Cumberland County Mayor Allen Foster is calling for fiscal restraint following the approval of a new county budget that utilizes reserve funds to cover ongoing operational costs.
Foster said the recently approved budget for the 2026-2027 fiscal year avoids a property tax increase but relies on deficit spending within the school and general funds. Foster said the county must prioritize paying monthly bills with incoming revenue rather than depleting the local savings account.
“That’s what your fund balance should be used for, so you don’t have to take loans out and things like that,” Foster said, “And on the county side, that’s what we’ve tried to do is when we have those excess funds, we plan them, we use them, and then we can do things, one-time expenses to better our community.”
Foster said the county maintains healthy reserves in its fund balances that should be reserved for one-time purchases. Foster said the general fund gap can be managed over the next two years if officials allow local growth to catch up with spending levels.
“You know, you’re not going to go make your car payment out of your savings account every month because if you do, you’re going to run out pretty quick,” Foster said. “We don’t need to be deficit spending on recurring items.”
Foster said the county has historically used excess funds for one-time capital projects to improve the community and upgrade infrastructure without debt. Foster said he expects the Cumberland County Commission to pay closer attention to the structural gap between revenue and expenditures during the next fiscal year.
“It’s important that we respect the taxpayer’s dollar and make sure that the expenditures, especially the recurring things, are things we need and things that we can afford,” Foster said. “Sometimes you have to say no, sometimes you have to say, ‘Hey, let’s wait a year before we can do that while our growth catches up with us,’ because we don’t need to be putting all these expenditures on the taxpayer.”
Foster said the county has seen strong increases in revenue from property taxes and sales tax. Foster said the current financial situation is not an income problem but rather a need to ensure the county does not develop an expenditure problem.
“I want to make sure that everybody’s aware that there is a potential problem here and that everybody’s paying attention to this recurring spending next year,” Foster said.
Foster said he released a newsletter to constituents to explain the budget details and highlight the importance of conservative spending principles.
