The council adopted the FY27 budget (Ordinance 3188), keeping the town tax rate at 29¢ per $100 valuation, raising the municipal service district rate to 55¢, increasing the monthly sanitation fee by $1.25, and approving a 2% water/sewer rate increase for availability and capacity charges.

Southern Pines adopted a rewrite of open‑space UDO provisions that prioritizes preservation of sensitive natural areas and tree protection; council selected staff’s recommended full‑preserved option and added clarifications allowing removal of invasive vines and noxious vegetation by town arborist determination.

Town staff presented a draft arrangement for the Moore County Airport requiring Southern Pines to provide certified firefighting personnel for scheduled commercial flights; the airport would supply facilities and equipment and reimburse the town at an extra-duty rate, with initial training costs and annual recertification covered by the airport and training partners.

Planning staff told council that Southern Pines has received no inquiries for large data centers and is unlikely to attract hyper-scale facilities due to limited power infrastructure; the council also reviewed a social-district application from Red's Corner and was asked to consider whether the town should be the grantee for a federal preservation agreement for Trinity AME Zion Church (staff recommended other preservation organizations).

Police Chief Polori defended the town's eight Flock license-plate reader cameras as an investigative and retroactive search tool, while council members raised privacy, audit, security and potential misuse concerns and asked staff to keep community outreach and policy review ongoing.