Hope Mills receives proposed FY 2026–27 balanced budget with no tax increase

Town staff on April 30 presented the proposed fiscal year 2026–27 budget to the Town of Hope Mills Board of Commissioners, describing the document as balanced with no proposed tax increase and highlighting key components for review.

The presenter told the board the budget includes revenue breakdowns (including ad valorem taxes, recreation, solid waste, state-shared revenues and fund balance), and expenditure categories including capital outlay, personnel and a 1.5% cost-of-living adjustment that would take effect July 1. Staff said the back of tab one shows the fund-balance appropriation and related operating funds and explained what was used to balance the budget.

Drew Holland walked board members through the binder layout: the main budget, tabs organized by department, a separate police-department justification binder because of its size, capital-outlay line items, a salary schedule and requested new positions, and a fee schedule with changes highlighted in red.

No formal adoption vote of the budget was recorded in the transcript; the board received the proposed document for review.

Next steps: the proposed budget will proceed through the town’s normal adoption process and staff will provide additional materials and justifications as needed for formal adoption.