New Hanover County Commissioners approve new budget with half-cent property tax rate decrease

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - New Hanover County Commissioners passed the proposed budget for fiscal year 2023-24 on Monday night, but the vote was not unanimous.

The budget includes a half-cent property tax decrease, meaning the county will have a rate of 45 cents in the coming fiscal year. Commissioner LeAnn Pierce cast the only dissenting vote, saying she thought the budget should have included a tax cut of a full penny per $100 of property, instead of a half-cent.

According to a news release from county, the $590 million budget includes more than one million dollars for economic incentives and $10 million for capital projects for New Hanover County Schools. The final budget will be published in the coming weeks, but you can find highlights from the adopted budget here.

Commissioners also approved several appropriations from the county’s General Fund revenues, including:

• $100,000 to the Arts Council of Wilmington/New Hanover County to support arts-driven economic development
• $27,300 to the Cape Fear Council of Governments Continuum of Care for Homelessness to work towards helping people without homes
• $4,500 to Cape Fear Resource Conservation and Development to support assessments and projects for local stormwater systems and watersheds.
• $28,000 to Cucalorus Film Foundation in support of filmmakers, performers and other artists in the film industry
• $5,000 to Friends of Fort Fisher in support of lectures, reenactments and other activities that attract visitors
• $75,000 to Genesis Block Labs, LLC to support minority-owned firms, entrepreneurs and underserved business networks
• $197,652 to the Greater Wilmington Chamber of Commerce for business retention, expansion and recruitment
• $5,000 to the Highway 17 Transportation Association in NC, Inc., to support government relations with state and federal officials and tell the public about the benefits of transportation investments.
• $20,313 to the Southeastern Economic Development Commission in support of project development to solicit funding from the U.S. Economic Development Administration.
• $20,000 to The Southeastern Partnership, Inc., in support of providing targeted industry-specific marketing
• $292,782 to Wilmington Business Development in support of its efforts to give recruitment and assistance for business expansion and/or relocation efforts
• $100,000 to Wilmington Downtown, Inc. to support its initiatives and operations to grow sales tax revenues in downtown districts
• $154,752 to the Wilmington Regional Film Commission to work towards the promotion and assistance of local film and TV productions
• $12,500 to the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra to support its work to perform music and provide music education programs

Copyright 2023 WECT. All rights reserved.