The Morrisville town council on Tuesday night voted 4-2 in favor of a $60.4 million budget for fiscal year 2027. The council’s conversation after the vote reflected disagreements about how to approach the town’s long-term financial planning, with some tension between council members.
The budget keeps Morrisville’s tax rate unchanged at $0.35 per $100 of assessed property value, one of the lowest rates in Wake County. Multiple council members stressed that this was a priority for them and their constituents. But it came with trade-offs.
The town is projecting a $1.6 million drop in property tax revenue next year due to successful tax appeals, as town manager Brandon Zuidema informed the council at previous budget meetings. That means Morrisville must find ways to reduce expenditures in order to pass a balanced budget, as is required by state law.
In consultation with the town council, Zuidema and his staff proposed a budget that funds essential town services and adds 10 new full- and part-time police, fire, IT, and planning positions to support the town’s growth and development. The budget does not fund certain building repairs and fleet replacements that town staff requested. It lowers the staff’s annual cost-of-living adjustment from the typical 2% to 1%. It defers some road maintenance, and it dips into Morrisville’s capital reserves to the tune of about $300,000.
Zuidema and multiple council members described this as a “compromise” budget and a fiscally conservative hedge against possible future revenue losses from revaluations or legislation.
“I am committed to doing my best to keep our tax rate as reasonable as possible for as long as possible,” council member Liz Johnson said after the vote. “There are many unknowns to come.”
Johnson, along with council members Satish Garimella, Harrison Kesling, and Vicki Scroggins-Johnson voted for the budget. Mayor pro tem Anne Robotti was absent from the meeting, but Mayor TJ Cawley shared a written message from her indicating she also would have supported the budget if she had been there.
The two “no” votes, Cawley and council member Ashit Patel, offered opposite justifications.
Cawley said that rather than keeping the tax rate flat, he supports small, incremental increases to fund investments like cost-of-living adjustments and road projects.
“Freezing the tax rate every year … is a constraint that limits our ability to serve our residents,” Cawley said after the vote. “I believe there are ways to ensure that people are not left behind, while still making the investments that keep Morrisville strong. We can support those who are struggling through targeted programs and partnerships, while also maintaining the services and infrastructure that define our quality of life.”
Patel, on the other hand, said he supported keeping taxes flat but would have liked to see deeper cuts to services.
“If we do not change the course, we’ll be back here next year asking residents to pay more,” he said.
Ahead of the budget vote, Patel, one of the newest council members, posted on social media claiming his council colleagues had “ignored” his suggestions for spending cuts. He has since edited the post to be more conciliatory.
“I was deeply offended by your social media posts,” Scroggins-Johnson told Patel from the dais after the vote, insisting that she had not ignored him. “We signed an agreement to not personally attack or defame any of our council members. … The election is over. We need every single person on this dais to work together … I believe you have so much good vision for this town, but please do not make me less because you didn’t get exactly [what] you wanted.”
“I think the members of this council, all of us, have gone above and beyond not only to welcome but encourage our newest elected officials to participate in all that we do,” Johnson said, echoing Scroggins-Johnson. “We are not going to all agree. That does not in any way mean we have ignored anyone’s position or their opinion. We just have differing opinions.”
Patel apologized for his “poor choice of words.”
“What I was trying to do was justify why I’m voting no for the budget, and what I felt was accurate, because aside from that particular sentence, everything else I was trying to convey was the reason why I’m voting no for this project,” he said.
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