Holly Springs booms while others struggle

According to estimates by the Wake County Revenue Department, the tax base in Holly Springs should grow by 10.1 percent in the coming year, compared with 2.2 percent in Cary and 1.3 percent in Raleigh. The projected growth has allowed the town to draft a balanced budget for 2009-10 that includes raises, not cuts.

"We're able to pretty much maintain the level of services we're able to do right now," said Drew Holland, the town's finance director.

"It just seems like we are in a bubble. I can't describe it any better than that," town employee Anne Oakley said.

Raleigh City Manager Russell Allen, who had to cut $25 million in salaries and services to draw up a budget plan for Raleigh, said the Novartis vaccine plant under construction in Holly Springs is responsible for a lot of the growth in the town.

"(It is) somewhat of an anomaly in Wake County and probably across the state, where you have perhaps a property tax base that is growing or a community that's growing," Allen said.

Holly Springs, Raleigh and Apex all have public hearings Tuesday on their proposed budgets.