Guilford County taxpayers aren’t done voting on school debt.
As Elon Musk can tell you, $2 billion doesn’t go as far as it once did.
According to Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston, county voters could be looking at a $550 million school bond within the next few years – a move he said may be unavoidable given escalating construction costs, inflation since the pandemic, and the number of schools that still aren’t funded after the 2020 and 2022 referenda.
Those two referenda totaled $2 billion for school construction and renovation. However, once you add the interest cost over the life of the debt, the county taxpayers’ total obligation comes to roughly $3.1 billion.
Guilford County has only recently begun paying that back, and those payments will continue for decades.
Even with that amount on the books, Alston said it’s still not enough to build all the schools the district had planned.
He laid out the problem succinctly.
“The real number they needed back in 2018 was $2.6 billion to $2.8 billion,” Alston said. “But they dared not put that amount on the ballot; so, that’s why they said $2 billion.”
That shortfall, he said, was baked in before anyone had ever heard of COVID-19. Once the pandemic hit, construction inflation soared.
“That added at least another 30 percent onto that,” Alston said. “Everything went up – supplies, labor, all of it.”
Add inflation on top of the original gap between the needs study and the referendum amount, he said, and the school system ended up hundreds of millions of dollars short.
According to Alston, that combination of factors created “a deficit there of about $1.3 billion.”
The result, Alston said, is that schools the county expected to build with the 2020 and 2022 bond money now can’t be built because of the lack of funds.
“We’ve got about six or seven schools that are on the list that aren’t going to be able to be built based on this $2 billion,” Alston said. “The money’s running out.”
Alston also said that the number he’s hearing now from school officials is that a new $550 million bond would be needed to close part of the gap. That still wouldn’t cover everything, but it would keep the long-term school construction plan alive, he added.
“I’m thinking about another at least $550 million over the next three to four years,” the chairman said.
He emphasized that no decision has been made and no referendum is scheduled yet; however, he added that the need is real and growing. He estimated any new bond vote would likely come in 2028 or 2029.
Meanwhile, the county is still paying back the $3.1 billion and change.
According to the 2025-2026 county budget adopted in June, the total combined debt service for school capital projects – including both the repayment of principal and interest – is projected to be over $3.1 billion through fiscal year 2052. The underlying bond principal, meanwhile, totals about $2.08 billion, based on the $1.7 billion referendum in 2022, the $300 million referendum in 2020, and about $79 million in prior outstanding debt service included from earlier years.
That means Guilford County is projected to pay more than half of the original amount borrowed in interest over the life of the bonds.
The debt service schedule spreads the debt across nearly three decades, with principal and interest payments continuing through 2052.
The largest annual debt service obligations will occur between 2030 and 2038 – when payments are expected to exceed $180 million annually for multiple years, based on scheduled bond issuances and a model of cash flow timing provided in the budget.
The 2025-2026 fiscal budget includes $53.2 million in recurring property tax revenue – roughly 10 percent of the total property tax rate – dedicated exclusively to school capital debt.
Guilford County issued $570 million of the $1.7 billion bond referendum in March of last year. Two more issuances – each amounting to about $585 million – are expected in fiscal 2027-2028 and in 2029-2030, according to the county’s updated cash flow models.
In the end, depending on what interest rates do, Guilford County’s taxpayers could get lucky and pay less interest than anticipated; however, if interest rates go up, they could end up paying more than the current estimated amount.
In peak years such as 2032 and 2033, when total debt service is expected to approach or exceed $190 million, the interest portion of the debt alone could exceed $80 million a year – depending on the amortization schedules of the remaining bond issuances.
So ole skippy says the $3.1 BILLION taxpayers already owe for the last school bond is just not enough. During the last school bond referendum, a Wake County Democrat judge ruled that Representative Alan Branson was right. The judge said that Guilford County Commissioners and school board ILLEGALLY WORKED TOGETHER to get the bonds approved. But being a democrat judge, he said that was okay with him. Guilford County and the School Board lied and tricked enough voters into approving the bonds.
Here is what the democrat controlled county and school board FAILED TO TELL TAXPAYERS. Once approved, the BONDS MUST BE SPENT WITHIN 10 YEARS AND MUST BE REPAID WITHIN 20 YEARS AFTER THE MONEY IS SPENT.
So this means a child BORN TODAY, will be 30 to 40 years old with kids, and maybe grandkids of their own, and will STILL BE PAYING FOR THE $3.1 BILLION BONDS VOTERS WERE TRICKED INTO APPROVING.
THE ANNUAL COST-JUST TO PAY OFF THE BONDS-IS MORE THAN $102 MILLION DOLLARS EACH AND EVERY YEAR UNTIL 2054…THAT’S 30 YEARS FROM NOW! That does NOT INCLUDE schools will need to operate each year.
Now ole skippy wants another $500 MILLION DOLLARS. So that $500 MILLION will cost taxpayers ANOTHER $30 MILLION DOLLARS EACH AND EVERY YEAR UNTIL THE BONDS ARE REPAID.
From 2025 to 2035 taxpayers will pay $102 MILLION EVERY SINGLE YEAR for the $3.1 BILLION bonds. THEN BEGINNING IN 2036 to 2054 taxpayers will be paying $132 MILLION DOLLARS EACH AND EVERY YEAR TO PAY OFF THE $3.1 BILLION SCHOOL BONDS AND THE $500 MILLION SCHOOL BOND ole skippy wants now. But take heart, from 2055 to 2066, taxpayers will only have to pay $30 a year…that is unless ole skippy and democrat controlled County Board and democrat controlled School Board decide they need EVEN MORE MONEY.
Ole skippy has a way to help pay off the school bond debt. He wants to INCREASE THE SALES TAX!
Don’t forget the property tax re-appraisal that is coming in January. Numerous news reports explain that property taxes will increase by 40% to 50%, even if they don’t change the property tax rate (Mill rate). The DNA of ole skippy and the democrat controlled county and school board is to tax, spend and then tax again, again and again.
Don’t forget ole skippy and the democrat controlled county board wants to build a $2 MILLION DOLLAR TREE HOUSE! WHAT??? They must have run out of organizations who simply can’t survive without YOUR TAX MONEY! Remember when ole skippy engineered a 50% PAY INCREASE FOR COUNTY BOARD MEMBERS? ole skippy and democrats never seem to run out of ways to TAKE YOUR MONEY AND GIVE IT TO THEMSELVES AND THEIR FRIENDS WHO ALWAYS HAVE THEIR HANDS OUT.
In the next election, you MUST THROW THE DEMOCRAT BUMS OUT!! THROW EVERY DEM OUT OF OFFICE! It is WAY past time to VOTE FOR REPUBLICANS IN EVERY OFFICE FROM DOG CATCHER TO COUNTY COMMISSIONER TO THE SCHOOL BOARD TO STATE LEGISLATORS AND STATE OFFICE HOLDERS. IF YOU DON’T YOU, YOUR KIDS, YOUR GRANDKIDS AND EVERYONE YOU KNOW WILL BE PAYING FOR LAVISH SPENDING DEMOCRATS. IF YOU DON’T, WHAT KIND OF GENERATIONAL LEGACY AND ‘GIFT’ WILL YOU BE LEAVING YOUR KIDS?