By now, everyone knows the definition of insanity, and Guilford County government is once again doing the same thing and expecting different results: The Guilford County Board of Commissioners has instructed county staff to come up with a well thought out and rational policy as to which non-profits should get county tax money and which should not.
It is now almost time again for non-profits that want funding to let the county know.
Over the years Democratic and Republican commissioners alike have commented on the haphazard way that the county picks winners and losers when it comes time to fund these organizations in the county budget.
But, actually, it’s not really haphazard at all in many cases – often it’s just that the commissioners have friends that run organizations or the organization is one they sit on the board of or have some other ties.
The Rhino Times has seen this same pattern happening over and over again many times since the start of the century: The commissioners instruct the county manager or the budget director or some other staff member or a team of staff to come up with rational criteria and a policy for giving out the money.
Each time staff does so judiciously and comes up with what’s usually a very good policy and the board officially adopts it – and then, at budget time, each and every year, the county commissioners throw out the policy and give the money to the agencies they favor or have ties to.
In some cases, you can even tell instantly which commissioner wanted which organization funded because each year when a budget is adopted multiple commissioners have to abstain from voting specifically on the funding for that organization because they have a connection to it and it is a conflict of interest.
Last year, when the county instructed Guilford County Budget Director Toy Benniga to come up with a policy, the Rhino Times warned him back then to not put too much work into it because it would be thrown out the window at budget time. In that case, Benniga and his budget team actually came up with an excellent policy – which the Board of Commissioners adopted unanimously in the spring and then, in June, completely tore it up and put in the wastebasket.
Chairman of the Board of Commissioners Skip Alston acknowledged that to the Rhino Times because there was no denying it.
It will happen again this year so the Rhino Times feels generally sorry for all county staffers who work on the coming new policy because the county will throw it out again this June when a new budget is adopted.
That same exact thing has happened at least a half dozen times since the turn of the century.
Some of the groups seeking funding do good work – others not so much and others it’s not really clear what they do, but every year there is absolutely no rhyme or reason as to which groups get your money and which don’t – again, other than the fact that certain county commissioners are tied to that group.
Alston often uses the funding to get votes of budget support from fellow commissioners and that’s why you see a wild collection of groups that no one has ever heard of get money at budget time.
The Rhino Times has witnessed frequently that commissioners in some cases cast a vote for a budget that includes groups that they literally know nothing about. That group is only getting thousands and thousands of taxpayer dollars because some commissioner tacked it on at the last minute whether it met “established” county guidelines or not.
Now the county is preparing to open grant applications for these groups – known as Community-Based Organizations or “CBOs) – for the upcoming 2026-2027 fiscal budget. The application process opens up on Friday, Jan. 30,
Each year, Guilford County provides funds to a variety of community organizations “to facilitate economically, culturally, and civically valuable services.”
The recent announcement from the county states that those interested in applying for funding are being encouraged to attend one of two information sessions regarding the CBO application process.
It stated, “The virtual meetings will provide a comprehensive overview of the CBO process timeline, application, and contract template, and will address any new changes slated for FY27.”
Those two application information sessions will take place on Thursday, Jan. 15 at 3 p.m. via Microsoft Teams, and on Monday, Feb. 23, at 10 a.m., also via Microsoft Teams.
Applicants are being instructed to visit GuilfordCountyNC.gov/CBOs to learn more about applying for the free taxpayer money, which usually amounts to a couple of million dollars.
The CBO application will last from the end of this month through Friday, March 6 at 5 p.m.
The county is also helping the organizations write their requests for taxpayer money: “In addition to the application information sessions, Guilford County is partnering with the Guilford Nonprofit Consortium to offer two grant writing workshops in February. The workshops are designed to support organizations interested in applying for CBO funding by providing guidance on developing competitive applications and strengthening proposals. The grant writing workshops will be held Wednesday, Feb. 18, at 1 p.m. and Tuesday, Feb. 24, at 9 a.m. Registration details for the workshops will be available soon on the county’s CBO webpage.”
Tax dollars should be used to govern. Charity should be funded by people.
Result would be better government and more money for charity.
Here is a radical idea…DON’T GIVE ANY OF THEM TAXPAYER MONEY!
How can I deduct this from my involuntary tribut…I mean taxes? I can’t.
You’ve already explained how this is a blatant, obvious vote buying scam, and I dare anybody to deny it,
If people want to support these non-profits (like Skip’s pet scamming vacuum project downtown) then they can donate (assuming the County Commissars leave them any money) where and when they see fit.
Remember the Boston Tea Party!
Vote the SOBs out and impose term limits on the Board of Commissars!
Here’s a thought – No non-profit should receive tax-payer funded money until there is a budget surplus. Commissioners & City Council can utilized that money toward other more important priorities – funding school capital projects, …. Since Guilford County is looking to raise County-specific property taxes by ~50%. Why not utilize funds that previously went to non-profit organizations to help alleviate the burden on tax paying constituents?
Free Money? One day this careless and reckless spending will come to an abrupt end. This is what happens when you elect Foxes to Guard the Hen House!
Here is an idea. Since the commissioners use drones to make sure the tax payers are being honest, why don’t we tax payers demand a full accounting of where dollars have gone to these nonprofits and insist on seeing validating evidence the money was spent as the “grant request” described? These commissioners stepping out of the room to “recuse” themselves is hilarious. I hope they realize how stupid and deceitful they look!
Time for Guilford county to give your tax dollars away to their friends again without any accountability.
I can’t help but wonder yet again how much is going into Skippy’s pockets. He’s in charge of a lot of non-profits and it’s awful funny that those are the ones that get the majority of the money. I don’t think it’s fair that we don’t get a say in where our money goes. Especially when we know that the head County commissioner is pocketing most of the money. We all know how he built that million dollar house. We know how he pays the bills on it. I also can’t help but wonder how many of these so-called non-profits are legitimate. If they are not looking into them, then they are funneling money into agencies that may be scams. We all see what happened in minnesota! Millions of dollars into a scam that the governor helped set up! There is not a doubt in my mind Skippy is doing the exact same thing in Guilford County. We need somebody to check into all of these non-profits and make sure all of them are legitimate and that money is going into the non-profit and not into Skippy’s pockets.
Money extorted from the taxpayer to hand out to the faithful…for votes.
Send Skip to Minneapolis, they could use his skills and brash attitude, and we could use a break from his Oligarchy!
Perhaps the county should stop funding these agencies and LOWER THE TAX RATES! Emperor Skippy would never go for that. In fact, grab your wallets, because the county democrat leadership are going to sock it to Guilford County taxpayers when property reevaluation is finished.
Please don’t forget the $50,000 donation Skippy and the Guilford County Board of Commissioners gave to the Dudley High Boosters Club! Amazing in that no other High School in the County got such funds. Why only $50,000? If over $50,000 was given the recipients would have been held accountable for how those funds were spent. Minneapolis has got nothing nearly as absurd as the wasteful spending and incompetent leadership as we have in Greensboro and Guilford County!
Why won’t everybody admit the truth. The only non profits getting money will be who Dictator Alston says will get money. Nobody in Guilford County will have a say.