Durham residents generally like where their city is headed and feel good about fire services, quality of life and overall customer service from city employees. But there’s one thing they’re frustrated with: their taxes.
The city conducts a yearly survey to assess resident satisfaction and to reevaluate funding priorities. Between 2024 and 2025, the survey score for “value received for local property taxes” dropped by almost 10 percent, falling from 38.5% to 28.6%.
“That was one area where we saw a decline,” said Shari Metcalfe, Durham’s strategy and performance manager. “Folks were hit, and you could see it in their property taxes, so we’re not surprised we saw that.”
Over the past year, city residents experienced a triple blow: higher property values, higher city taxes, and higher county taxes.
Property values in Durham jumped following a countywide property revaluation last April.
Afterwards, the county raised its tax rate by 3.5 cents per $100 of assessed value. The city followed with a 5.5 cent increase above its revenue-neutral rate.
This year, the survey was sent to 5,000 random addresses in the city, and about 700 residents responded.
The survey showed improvements in 74 of 90 areas — the biggest increase Durham has seen in recent years.
“That was a surprise this year,” Metcalfe said. “It was so much more positive than it normally is.”
One emerging frustration for residents, in addition to rising taxes: yard waste.
Satisfaction with yard waste collection services decreased by 6.8 percent from 2024 to 2025, dropping from 76.8% to 70.0%.
Aside from property taxes and yard waste services, residents’ top frustrations were mainly unchanged from earlier years: faulty road maintenance, low pedestrian facility quality, and public transportation.
Street conditions remain a common frustration among residents year after year, but city officials say the issue isn’t Durham-specific.
“We put millions of dollars into the streets. We fix them, and then we get snow, and then we have more issues — it’s like a constant thing,” Metcalfe said. “But when we compare ourselves to other places, we’re not alone in that.”
She added that many roads are owned by the state rather than the city, limiting Durham’s ability to make repairs. “Many residents don’t know that, so that’s also one of the things we deal with,” Metcalfe said.
But even with the recent property tax increase and street condition concerns, overall satisfaction remained very high.
“Year over year, we’re really looking at whether we’re going in the right direction,” Metcalfe said. “That’s where we’re trying to get to.”
Bridget Mills
