Across the Triangle, Voters Say Yes to Bonds—Except in Cary

Across the Triangle, voters were asked to approve hundreds of millions of dollars in proposed bond measures, ranging from K-12 education and public libraries to streets and sidewalks, parks, and affordable housing. In Wake and Orange counties, and in Durham, voters said yes to the bonds on their ballots, except for Cary voters who rejected bonds for affordable housing and parks projects.

Here’s how the votes broke down across the region, and a recap of exactly what the bond money will pay for.

Durham Municipal Bonds

Two bonds on the ballot—one for parks, valued at $85 million, the other for streets and sidewalks, valued at $115 million—passed with more than 70 percent of the vote with more than 100,000 votes cast. At the highest end, a possible tax increase for homeowners to cover the bonds would be 3.46¢ for each $100 of assessed property value, which, for the average home in Durham works out to about nine dollars extra a month, or a little over $100 a year.

The parks bond will pay for upgrades to Long Meadow and East End parks, plus construction of a new water park beside the Wheels Roller Rink at Merrick-Moore Park. The streets and sidewalks bond will cover various road and sidewalk repairs, street paving projects, and sidewalk buildouts listed in the city’s capital improvement projects.

Dubbed the Connecting Durham bonds, Durham’s city council members were the initiatives’ biggest champions, but they weren’t the only ones in favor. Residents representing different pockets of Durham, from futsal enthusiasts to environmentalists, organized in favor of the bonds and their $200 million price tag.

The bonds come just in time, too. In October, Durham city council adopted new design standards for transportation infrastructure. The new standards will modernize the city’s building methods and prioritize features like sidewalks and bike lanes, increasing equitable mobility overall, something residents have been clamoring for.

Wake County Library Bond

Across Wake County, voters approved a $142 million public libraries bond that will see the construction of new libraries, renovations of others, and the expansion of the Fuquay-Varina Community Library to a new regional library.

The bond will come at a minimal cost to taxpayers—just an additional $2.50 per $100,000 of assessed property value per year, or about $11.87 extra on the annual tax bill for a homeowner whose home is worth $474,750, the median property value for Wake County in April of this year.

Here’s what the new facilities and renovations the bond will pay for:

New libraries

A new community library in Rolesville

A new community library in the Friendship area of Apex

Replacement of the Athens Drive Community Library

Replacement of the Wendell Community Library

A new, TBD facility to promote digital equity

Renovations to eight existing library locations

Express Library on Fayetteville Street

Green Road Community Library

Leesville Community Library

Northeast Regional Library

Richard B. Harrison Community Library

Southeast Regional Library

Zebulon Community Library

Library Administration Building

Town of Cary Municipal Bonds

Definitely the most expensive set of bond referenda on voters’ ballots, the Town of Cary asked residents to approve a combined $590 million to pay for affordable housing initiatives (worth $30 million) and six parks projects, worth a combined $560 million.

Voters said no.

The affordable housing bond failed by a three-point margin, or 47,987 votes against to 45,621 in favor. The parks bond failed by a wider margin of about 10 points, with 51,527 votes against to 42,298 in favor.

If voters had approved the bonds, the town’s tax rate would have increased by 9¢ (8.5¢ for parks and 0.5¢ for housing), staggered in 3¢ incremental increases in 2026, 2028, and 2030. 

Orange County Schools/Chapel-Hill Carrboro City Schools Bonds

The countywide, $300 million education bond referendum, approved by about 68 percent of voters, will provide approximately $175 million to Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools (CHCCS) and approximately $125 million to Orange County Schools (OCS) to be used only for school facility improvements.

The current spending plan calls for the replacement of five elementary schools and a middle school: replacing Carrboro, Estes Hills, and Frank Porter Graham Elementaries in the CHCCS system and replacing Orange County Elementary and Middle Schools and a major renovation or addition in OCS. 

Based on current projections, the bond is projected to cost a property taxpayer $34.10 for every $100,000 of assessed property value.

The bond, though, will only cover a portion of the estimated $1 billion in improvements needed over the next 15 years to bring the districts’ facilities up to modern standards.

And despite the high approval rate, not everyone has full faith in the elected board officials. In the CHCCS system, community members have separately questioned the implementation of the recent staff-downsizing plan as enrollment in the district has declined. It will be difficult to truly take the temperature of the populace until several board members are up for election in 2025.

Chapel Hill Bond Referenda

Across five separate referenda, Chapel Hill voters overwhelmingly approved $44 million for a slew of connectivity and equity focused projects. These include: 

• $15 million for affordable housing (to build new, preserve existing, acquire property to build on, leverage state and federal funding, and create regional partnerships) 
• $15 million for public facilities (to replace Fire Stations 3 and 4 with new facilities) 
• $7.5 million for streets and sidewalks (to improve and expand connectivity and ADA accessibility on Fordham Boulevard and Ephesus Church Road and support sidewalk projects in areas near schools and transit) 
• $4.5 million for parks and recreation facilities (to replace artificial turf on Homestead Park playing fields, replace the community center climbing wall, build a splash bad, enhance pickleball courts, and more) 
• $2 million for open space and greenways (to build the Bolin Creek Greenway Extension).

The town’s debt fund allocates money to pay debts and build future debt capacity, so the funds will be distributed without any tax increase for residents.

Comment on this story at [email protected].