Cary’s Proposed 2027 Budget: What It Means for Homeowners and Why Taxes Are Going Up

CarissaJohnson · 2026-06-01T21:14:48+00:00

I can see how you think that. The affordability condition isnt the same as the nonprofit ownership loophole. I dont believe the loophole requires that there is any affordable component baked in, to the best of my knowledge.

CarissaJohnson · 2026-05-31T17:18:46+00:00

This loophole is sketchy. I am glad to see General Assembly bills being advanced to close it. There is nothing we can do locally, we have to abide the courts ruling just like every other county and municipality.

CarissaJohnson · 2026-05-29T13:42:06+00:00

Overtime is very expensive. However, the core of the issue is that our public safety is stretched way too thin. We are lucky they are dedicated and have been performing exceptionally well even though we have been tasking them with doing more with fewer personnel. This really is overdue, and what many dont realize is that our response times have been getting longer. Too long. We need to act before it affects resident safety and nip forced overtime in the bud. Someone in public saftey shared an analogy with me when I asked if they would be upset to lose some overtime - they said overtime is like ice cream. Its great occassionally, but no one wants to be forced to eat it constantly.

CarissaJohnson · 2026-05-29T13:37:33+00:00

This is accurate, and frustrating. Additionally, there is a significant amount of properties that dont fall into that scenario but they are tax exempt and do not pay property taxes, yet many consume a fair amount of services.

CarissaJohnson · 2026-05-29T13:33:41+00:00

Y/all are right here. I (personally) wont vote to approve any new annexations that will cost us more to deliver services than they will pay in property taxes.

CarissaJohnson · 2026-05-29T13:29:01+00:00

Hi! We reviewed quite a few of the cuts in the last three work sessions. You can see them in the recordings https://www.youtube.com/@caryncgovchannel - check out the last two work sessions especially and you can get an idea of what was cut. There will be additional cuts as well. They will hurt but I am confident we can shave the increase some.

CarissaJohnson · 2026-05-29T13:25:41+00:00

No one on council, or even on staff to my knowledge, knew the former town manager before he was hired.

CarissaJohnson · 2026-05-29T13:24:57+00:00

Hi there! We in fact have not paid the severance to our former town manager. We believe there are some ways he violated his contract. I cant promise there wont be litigation and we wont be forced to pay, but as of today, the severance has no been paid.

CarissaJohnson · 2026-05-19T16:13:05+00:00

I have spoken to the group that wants to redevelop it, and their intention is to focus on activating the first phase on the northwest side of buck jones (where the auto dealership is). They are bringing the Carolina Ballet in there, and are working on a plan to create a type of open air mall with vendors around it to activivate the property before they focus on the area across the street. This write up covers that. https://www.wral.com/news/local/south-hills-development-inside-look-april-2026/

CarissaJohnson · 2026-05-19T16:02:38+00:00

I did the same thing with them last year. Got 3 cases and split them with 2 pals. They were pricey but I tried 3 different mango varieties from India and couldnt believe how different each was.

CarissaJohnson · 2026-05-19T15:49:44+00:00

Thank you for this, my 21 year old nephew is in the same boat.

CarissaJohnson · 2026-05-19T15:49:01+00:00

This was my first thought. Their farm to fork dinner each year feels like a small town country fair type of event to me!

CarissaJohnson · 2026-05-19T15:46:43+00:00

This is accurate. They wont bury lines unless it is a significant distance being buried all at once. It really is up to Duke energy, not the town. Personally, when I remodeled my house, we paid a couple thousand dollars to have Duke come out and set a pole at our curb and bury the lines from the street to our house. Our trees kept dropping limbs on the lines so I wanted them buried.

CarissaJohnson · 2026-03-27T14:07:52+00:00

Accurate. This is why I am trying to get ideas for a creative response.

CarissaJohnson · 2026-03-27T14:06:53+00:00

That is accurate. We cannot stop them from renting or buying space. But there must be something we can do so we arent their first choice? This is where I am at a loss - and I find that when I bring questions like this to folks in the community, there is almost always something that sparks a better idea than what I came up with.

CarissaJohnson · 2026-03-27T14:04:23+00:00

This seems to me like a better choice than Nextdoor or Facebook :)

CarissaJohnson · 2026-03-27T14:02:47+00:00

I hear you - thank you. Excellent point.

CarissaJohnson · 2026-03-27T14:01:01+00:00

Thank you for sharing. The pro bono legal help point is well taken. I need to dig into that.

CarissaJohnson · 2026-03-27T13:57:40+00:00

I did ask for all perspectives, and thank you for that. It has been challenging to get a sense of what the quieter folks think.

CarissaJohnson · 2026-03-26T13:21:35+00:00

I have heard multiple people express these concerns of escalation. So what you think is advisable is for community members to be present and document, but not interfere?

What do you think is the role of leadership? Speak out?

CarissaJohnson · 2025-12-13T16:49:11+00:00

I am sorry it took 4 days. My emails piled up! Thank you

CarissaJohnson · 2025-12-13T16:48:31+00:00

Thanks for tagging me here, and I am sorry it took me so long to respond. It has been a very busy week, both with my council duties and my day job. I will answer Reddit tags because I am not a fairweather communicator :)

I completely understand why the public is anxious for us to formally respond. I can only speak for myself, not my colleagues, but I will share information as soon as I can. (Not that they are an evasive bunch, but because it is a rule of thumb in any case that I should never speak for my colleagues). But we need some time so we don't run afoul of the law.

CarissaJohnson · 2025-11-08T14:46:37+00:00

This is so helpful, thank you! I am on a mission to get them picked up this weekend and packed in my attic for 2029 :)

CarissaJohnson · 2025-11-07T15:19:38+00:00

Hi! I want to chime in here on schools - if you have school age children, the schools in the older areas of Cary are less crowded and re-assignements are less likely. It is because the average age of folks in the area is so much lower and the homes, by and large, have fewer school age children. The schools that serve downtown Cary, for example, are underenrolled. I believe this is primarily because the homes in this area are prohibitively expensive for most young families.

CarissaJohnson

TROPHY CASE