Perquimans County Commissioners Approve FY 2026-27 Budget; Tax rate increase of 3 cents — or 5.5% — amid rising costs
HERTFORD — Your property taxes are going up in Perquimans County, and at least one resident wants you to think carefully about what that really means.
I love this scene from the television show Parks and Rec when Ron Swanson explains taxes — see link.
But on a serious note, though the point about taxes still stands, let’s start this story with how Perquimans County Board of Commissioners approved the 2026-27 budget Monday, including a property tax rate increase of 3 cents per $100 of assessed value — a raise of roughly 5.5% over the current rate, according to County Manager Brandon Shoaf’s budget message.
Shoaf drew up a general fund budget of $27,141,980.74, an increase of roughly $2.1 million over the current year’s amended budget of $25,046,646.26. To fund county operations, he recommended raising the property tax rate from 52 cents to 55 cents per hundred dollars of assessed value. Even with the increase, Shoaf noted, Perquimans would remain among the lowest-taxed counties in northeastern North Carolina.
The total value of taxable property in the county grew from approximately $2.04 billion to $2.20 billion. Sales tax revenues are projected to climb by more than $537,000 compared to last year’s budgeted amount, reaching a total of $3,437,783. The budget also draws on roughly $1.5 million in fund balance appropriations.
Among the biggest cost drivers cited by Shoaf were employee health insurance — projected to increase at least 5% to just under $10,000 per employee annually — and rising retirement contribution rates, now at 17.53% for general employees and 24.5% for law enforcement officers. A salary study recommending that county pay be brought closer to market rates would add approximately 3% to salary line items.
The proposed budget’s largest expenditures include Perquimans County Schools at $5,971,490 (22% of the general fund), Social Services at $3,955,623.58 (14.5%), Emergency Medical Services at $3,134,972.41 (11%), and the Sheriff’s Office at $2,946,273.33 (11%).
School funding drew particular attention. The school system had requested $4,164,180 for current expenses, but the proposed budget set the local current expense allocation at $3,882,090. The county also took on $637,800 in annual debt service for the new Intermediate School, which is expected to open in the fall of 2026. Once it does, the county will assume ownership and maintenance of the Grammar School and Middle School.
The budget also includes a capital package — with no impact on the FY 2026-27 budget but with future-year implications — covering eight patrol cars for the Sheriff’s Department, laptops and equipment for county staff, and EMS equipment including heart monitors and Lucas devices.
Other noteworthy items include increased fire department funding of $145,000 per department (up from $115,000), a library budget of $254,754, and a reduction of approximately $22,000 in the Albemarle District Jail assessment due to Chowan County joining the jail authority.
The water fund budget was set at $3,383,950.16, with water rates holding steady at $17.50 for a minimum bill. The solid waste fee remains unchanged at $190, though Shoaf warned that a new recycling contract could require a fee increase in the near future. The total solid waste fund is projected at $1,430,000.
The Board also heard that department budget requests totaled approximately $29.7 million — more than $4 million above anticipated revenues — underscoring the difficult choices commissioners faced in building the spending plan.
A Dissenting Voice
Not everyone in the room was satisfied.
One longtime resident took the floor to challenge not just this budget, but the trajectory of county spending over more than a decade — and to push back on how the increase is being characterized.
“They always paint these stories as a ‘3 cent rise’ instead of a percentage increase,” he said, “because saying 3 cents is much more palatable to the public than saying, ‘We are raising the tax you will pay on your house, boat, car, truck, trailer — by 5 and a half percent.’”
The resident, who said he moved to Perquimans County in 2016, noted that the county’s proposed budget that year stood at $14,635,035. A decade later, he argued, the real cost to taxpayers is approaching $30 million once the mid-year budget amendments that routinely follow adoption are factored in — nearly double what it was when he arrived.
“If Perquimans County had simply kept pace with inflation from 2016, tonight’s budget would have come in at about $21 million,” he said. “This means the local county government has been on a spending spree at twice the rate of inflation over the past dozen years.”
He noted that county commissioners have raised property taxes six times since 2016, with four of those increases coming in just the last six years — and that the increases themselves are growing larger. Monday’s 5.5% hike, he argued, far outpaces inflation.
“We are increasing faster and faster and at an even greater rate,” he said. “That is not a friendly trend.”
The resident also questioned whether investments in technology and staffing had produced any measurable savings or efficiency gains, and warned that if the housing market softens before the next property revaluation, the county’s locked-in spending obligations could leave taxpayers seriously exposed.
He also raised a transparency concern about mid-year budget amendments — adjustments that, unlike the annual budget, carry no statutory requirement for public comment. In recent years, he said, those amendments have totaled millions of dollars and are almost always bundled into the consent agenda, receiving little public scrutiny. He also stressed that in no way was he implying the commissioners were doing anything underhanded, he just felt more sunlight on such lofty amendments would be better for the public.
“It’s perfectly legal,” he acknowledged, “but it seems a bit odd. The consent agenda gives them cover to gloss over these adjustments throughout the year.”
His closing message to the board was blunt: “Please curb the runaway spending.”
The approved FY 2026-27 budget takes effect July 1.
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