Help Guide RaleighForward’s Priorities and Programming for 2023

The Raleigh City Council election is finally upon us! On Tuesday, voters will decide either that Raleigh should stay the course set in 2019 when the current Council was first elected or that course corrections are needed. Whatever the outcome, residents can expect to see a flurry of activity starting as soon as the new Council is seated in December. Because Raleigh Councilors are all elected at the same time and serve 2-year terms, the first few months are critical in setting the legislative agenda for the entire term.  

The first order of business for the Mayor is appointments to Council’s various committees. This is a key decision because committees conduct much of the substantive work of the Council, particularly regarding development regulations, land use policies, personnel/organizational priorities, parks/greenways and transit/transportation.  The budget is a critical policy tool that Council will begin reviewing in early 2023. Raleigh is required to adopt a budget before July 1 of each year and that sets funding priorities for Council’s first year in office.  While City staff puts an initial draft budget together as 2022 comes to an end, Council typically begins the public budgeting process in February, 2023.  As the budget proceeds through the public review process, Council will begin addressing its policy priorities by directing staff to study particular proposals and/or to develop text changes to implement various priorities.  

It’s also during the initial months of a new term that relationships form (particularly when new Councilors are elected) and alliances emerge that often determine whether an effective governing coalition is possible.  Even when an effective governing coalition emerges, it still takes anywhere from several months to over a year for staff to complete appropriate studies, draft necessary code amendments (text changes) and for those to work through the public engagement process before Council ever takes a formal vote to adopt a new policy or text change. Then 16 to 18 months into a 2-year term, electoral politics start to permeate the governing process, so Councilors are less likely to propose new, potentially controversial legislative initiatives.

Considering the compressed nature of the Raleigh policymaking process due to its 2-year term structure, RaleighForward wants your input to help determine priorities and programming for 2023.  Please select the seven most important issues the City should address in 2023 from the list below:. For the item about staggered terms, you can find more context via this Study Group report.