Public hearings are ahead for Wake County’s 2014 budget proposal from manager David Cooke. 

Under it, total spending would rise by $44 million, or about 4.7 percent, with education and public safety each getting $9 million of the increase. Some $17 million of the increase would go pay for capital projects and debt service.

For the fifth year in a row, Cooke holds the property tax rate at 53.4 cents.