Harnett County budget teeters on property tax bill

On May 18, Harnett County commissioners discussed school funding priorities, nonprofit appropriations and public safety trade-offs during the FY2026-27 budget hearing while under the pressure of a proposed state property tax cap that would reform the budget.

Chairman Duncan Jaggers said the proposed budget could be under different rules in a couple of weeks, based on the General Assembly’s next moves. “Everything I’m getting is that they’re gonna pass this thing.”

North Carolina House Bill 1089 moved forward on May 12 to the committee on rules and the calendar. It proposes legislation limiting the property tax levy increase by counties and cities. If approved in the Nov. 3, 2026, election, it will become law.

County Manager Brent Trout said they may have to raise the tax levy rate, but they had funds to cover the schools’ request.

The county proposed a 59.1 cent per $100 property valuation tax, over ten cents less than Lee County’s tax levy.

On June 1 and 9, the board will hold more budget work sessions and plan approval by June 15.

During an update, the finance office projected an increased appropriation to the general fund of $66,247 to balance the budget.

It increased the social services budget by $6,850.

For general fund expenses, the budget listed a software increase of $397 for administrative, and of $13,700 for social services’ software. It increased emergency service part-time salary by $59,000 and the health department’s insurance by $18,254.

The budget decreased property and liability insurance “to account for increase” in the health department of $18,254.

For the enterprise fund, it increased the water department’s budget by $237,000.

For the water department’s expenses, the budget listed $286,175 for capital outlay, $20,400 for repairs, $1,725 for software, and $30,000 for sewer repairs.

After the proposed budget’s first review, commissioners requested to expand the school appropriations. It increased by $3,500,00 and touted a total expansion of $5,500,000.

For non-profit funding the budget listed $100,000 to $200,000 in appropriations.

The budget recommended a reclassification of a telecommunications manager and identified the need for a new environmental health specialist.

The county is gathering estimates for weapon detectors for all county buildings, and the figures were not available at the meeting.

Budget option one carries a school funding priority with a trade-off of debt service or school service.

Budget option two reduces nonprofit funding and keeps long-term school building funding.

Budget option three has a trade-off of reducing long-term school building funding by $800k and has the smallest public safety reductions.

Property Taxes

General Government: 6.66¢

Culture & Recreation: 1.99¢

Capital Improvement & Debt: 5.51¢

Economic & Physical Development: 1.65¢

Education: 12.26¢

Environmental Protection, Transportation, & Contingency : 3.12¢

Human Services: 11.23¢

Public Safety: 16.68¢

59.1 ¢per $100 property valuation

During the budget’s public hearing, citizen Jerry Rivas said he believed citizens should be allowed to make their own choices on nonprofit giving, that the bookmobile may not be financially sound, and that an attending sheriff captain was responsible for costing the county $6 million in a lawsuit.

The bookmobile’s vehicle was funded by a grant, but the salaries for the bookmobile’s operators will not be funded by a grant.

Commissioner Barbara McKoy said a previous bookmobile project in 2014 for Western Harnett County was not successful.

Citizen Rebecca Brock said she agreed with McKoy that they needed detailed discussion on which nonprofits might be funded.

Citizens spoke against extensive law enforcement funding and pay increases for the election board members, with a statement that only Republicans discussed the pay increases.

Tax Administrator Christine Wallace presented a tax appeal update and said they received 54 appeals each day and extended the deadline to May 22. The county had 3,818 real property appeals with $1,493,496,846 value under appeal for residential and commercial properties.

Jaggers asked about the condition of a property after a citizen during public comments showed images of adjoining property with trash piles.

Wallace said comparables were not required because the tax department relied on owner statements, and she said that they considered the conditions of adjoining property.

Wallace said 692 personal property appeals were filed and they had $50,455,461 value under appeal for mobile homes.

During action items, a communications officer, Desiree Patrick, introduced replacing human customer service with a chatbot after the finance office had allocated $10,000 for an app.

She said that she and another communication’s officer conducted research in other (unnamed) counties and learned “citizens did not want to download another application onto their phones.”

No presentation accompanied the request. The agenda did not include the conducted research or a summary of the research for transparency and verification.

Patrick said the county website had about 13 website inquires each day in 2025, which equates to 4,745 per year. The cost for a year of chatbot was $13,000, and that makes a single chatbot inquiry worth about $2.74.

During public comments, citizen Eric Stephenson said each dollar should be scrutinized, especially when considering the tight budget and the board’s accountability to taxpayers.

The board approved the chatbot request on Commissioner Brooks Matthews’ recommendation.

Chatbots answer routine questions 24 hours a day, reducing call volume and human interaction. The mechanically engineered service finds information on the website, but citizens may still call (910) 893-7555.

Replacing humans with chatbots reduces accountability, with a risk of losing public trust and increasing public frustration, forms accessibility barriers for elderly and disabled residents and facilitates the spread of incorrect information on legal and financial matters.

Chatbots do not provide human judgment and empathy when dealing with stressful issues such as housing assistance, court fines, public benefits and emergencies.

The board approved the economic development’s request to use a $500,000 grant from North Carolina Railroad Build Ready to market the larger Byrd site for industrial development.

The funds would build an easement 60ft off East McNeil Street in Lillington for an 83-acre industrial rail site.

It has a 20% grant match, and County Manager Brent Trout said they had unused funds to provide the matching funds.

At the meeting’s onset, the board honored Harnett County Hero Veteran Isidro C. Aguinaga.

Isidro C. Aguinaga and his family accept the award on May 18, 2026.

The next meeting is June 1 at 9 a.m.

May 19, 2026

Stephanie M. Sellers

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