Wake commissioners OK annual budget, tax increase

Commissioners Jessica Holmes and Greg Ford voted against the budget, saying it doesn't provide enough support for area schools.

Commissioners decided Monday to add another $5 million on top of Hartmann's $16 million proposal in new school funding.

Commissioner John Burns cautioned that the community cannot continue to accept annual tax increases for schools and that state lawmakers need to step up and shoulder more of the burden for education funding.

A statement was added to the budget calling on the Board of Commissioners and the school board to work on a rolling multi-year budget to make funding more predictable.

Other changes to Hartmann's proposed budget include the following:

$80,000 so three library branches can add Sunday hours

$50,000 for legal aid to indigent people

$25,000 in emergency funding for residents of a Garner apartment complex who are being displaced because the complex's new owner no longer accepts subsidized tenants

The budget also includes a 3 percent raise for county employees, additional money to help recruit and retain detention officers at the county jail and to offer signing bonuses and more training to paramedics, funding for seven more school nurses and a nursing supervisor and money for nonprofit partners to open five more food pantries in area schools.

The 1.45-cent increase to the county's tax rate included in the budget would add $29 to the annual tax bill for the owner of a $200,000 house.