This year's proposed budget is over $111 million dollars, up from last year's $106 million. The county is keeping its ad valorem tax rate of 73.75 cents per $100 of property. (Unlike New Hanover County, Pender did not have a revaluation this year, meaning property values have not shifted. Pender County recently went to a seven-year reval cycle, with the next reappraisals slated for 2026.)
Pender County's EMS tax rate of 9.25 cents and its various fire district tax rates have also stayed the same. Its sales tax rate of 2 cents locally and 4.75 cents on the state level will also remain. County finance officers estimate that the $10 billion tax base will yield about $75 million in revenue. Pender is also counting on revenue generated from interest and sales tax as well as a projected $13 million from state and federal sources.
Under this proposal, county employees would receive a 3% cost of living adjustment and keep their 2.5% 401(k) contributions. Pender also hopes to add 16 new jobs: four sheriff's deputies, four detention officers, one IT specialist, and seven utilities staff. The county has also introduced one-step salary table increases for employees hired before July 1, 2024 and reclassified dozens of jobs to "incentivize hard-to-fill positions."
The county commission had previously enacted a hiring and spending freeze on April 22, which is set to expire upon the passage of this year's budget. According to Commissioner Jimmy Tate, that freeze doesn't impact the 17 vacant positions with the county — only the creation of new jobs. Many open positions would be subject to reclassification — and in many cases, salary increases — under this year's budget proposal.
About 31% of this year's budget, some $35 million dollars, would go towards Pender County Schools. That's down from 40% of last year's budget, or approximately $43 million. That funding appears to have been directed towards the county's debt service — 9% of this year's budget, up from 1% of last year's budget.
That's roughly $32 million for county debt, and of that $32 million, two-thirds is for "school assets not owned by the county."
County officials attribute this increase to the beginning of bond payments for J.H. Lea Elementary and J.H. Lea Middle School in Hampstead, which are slated to open in Fall 2027.
Pender County will be accepting public comments on the budget during its regular county commission meeting on June 16th. County officials hope to pass the budget that same night.
Read the budget proposal in full here.
