Waxhaw’s Taxes, Growth and Debt
The Waxhaw Board of Commissioners spent much of its August 25 work session looking several years into the future—and the financial picture presented to the board made one thing clear: Waxhaw has some significant choices ahead. The meeting focused on the town’s five-year capital improvement plan, its cash position and fund balance, the cost of…
Waxhaw’s Crossroads: The Urgent Need to Rebalance Our Tax Base
Property taxes have been on many residents’ minds lately, and the conversation often focuses on cutting costs or tightening the budget. But there’s another powerful way a town can keep taxes in check, by shaping development to create a balanced and diversified tax base.
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Waxhaw Budget Download
Transparency and accessibility are essential—especially when it comes to how your tax dollars are being spent. With the June 10th public hearing on the proposed FY 2025–2026 town budget approaching, I’ve taken the time to configure a simplified, filterable version of the full budget spreadsheet – the Waxhaw Budget Download. This version removes unnecessary formatting…
Waxhaw’s Spending Trends
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…
Waxhaw’s Budget – Inflation, Population, or Imagination?
Fiscal Responsibility: Striking a Balance in Waxhaw’s Budget 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…
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Taxes and Residential Development
https://youtu.be/LlbmalwK2eM 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 unexpectedly commented on taxes and residential development. He stated that “you never get more tax dollars from development unless it’s non-residential”.…
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 Waxhaw 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…
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,…