ROCKINGHAM — City Manager Monty Crump gave an overview of the proposed budget for the city of Rockingham’s 2026-27 fiscal year during a recent City Council meeting, describing it as a stable financial plan with slight increases tied to rising operational costs.
“This is basically a typical, solid budget,” Crump explained. “We remain in good financial shape across the board.”
Under the proposed budget, the city’s property tax rate would remain unchanged at 55 cents per $100 valuation for the third consecutive year. Crump said residential garbage fees would also remain unchanged, though commercial garbage fees would see a “slight increase.”
The proposal also includes a 3% cost-of-living adjustment for all 113 city employees.
“And I saw today that the state just passed their state budget 3% across the board,” Crump said. “I checked the other day and the average cost of living across local governments in North Carolina this year, 2.7%.”
Crump said inflation has continued to outpace wage growth in recent years, prompting the city to make additional investments in employee retention.
“I also read earlier today that for the last 3 years, the wages had not kept up with inflation,” Crump said.
He added that the city is proposing an increase to its 401(k) contribution rate by 2.5%, bringing the employer contribution to 5%.
“The point there being to provide another incentive for someone to stay here over a longer term,” Crump said.
Crump said the city was “very fortunate” this year as there has only been a 4% increase in healthcare costs, with trend increases typically running between 8% and 9%.
The proposed budget also includes a 5% increase for municipal water and sewer customers.
“We’re still chasing costs there from last year. Extremely high. Chemical costs, treatment costs, process costs,” Crump said.
“What that does is very cognizant of the effect it has on senior citizens and folks on a fixed income,” explained Crump. “On a minimum bill, with 2,000 gallons, that’s about an 80 cent increase per month… An average water bill runs probably 6,000 to 7,000 gallons per month.”
Crump said those bills would increase by about $2 to $2.40 per month.
Crump said the budget capital outlay, which includes replacement of equipment and maintenance, will be explained in further detail at the budget work session scheduled for Tuesday, June 2 at Hinson Lake Lodge at 9:30 a.m. A public hearing for the proposed budget will take place at the city council meeting on June 9.
The council also adopted a proclamation recognizing May as Lupus Awareness Month.
The capital outlay request is at $1,247,023. According to the proposed budget, 35% of general fund expenditures is made up by the police department and 13% by the fire department.
The capital outlay requests for the Rockingham Police Department are a total of $252,000, consisting of:
• $120,000 for patrol vehicles
• $78,000 for equipment for vehicles
• $12,000 for bulletproof vests
• $10,000 for MRAP tactical vehicle upgrades
• $17,000 for K-9
• $15,000 for facial recognition software
The capital outlay requests by the Rockingham Fire Department is a total of $98,000, which consists of:
• $3,000 for 20 buckets of fire aide
• $60,000 for air pack replacement
• $35,000 for turnout gear