By Richard Sullins | richard@rantnc.com
The Lee County Board of Commissioners left a three and a half hour meeting Friday with a patchwork plan that would scrape together enough savings to avoid a proposed five cent property tax increase – against the repeated advice of their county manager.
Commissioners sidestepped recommendations from County Manager Lisa Minter, a move she warned was “highly risky” and “violates every sound budget management practice that I can think of.”
Officially, the budget is still scheduled for a vote at the board’s final meeting of the fiscal year on June 15. Friday’s improvised plan gave commissioners enough confidence to adjourn after just over three hours, believing they now have a path to meet the state’s June 30 deadline. Another meeting could still be called, but for the moment, the board appears back on track.
A political storm since May 18
The turbulence began when Minter presented her recommended budget on May 18. Public reaction was swift and unmistakable: taxpayers were in no mood for a five cent increase. For context, a five cent increase on a $250,000 home would add roughly $125 a year to a homeowner’s tax bill — a meaningful jump in a county where many residents are already feeling the strain of rising costs.
The task Friday was to reconcile projected revenues for Fiscal Year 2026–27 with the expenses Minter and her finance team say the county will face. Her $128 million proposal called for raising the property tax rate from 65 to 70 cents per $100 of valuation.
And the timing could hardly be worse. A countywide property revaluation is scheduled for early 2027, with new values hitting mailboxes next summer. State law requires counties to revalue property at least once every eight years to keep tax values aligned with market conditions. With home prices rising sharply in Lee County, many residents are bracing for higher valuations — and higher bills — even without a tax rate increase. A tax increase followed by a revaluation is the kind of rare planetary alignment that budget watchers dread.
Robbing Peter to pay Paul
Since becoming county manager three years ago — and even earlier as the county’s chief financial officer — Minter has warned commissioners that shifting money between funds to plug holes is poor fiscal practice.
As The Rant reported last year, then Chairman Kirk Smith asked Minter at the eleventh hour to produce an alternative budget that avoided a tax increase by relying on transfers and one time fixes. That plan, she cautioned, severely limited the county’s ability to grow with its population.
Friday’s strategy was a near copy of that approach. Commissioners tossed handfuls of fiscal spaghetti at the wall, hoping enough would stick to hold the tax rate steady. But relying on one time funds to cover recurring expenses can create structural deficits — gaps that grow larger each year and become harder to close without significant cuts or future tax increases.
Minter stepped in with the same warning she’s delivered for years.
“I have to caution you about using money we’ve put away for rainy days, because it will only be there for one year,” she said. “Then all you have left is a bigger hole.”
Cuts residents will feel
If the plan holds long enough for Monday’s vote, some cuts will be noticeable. Sheriff Brian Estes is among those affected after commissioners removed funding for a new drug enforcement sergeant. Estes attended Friday’s meeting to explain what that loss means for a community fighting the opioid crisis on multiple fronts — treatment, prevention, and enforcement.
The opioid crisis has hit Lee County particularly hard in recent years, prompting a mix of enforcement, treatment, and prevention efforts. Losing a dedicated drug enforcement position doesn’t halt those efforts, but it does slow the county’s ability to respond to emerging trends in trafficking and addiction.
“We are losing money for this drug officer because we don’t have a representative on the regional drug enforcement task force,” Estes said. “There is drug activity everywhere, it seems. Activity on the street above ground may seem calm, but there are activities moving underground that are deeper and stronger. If we are to address that problem, we need your help to find the money to make this happen.”
Despite such testimony, commissioners appear poised to adopt the revised plan Monday with little further debate — and with little acknowledgment of how readily the county manager’s data driven recommendations were set aside.
Minter’s original 114 page budget proposal is available online.
Your article makes it sound like Lee County *has* to revalue in 2027, because of the statute. Is that the case? How many times in the last 8 years have our property taxes gone up because of revaluation?
County commissioners need to wake up and realize who they were elected to serve- longterm Lee Co citizens, the foundation of this county. Here, the elderly live on small, fixed incomes. Now, with higher gas prices, more expensive car and home insurance policies, increasing grocery costs, as well as higher heating/cooling expenses and exponentially increasing taxes, YOU are pricing them right out of the homes they have worked their whole life to pay for! All this, while welcoming new developers, who take our fields and farms, and let the longterm citizens foot the bill for all the new highways and schools that must be built!
How about some decreases instead of increases ??