The U.S. Census Bureau has released its annual population estimates for all cities in the U.S. According to the figures, as of July 1, 2007, Greenville has passed Asheville and Jacksonville to become the 10th largest city in the state of North Carolina with a population of 76,058; that’s an increase of 3.4% above the 2006 estimate (down from the 3.95% growth of 2005 to 2006).

“Greenville has been experiencing steady growth for several years,” said City Manager Wayne Bowers. “As a result, the City has added personnel to meet a growing service demand. This fiscal year, the City Council authorized adding nine police officers and a peak staffing EMS crew to address the public safety needs of our community.”

The City continues to seek out and implement technological enhancements to allow it to operate more efficiently and so that residents will not see an increase in taxes. The continued growth of the tax base allowed the City to lower the property tax rate to the revenue-neutral tax rate in this year’s budget. Most owners experienced an increase in the value of their property due to the revaluation process, but the revenue-neutral rate will result in no City tax increase for the average property owner.

“We are aware that times are getting tight financially for our citizens,” said Bowers. “It was important to both the City staff and City Council that we maintain our high level of service and keep the tax burden about the same here while many other communities are finding it necessary to raise taxes and/or cut services.”

Last year, Greenville had the second fastest growth for a municipality of more than 40,000 (second behind Cary). This year, Greenville is the fifth fastest growing city behind Huntersville (whose growth rate of 9.1% put them above the 40,000 mark for the first time), Cary (7.2%), Raleigh (4.2%), and Concord (3.8%).