Over the past five fiscal years, Waxhaw’s government spending trends have increased significantly across multiple departments. While population growth and inflation have contributed to rising costs, spending in several areas has outpaced both metrics. As we progress through budget season, it’s helpful to visualize departmental budget growth from FY20-21 through FY24-25. These increases might seem […]
Taxes
Waxhaw’s Budget – Inflation, Population, or Imagination?
Fiscal Responsibility: Striking a Balance in Waxhaw’s Budget Fiscal responsibility is a cornerstone of good governance. In Waxhaw, a growing and vibrant community, managing financial resources efficiently is critical to supporting both present and future needs. However, recent budgetary trends raise important questions about whether we are aligning our spending growth with realistic and sustainable […]
Taxes and Residential Development
On Friday, March 8th in a special meeting of the Waxhaw Board of Commissioners, Randall Arendt (Fellow of the Royal Town Planning Institute) from Greener Prospects was brought in as an expert, and stated that “you never get more tax dollars from development unless it’s non-residential”. However, there are a few exceptions: If this is […]
Waxhaw Parks & Rec
We love parks and green space, but what are the real needs of our community? The Town of Waxhaw is currently growing the Parks & Rec staff and budget by leaps and bounds in an effort to align with “benchmarks” from NRPA (a private nonprofit). Why the quotes around that word? Well, because the NRPA […]
The Vicious Waxhaw Circle
As local property taxes go up, long-time residents with land may not be able to afford them. Over time they end up selling their land and moving away. This paves the way for higher-density development and higher population. The increased population boosts town revenues, and elected officials tend to find a way to spend it […]
20% Property Tax Hike
On July 22nd, 2021, the BOC voted for a budget which did not compensate for the enormous rise in property values post-revaluation. The revenue neutral rate of 32 cents for every $100 of value was ignored. By maintaining the rate of 38.5 cents, property tax revenues subsequently shot up by about 20%. To justify this, […]