she said. “I had hoped we could find a way, even if it was just a penny, that we could reduce property taxes to show the people that we are working for them, that we understand this is a hard year.”

Several items were raised as points of concern, including Downtown Kannapolis Inc. or DKI, and the bus system, but as Legg explained, while both items are in the budget, the council will have time down the road to discuss both and to explore options.

As with many other communities across Rowan County and the state, the city took into account an expected slowing in the growth of revenues, in part because of national as well as local economic factors. Several cuts were made to hold the line at the current tax rate, because costs continue to rise and maintaining the tax rate means the money simply cannot go as far. Even if the revenues don’t end up easing, Town Manager Mike Legg noted that staff had focused on “short term caution and fiscal responsibility.”

The budget does include continued implementation of the Imagine Kannapolis Strategic Plan which includes mapping out the next five years of initiatives and projects for the city and subsequently, a five-year financial plan. Priorities and projects under that plan will be subject to city council ultimately adopting a final version of the Strategic Plan. A re-examination of the initial plan priorities and a discussion of potential changes is planned for the first half of the new fiscal year.

While salary increases are included, there are no new full-time positions in the adopted budget. The water and sewer base rate will increase by $3.31 per month but has been offset by other reductions. This represents only the second increase in six years and is required to fund improvements to the Kannapolis Lake Dam Spillway and to cover costs associated with the expansion of the Rocky River Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant. The repairs to the dam are mandated by the state. The dam was originally built in 1940 and is in need of these repairs.

There is n0 increase in stormwater fees, but there is a $5 per month increase in the environmental fee, the first increase in several years. This is due primarily to an increase in recycling disposal costs and increases in collecting and disposing of garbage.

Both Wilson and Dayvault asked that the city review its transportation and busing system, noting concern about lack of ridership, but both believe the system doesn’t need to be scrapped, but overhauled.

“We look at ridership every quarter,” said councilor Darrell Jackson, “but I agree we need to get more involved as a full council.”

Council member Jean Dixon said she is aware of how many residents rely on the busses to get to work and to get to city offices like DSS for assistance, “people who do not have vehicles or access to other transportation, so I believe the bus system is absolutely essential. If we can find a way to make it more efficient, that’s great, but I don’t want to lose it.”

Mayor Darrell Hinnant said according to numbers he had, approximately 445,000 people bought bus passes during 2024, and he agreed with Dixon that the bus program is essential.

“Most of those are people going to jobs,” he said. “How will they get to work without the bus?”

“I don’t disagree about the need and the importance,” said Dayvault. “But I would like to see us really examine it and determine if there is not a more fiscally responsible way, or more beneficial way, to support it.”