Wake County holds second place statewide for counties with property tax revenue growth higher than inflation rates. Wake Forest residents have directly felt the pain in their pocketbooks.
House Bill 1089 was filed on April 28. Not only will it restrict the levying power of counties, but also of municipalities and special districts. The State Constitutional amendment aims to prevent local governments, as stated in Section 1, from, “[levying] taxes on property, except for purposes authorized by general law uniformly applicable throughout the State, unless the tax is approved by a majority of the qualified voters of the unit who vote thereon.”
Concurrently, Senate Bill 889, the Property Tax Reappraisal Moratorium, passed the State Senate on May 7, 2026. S889 instructs counties with populations higher than 15,000 residents to freeze 2026 property tax rates and postpone 2026 reappraisals from implementing until 2027.
Anticipating the passage of H1089 and S889, several counties are taking action. On May 4, 2026, the Columbus County Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution opposing legislative levy limitations on counties. Also on May 4, Pender County Commissioners voted to resume reappraisals of properties, reversing an April vote to suspend reappraisals. Wake, Buncombe, and Orange Counties are also considering budgets that raise property taxes.
However, on May 5 at the Board of Commissioners work session, Wake Forest Town Manager Kip Padgett, while presenting the Proposed FY 2026-2027 Annual Operating Budget, announced that the Town is not seeking to raise municipal property taxes this coming year, even though ad valorum taxes consist of 36% of Town revenues.
Additionally, the Municipal Service District tax rate will reduce by 1¢ down to $0.13. Wake Forest Power rates will remain the same (due to the increasing customer base providing additional revenue). Stormwater and Vehicle Fees will, likewise, not see any changes at this time. Instead, the Town seeks to raise the waste removal fee by $1 to $25/month.
Near the end of his presentation, Padgett stated that while the proposed budget does include some cuts, due to inflation “in 2029 and 2030 we’re looking at a deficit. … Depending on what happens in the General Assembly, the property tax issues, that could change drastically one way or another, so we need to keep an eye on that as we move forward.” Padgett also noted that Wake Forest is running out of available land to develop. He predicted “a switch to redevelopment” and stricter budgets in the near future due to diminishing tax base revenues accrued by additional residents.
Wake Forest voters will see on their 2026 and 2028 ballots Bond Referendums requesting permission to raise taxes to fund future Town projects.
Should H1089 pass the House and Senate, in November North Carolinians will be asked on their ballot to approve or deny the amendment to the State Constitution. While counties and municipalities across the state continue to raise taxes on their residents, the General Assembly and the Town of Wake Forest work to keep income in the hands of the people who earned it.
In a letter to Peter Augustus Jay on February 5, 1821, Founding Father and first Supreme Court Chief Justice John Jay wrote something of a similar sentiment; “If the affairs of the City should be, and should long remain under the Direction and management of Persons who neither have much Interest in the Rights of Property, nor in the amount of public Expenditures, those Proprietors who are deeply interested in both, will be exposed to partial and heavy Burthens— The Freeholders would do well to unite in concerting, and in vigorously prosecuting, proper measures to obviate the Evils alluded to— unanimity Prudence and Perseverance usually give ultimate success to fair and reasonable applications for Relief from oppressive Grievances.”
I encourage all Wake Forest residents to watch the Board of Commissioners meetings either in person or online, and engage the issues. There will be a public hearing on the Proposed FY 2026-2027 Annual Operating Budget at the next Wake Forest Board of Commissioners regular meeting on May 19, 2026. If you have questions, contact the Commissioners, or you can sign up to speak here: https://www.cognitoforms.com/TownOfWakeForest3/BoardOfCommissionersSignUpToSpeakForm
Abby has lived in Wake Forest all of her life, and has learned a great
deal about solving problems and serving others growing up in her
family’s Wake Forest business. She was the Co-Chair of the Town of Wake
Forest Urban Forestry Advisory Board, regularly speaks before the Town’s
Commissioners on topics that deeply matter to the community, and is a
member of a Raleigh-area women's writers' group. Abby’s weekly “LIFTing
North Carolina” radio segment on Blue Ridge Liberty Radio continues to
gain new audiences, informing listeners about bills and legislative
updates in the NC General Assembly, and other impactful news across the
state. Abby is a Patriot Academy Constitution Coach State Mentor for
North Carolina, coaching Constitution classes, both in person and
online, to people from across the country. She is deeply passionate
about educating others about the extraordinary circumstances leading up
to our nation’s founding and the historical landscape which gave rise to
inspire our courageous heroes. Abby takes students through the lens of
freedom, liberty, and the equal pursuit of happiness by going straight
to the source documents that have been the blueprint and cornerstone of
the United States of America. She punctuates that America has the
longest continuously governing Constitution in the world, and
strengthening others to seek the value of understanding history in
context, and then applying that knowledge to cultivate serving and
engagement in their own communities, is paramount to what makes this
country unique, free, and prosperous. Professionally, Abby is a State Lead Researcher with a focus on
legislation, transparency, and accountability. She balances those
responsibilities while also working in her family’s business as an
Account Manager, Private Cloud Systems Administrator, Book Editor, and
Illustrator/Animator. She began writing books at age 16, and is the
author and illustrator of a young adult science fiction adventure
trilogy titled, “The Antediluvians.” She is currently writing on her
fourth science fiction adventure novel, which is largely based during
the American Civil War.Abby’s hobbies include reading copious amounts of literature,
non-fiction, and the 1828 Webster's Dictionary, finding great used book
stores, collecting antique books, traveling to historically significant
places across the country, animation, baking, herb gardening,
chicken-keeping, and osteology, which is the processing, study, and
articulation of animal bones.
