Mecklenburg will dip deeper into reserves to fund 3 nonprofits in 2026 budget
Mecklenburg commissioners voted Thursday to dip further into county reserves to restore some funding to a trio of organizations in the county’s budget.
County Manager Dena Diorio’s proposed budget for the new fiscal year included $13.8 million in spending reductions for county departments and $6 million in cuts for nonprofits. Diorio also called for a property tax increase to address a $29 million deficit.
But county commissioners decided during budget straw votes meeting Thursday to add back in $502,530 in spending to partially fulfill funding requests from three community organizations.
Commissioners voted 5-4 to give $396,250 to Crisis Assistance Ministry to support a financial literacy program for people facing the threat of eviction. Commissioner Susan Rodriguez-McDowell proposed granting the group’s full request of $792,500, but that motion failed.
The board also voted 5-4 in favor of $36,280 for a RAIN Charlotte program providing HIV testing and access to preventative medication as well as $70,000 for the Community Culinary School’s workforce development efforts.
All of those amounts are half of what the organizations requested. County chair Mark Jerrell said the partial funding will help the organizations “ramp down” county-funded programming or find other funding sources.
“Everybody’s clear on what that off ramp is,” he said.
The money will come from the county’s “rainy day fund.” Diorio again cautioned commissioners from using too much of that fund balance because of concerns about federal funding and the state of the economy. Her budget included just $30 million in spending from the rainy day fund, the lowest amount in her 11-year tenure.
“This budget is a delicate balance,” she said Thursday.
Diorio said the funding cuts to nonprofits were based on analysis of the groups’ performance, including how many people their programming helped and whether they met goals laid out in their agreements with the county.
“The reduction to nonprofit organizations is long overdue,” she said. “While we have asked our departments to reduce spending each and every year, totaling $218 million since 2015, we have not required nonprofit partners to do the same.”
The additional spending approved Thursday won’t drive up the property tax increase in Diorio’s proposed budget. Her budget calls for an increase of 0.96 cents per $100 in valuation, which would cost the median Mecklenburg homeowner about $36 a year.
County commissioners unofficially signed on other parts of the budget during their straw votes, including fully funding Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ $699 million budget request.
The commission will officially vote on whether to approve the budget at its June 3 meeting.
