Charlotte City Council Budget Workshop for FY27 – February 23, 2026
Charlotte City Council Budget Workshop for FY27 – February 23, 2026
The Charlotte City Council convened a budget workshop on February 23, 2026, to begin development of the Fiscal Year 2027 budget. The meeting featured presentations from the city manager, CFO, and budget staff on the current financial outlook, compensation and vacancy rates, public safety pay challenges, and the capital investment plan, including the new PAVE Act sales tax revenue. Councilmembers discussed a tight budget gap, potential property tax increase, and priorities for public safety, mobility, and workforce development.
Discussion Items
- Budget Outlook & Financial Foundation – City Manager Marcus Jones reported that the council’s prior actions (e.g., the one-cent sales tax, strategic investment areas, and employee investments) have put Charlotte on an upward trajectory, but warned that surpluses are razor thin for FY27. CFO Marie presented the city’s triple-A bond rating, low property tax rate among peers, and a baseline cost growth of $31.5 million, leaving a projected $3.8 million gap before any new initiatives. She noted cost pressures from aging fleet, technology replacement, health care, and storm response.
- Compensation & Vacancies – Assistant Budget Director Ethan Smith reviewed recent pay plans (e.g., $24/hour minimum, 3% general increases) and showed that general employee vacancy rates have improved to 6.8%, but police vacancy rates have ticked up (0.7% higher than 2021). He compared police and fire starting and top pay against national and southeast averages, indicating police recruit pay is below the national average while fire recruit pay is slightly above. Councilmembers expressed concern about police retention and the need for a 10% pay increase as suggested by the police chief.
- Public Safety & Response Times – Several councilmembers highlighted the need to address police and fire vacancies and pay equity. Councilman Driggs noted that even filling existing funded vacancies may not meet actual demand, and called for a study on whether 1,900 officers is sufficient for a city of Charlotte’s size. Councilwoman Johnson asked for data on emergency response times and noted recent improvements in 911 call answer times (90% within 10 seconds in January). Councilwoman Mayfield raised concerns about firefighter out-of-pocket costs and outdated training facilities.
- Capital Investment Plan & PAVE Act Revenue – Deputy Budget Director Hannah Bromberger explained the capital investment plan structure (pay-go, COPs, general obligation bonds) and highlighted the historic $400 million bond approved in 2024, which included a $55 million pilot for strategic investment areas. She noted that the PAVE Act (Article 34) sales tax, effective July 2025, will provide over $100 million annually for roadway systems, with 40% dedicated to roadways. The city must ensure new revenue supplements, not supplants, existing local spending. A new steady-state debt capacity above $220 million will be presented at the upcoming strategy retreat.
- Employee Health Care & Benefits – Councilmember Mayfield and others discussed rising health care costs and the city’s efforts to support employees (e.g., housing assistance, Marathon Health program). Councilmember Maserarius requested a health insurance competitive study to understand how benefits affect recruitment and retention.
- Potential Tax Increase – Multiple councilmembers (Driggs, Mayfield, Johnson, others) acknowledged that a property tax increase may be necessary to sustain growth, public safety investment, and inflation pressures. Councilman Driggs, who previously voted against tax increases, stated he would support one this cycle because of the need to fund committed spending. The next revaluation occurs in FY28, limiting the ability to adjust without a tax rate increase.
- University City Municipal Service District – At the close of the workshop, the council unanimously approved a motion to allow University City Partners to proceed with community engagement for a municipal service district. This was authorized as part of the budget discussion.
Key Outcomes
- The council reached informal consensus that public safety (both police and fire) compensation and staffing are top priorities, with many members expressing openness to a property tax increase to fund them.
- Staff will provide detailed vacancy lists and response time data for police and fire, and will present a revised steady-state capital model incorporating PAVE Act revenue at the annual strategy retreat (March 2-3, 2026) and the next budget workshop (March 23, 2026).
- The city manager will propose the FY27 budget on May 4, 2026.
- The University City MSD community engagement motion passed unanimously.
Meeting Transcript
We got six. And then we got six, but do we get the camera? Okay. Good afternoon, everyone. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, Mayor. No, this is the time that I love the most. It's the budget time. Woohoo. Come on, there's some of us that care. Really appreciate it. So good afternoon, and I'd like to call our first council budget workshop for the 2027 budget development to into order. As you know, this is one of the most important. Yes, isn't that right, Duncan? That's right. Yes. And impactful, isn't that right, James? Yes. And developing a plan to allocate the city's resources in our alignment with our strategic priorities and the needs of our community. So we want to thank you, everyone, for joining us today. And with that, let's get started by hearing from the city manager, Marcus Jones. Mr. Jones, it's on for you. Okay. Thank you, uh, Mayor and members of council. Uh we are uh kicking off the uh budget workshop. It's a little different this year. Normally we have the annual strategy meeting, which really gives us a little bit of uh guardrails for lack of a better uh term before we go in here. But I think we're we're going to be okay in the sense of we'll start with broad strokes today. We do have the annual strategy meeting next Monday and Tuesday where we're going to a deeper dive. Um so we think we're if we can almost pull these two events together, we'll by the time next Tuesday, I think we'll be back on track. Uh with that said, Mayor, um, unless you have any questions, I'd like to uh turn it over to the chair of budget intergovernmental relations. Where is he? Oh, I can't see the this is where I cannot see around a curve. So um, Mr. Graham. Chair, please. Yeah, I I have brief remarks. Uh I just on behalf of the committee, um Councilmember Owens, as Mayor Mitchell and Mayo, uh, we uh bring forward uh to the manager the opportunity to kick us off with the budget outlook and strategy session. It goes without saying that the budget, uh our budget demonstrates the values we have as a community. Um a lot of work will be done between now and I guess May, uh, in terms of a wide variety of issues. Uh the city continues to be one of the best managed financial cities in the country. Um holding out triple A bond rating, um, great enterprise um organizations, um great authorities that do well with the uh citizens' uh resources, it's money. Uh and now our job is to allocate it in the way that best meets the needs of the community. And so uh the manager will get the first crack at it and his team. We look forward to working with them over the next couple of weeks. And um, let's get this party started. Mr. Manager. So thank you, Mr.
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