Before their vote to adopt a $261.74 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year Tuesday evening, Apex’s five voting Town Council members all acknowledged it was a difficult decision for them to approve a 1.75-cent property tax increase for residents.
Councilmember Ed Gray likened it to his 28-year-long marriage to his wife, “the smartest, most beautiful, most intelligent and caring person on this entire planet.”
“Our secret is simple,” he said. “No one’s happy. I say that partially joking, but I also say that seriously; the budget that we are coming up with, no one is going to be happy with. I guarantee you that no one is going to be happy, and honestly, I don’t know if anybody should be happy.”
The council had deliberated over three different budget proposals for several weeks leading up to Tuesday’s vote, considering an original proposal from town staff that would have raised taxes by 3.5 cents, the revised and ultimately adopted 1.75-cent option, and a 0-cent increase option pushed by Mayor Jacques Gilbert.
At the last minute, Gilbert, who does not get to vote, presented another 0-cent increase proposal that would have deferred a number of planned town projects into the future but preserved money for the town’s public safety and infrastructure needs.
“As mayor of this town, I’m looking for ways that we can be creative, and we’ve heard that from many members, like, ‘Hey, really dig deep and try to figure out, is there another way?’” Gilbert said before the vote. “I understand the needs of this community, but if we can get out of here tonight without a tax increase and still get many things accomplished, I would like my colleagues to strongly consider that and to support it.”
His colleagues did not.
The adopted budget for fiscal year 2026–27 is a 6.55% increase over the last fiscal year, according to Apex’s Budget and Performance Management Director Jessica Hoffman, and the new tax rate with the approved increase will be 37.35 cents.
The budget increases the town’s general fund to $122 million. General fund expenditures will cover a new fire administration building and renovations to a fire station, plus public safety radios, GoApex transit improvements, and new bus stops. Capital equipment, improvements, and projects will total $14.67 million.
The town will add 15.5 new positions, with eight in public safety and the rest in parks and recreation, development, and internal services.
Solid waste service fees will increase by $3 a month, while electric rates will go up 6.25%, or a $10.26 per month increase for the average resident, said Hoffman. In total, residents will pay about $300 more annually for all services including water and sewer.
Mayor Pro Tem Terry Mahaffey said before the vote that he doesn’t take the decision to raise taxes lightly. He added that Apex has had “a really strong record of responsible budgeting” in the past several years, with small or no tax increases, but the town is growing.
“We can’t ask residents to accept this and then fail to fund public basic safety standards that the growth requires,” Mahaffey said. “[The budget] does not fund … every project as quickly as we might like, but it preserves the core responsibility of local government: keeping residents safe, maintaining essential services, and planning for infrastructure, or growing community needs. … Parks, greenways, transportation connections, downtown infrastructure, playgrounds—these aren’t luxuries. These are what our residents expect of us, and it comes up time and time again in the service that we do.”
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