KANNAPOLIS — The proposed zero-increase budget that was presented to Kannapolis City Council in May was officially approved last week and goes into effect on July 1.

The budget totals $94.9 million and means no property tax increase for local residents.

City Manager Mike Legg worked with the council to focus the budget on several guiding principals, including:

• Maintaining and improving city services to meet the needs of the city.
• Retaining existing employees and new people to work for the city.
• Saving cash reserves to be used for future one-time capital projects once the Imagine Kannapolis Strategic Planning Process is completed later this year.

The Imagine Kannapolis plan is already in the early stages of research and development with community members, staff, and outside consultants now working on the focus areas of what apparently will be a major project for the city moving forward.

As the 20th largest city in North Carolina and with a growing number of people moving into the community each year, Kannapolis has focused much of the 2023 project on building up the city’s current infrastructure and workforce in order to better meet the needs of the population.

The city anticipates growth to continue in coming years as well, with projections showing growth at an annual rate of 2.2%, pushing the population to at least 77,000 residents by 2040.

The current tax rate for the budget will remain at .63 cents per $100 valuation. The majority of the city’s revenues come from two sources — property taxes (57% of the budget) and sales taxes (22% of the budget).

Despite issues involving employee shortages, inflation, supply chain issues and construction costs largely due to the lingering impacts of COVID, Kannapolis officials remain optimistic about the future of the community.