Durham’s proposed budget holds property taxes flat but raises utility rates and limits city employee pay to counter a rare drop in tax revenue.
Monday night, City Manager Bo Ferguson recommended a $766.1 million budget for Fiscal Year 2026-27, calling the city’s current financial situation “unprecedented.” For the first time in years, Durham will have less property tax revenue than last year, he said.
“No city of Durham administration in recent memory … has ever built a budget under these circumstances,” he said, attributing the decline to an “unusually” large number of property tax appeals after last year’s revaluation…