WILMINGTON — A popular law enforcement unit could be axed as the city grapples with maintaining a competitively paid workforce with budget talks continuing for next fiscal year.
READ MORE: Wilmington council grapples with revenue deficit, capital projects in budget meeting
“Currently we are confronted with unusual inflation, limited revenue growth, labor market pressures and an unpredictable nature of state and federal policies, all which impact the financial prospects of the city,” said Laura Mortell, the city’s budget director who gave a presentation to council this week.
Though revenue growth is stable, she added it is not keeping up with expenses and rising costs. To balance the $306-million budget — up $7.5 million from last year — the city manager asked every department for a list of potential expenses that could be cut. From the Wilmington Police Department, the mounted horse unit was suggested. This would save $351,656 to put toward recruitment and retention of public safety employees.
Mortell presented to council a suggested tax rate of 28.25 cents per $100, down roughly 14 cents from last year’s 42.25. The 2025-26 tax rate is one-tenth of a cent more than a net-neutral rate of 28.15, but the city policy is to round up to the quarter.
State law requires government entities to publish a revenue neutral rate during property revaluation year, which is done in New Hanover County every four years. A neutral tax rate means the city would collect the same amount of property tax revenue as the previous year, despite increased property values.
City property assessments increased by 53% since 2021’s revaluation, Mortell told council. Whereas the current city budget has assessed property values around $23 billion, next fiscal year it increases to $35 billion.
To break it down, if the new budget is approved at 28.25 cents per $100, it will have homeowners paying roughly $28 more annually for a property valued at $364,408 — previously $238,300 in the last revaluation.
The most money from the city’s budget is going to public safety at 47%. For months, there have been ongoing discussions in the city regarding pay scale and how to retain and attract personnel in both fire and police departments.
CATCH UP: City council considers $1.6M mid-year raise for first responders during latest budget session
According to Mortell, a competitive compensation package makes up roughly $8.6 million in the budget. It includes adjusting public safety pay and adding a senior firefighter and police officer. Employees will also be able to advance to senior-level roles three years after certification as a firefighter and sworn police officer.
To invest in its people, the budget includes cutting one portion of the WPD — its mounted unit. Mortell told council the significant time and expenses dedicated to the horses’ grooming, feeding, transporting and preparing for patrol can be better appropriated.
“They’re not deemed essential and the savings could be more effectively utilized to help us with that competitive compensation package,” she said.
The mounted police unit consists of four officers and five horses; it patrols the downtown area primarily, though also goes to Mayfaire and in Wilmington neighborhoods on occasion. It started in 1989 and remains among a few left statewide. It’s also popular with the community and WPD often holds horse-naming surveys — the most recent one conducted in March for its fifth horse added to the unit, with a social media post garnering more than 500 likes and plenty of shares.
Lt. Greg Willett with WPD said the obvious benefit of the mounted unit is community engagement since people often approach officers on horses to interact. But there are other benefits, too.
“Being visible helps prevent crime,” he said. “Officers sitting on horses have more visibility and can see over crowds more easily. We have used horses on searches in the past for patrolling what few areas of Wilmington are wooded and not as easily accessible, they can cover a lot of ground along with bikes and other vehicles like ATV’s. The officers on the mounted unit answer calls for service like any other officer assigned to the street. They take reports and make arrests.”
WPD would love to keep the unit, Willett said, as the horses are particularly helpful when it comes to managing hordes of people. However, the cut would likely mean the city would sell off equipment, as well as Romeo, Willie, Ranger, Comet, and the newly acquired fifth horse. The four officers will be placed elsewhere in the police department, according to Willett.
Mortell told council the pay scale at the city is falling short of market standards, according to an analysis conducted by staff, and across multiple positions, not just public safety. As such, the budget prioritizes a minimum wage increase of more than $17 for regular employees and the city is reducing its health insurance premiums across all tiers by $50 a month for employees’ shares. Employees currently cover 30% of their premiums, which Mortell said was “significantly higher” when compared to other municipalities; reducing it will help the city remain competitive, she noted.
A new $55,000 position is also being added as assistant to the city clerk. According to Mortell, this is to help with the rise of public records requests which go through the clerk’s office.
There also are 14 full-time vacancies in the city that Mortell said would not be filled, including an accountant, assistant fire chief, DEI specialist and others, to free up funds.
The Safelight Camera program will be discontinued, but the city has allocated $63,000 to install its own cameras at intersection locations. The city’s traffic engineering department and the WPD have advocated to keep the program in the past, as cameras are used to investigate traffic collisions. Installing city-owned cameras will provide them real-time data, still, without the $200,000-plus operating costs.
Also being cut from the budget: concessions at both Legion Stadium and Olsen Park. This will shore up $105,000. According to budget documents, the program isn’t financially viable since the city transferred its food and beverage program to Live Nation to run at Greenfield Lake Amphitheater. Legion Stadium concessions have primarily been used for New Hanover High School events and at Olsen Park for an adult softball league.
“Without a substantial renovation to modernize the stadium for high-revenue events, its primary use will likely remain limited to the high school,” budget documents indicate.
The city plans to pay down its debt, particularly for the purchase of the Skyline Center, by selling remaining surplus properties once in the city’s portfolio, de-obligating funds for the rail realignment project and utilizing its sustainable parking program to help pay for the Skyline parking deck. Cumulatively, it will total around $2.1 million, to be redirected to the general fund in FY 2025-2026.
Fees are also increasing in various areas of the budget. This includes residential parking permits; the first three permits per address are $50 instead of $40, with additional permits now costing $65 instead of $50. Long-term visitor permits also increased by $10 — now $50 — with a second one costing $125 instead of $100. Short-term visitor permits are increasing by $5 as well.
A stormwater fee adjustment for equivalent residential units will escalate by 29 cents, to come in just under $9.
Players at the muni golf course will see expenses rise as well. This includes $2 more for golf cart rentals, along with a $3 increase for riding punch cards and $1 for walking punch cards.
The city is also putting $57,000 toward prescreening cancer services offered to all firefighters at a minimum of every two years. It’s a proactive approach as the industry is highly susceptible to cancers, accounting for 66% of deaths from 2002 to 2019, according to the National Firefighter Registry. This is due to firefighters’ exposure to toxic smoke and chemicals, such as PFAS in firefighting foam.
Two more budget work sessions are to take place — on May 16 and 30 — with a public hearing set for May 20. A first and second reading of the budget is planned for June 3 and 17. The full budget can be accessed here.
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