A bill that could blow up Guilford County’s budget process at the last minute could also create a major headache for the City of Greensboro.

Senate Bill 889, titled “Property Tax Reappraisal Moratorium,” has now passed the North Carolina General Assembly and is on its way to Gov. Josh Stein.

The bill would prevent counties with reappraisals effective Jan. 1, 2026, from using those new property values for the 2026-2027 fiscal year.

For Guilford County, that means the new 2026 property values would be put on hold for one year and local governments in the county would have to use the older 2022 values for the coming budget year as well.

The Rhino Times reported earlier this week that the bill could force Guilford County commissioners back to the drawing board just days before they were expected to adopt a new budget.

However, the county government isn’t the only area local government affected.

Cities, towns and fire districts use the county’s tax values as well.

That means the bill doesn’t just affect Guilford County government. It also affects Greensboro, High Point, Jamestown, Pleasant Garden, Summerfield, Oak Ridge, Stokesdale, Sedalia, Whitsett, Gibsonville and the fire districts that rely on property tax values to set their own tax rates.

Greensboro Mayor Marikay Abuzuaiter told the Rhino Times on Wednesday June 10 that the bill had moved much faster than she expected.

“We knew that that bill was in there,” Abuzuaiter said. “But I didn’t honestly know it was going to move that fast.”

Abuzuaiter, who assumed office as Greensboro’s mayor on Dec. 2, 2025, said the city had been working on its budget with the expectation that it would be able to use the new property values.

If SB 889 becomes law, she said, Greensboro officials will have to look again at the numbers and decide what the city can afford to do.

“We’re going to have to look at whether we’re going to have to raise the property tax rate,” Abuzuaiter said.

The city’s current property tax rate is 67.5 cents per $100 of assessed property value.

Like Guilford County, Greensboro had been looking at lowering the tax rate after the revaluation because property values went up.

However, lowering the rate doesn’t necessarily mean lowering the tax bill for residents.

The problem for local governments is that, if the new values can’t be used, they have to choose between raising the tax rate on the old values or cutting spending.

Abuzuaiter said Greensboro had been trying to lower the tax rate under the new values – though she said she never promised the city could get all the way to revenue neutral.

“We were going to do our best to lower the tax rate on the new valuations,” she said. “I would love to be the mayor who says we are going revenue neutral. I would love to be – but I don’t think that brings into account all of the expenses we have.”

The mayor said the city is facing higher costs in a wide number of areas, including employee health care, public safety, fuel, asphalt, diesel, buses and chemicals used for the city’s water system.

“Our health care has gone up quite a bit for the city,” Abuzuaiter said.

She added that some of the city’s water chemicals have gone up by 30, 35 or even 45 percent.

“Everything has gone up,” she said. “Just like your home, everything has gone up. The same has happened for the city.”

Abuzuaiter told the Rhino Times that, if the city is forced to use the old values, the City Council will have to decide whether Greensboro can continue providing essential services under the current rate or whether that rate has to go up.

“We’re kind of in a crunch,” she said.

The mayor said she understands that a lot of people want local governments to tighten their belts, but she added that Greensboro has already cut back in some areas and was under a hiring freeze for nearly a year.

She said the city still needs employees in areas such as inspections and code compliance – especially as Greensboro continues to grow.

“We’re not wasting any money,” Abuzuaiter said. “I hear people say all the time, ‘Well, tighten your belt, tighten your belt.’ But we need new inspectors. We need more code compliance people. If you’re growing, you’re going to need these things.”

The new mayor added that the city is still catching up from earlier economic downturns and hiring freezes.

“We need to grow staff so that we can make everything aesthetically pleasing but also safe for our residents,” Abuzuaiter said.

One major issue for the city is public safety.

Abuzuaiter said Greensboro is lucky that the City Council approved raises for police officers two years ago.

“If we hadn’t done that, we’d still be 130 short on officers,” she said.

She also said that kind of expense has to be sustained.

The bill is a response from Raleigh to complaints that property owners in some counties were facing sharply higher tax bills after revaluations. Guilford County’s 2026 revaluation produced large increases in property values.

Guilford County Manager Victor Isler had recommended lowering the county tax rate from the current 73.05 cents per $100 of assessed value to 61.9 cents. But even with that lower rate, the county would collect much more property tax revenue because of the new higher values and property owners would see much higher bills.

The same basic math applies to Greensboro.

The city could lower its tax rate under the new values and still bring in additional money. But if the new values are blocked for a year, the city can’t get that same money unless it raises the rate on the older values.

That’s exactly the type of highly visible tax rate increase local elected officials generally hate to vote for.

Abuzuaiter said the city also has to keep an eye on possible federal and state cuts.

She said Greensboro hasn’t been hit hard yet, but she’s concerned about the future because transportation, infrastructure and some police and fire programs rely on state and federal funds.

“It hasn’t been huge yet,” she said of those cuts. “We’re still kind of walking on eggshells hoping it’s not.”

Abuzuaiter said transportation is a good example of how much the city relies on outside money.

“For transportation, we rely on the federal government and the state to make up 80 percent, then we pay 20 percent,” she said. “It’s the only way we could get things done.”

The mayor said some transportation and infrastructure projects could be delayed or stopped if those funds go away.

According to Abuzuaiter Greensboro is also trying to keep up with housing needs as the city prepares for expected growth from major economic development projects.

She said she’s proud of the city’s effort to reach 10,000 new residential units by 2030.

Abuzuaiter said she checked the city’s housing dashboard and Greensboro had already reached 3,202 units.

“That means apartment units or housing units,” she said. “Residential units and duplexes – all of those things apply.”

She said that puts Greensboro ahead of where she expected the city to be.

“I was anticipating we wouldn’t reach 5,000 until 2028,” Abuzuaiter said. “We’re already almost ahead of the game. We are ahead of the game.”

Still, all of that growth creates costs for city government.

More housing, more development and more people mean more inspections, more code enforcement, more roads, more police, more fire protection and more city services.

That’s why the revaluation moratorium matters so much to city officials.

For taxpayers, the bill could delay higher tax bills caused by the new values.

For local governments, it could force a very public decision: raise the tax rate or cut spending.

Abuzuaiter said Greensboro will have to go back and see what the city can do if it has to build the budget on the old values.

She said the city had been expecting to work with the new values and a lower tax rate.

Now, like the county, Greensboro may be looking at a much different budget process than the one city officials thought they were in.

“I hate to call it the old budget,” Abuzuaiter said. “But you know what I mean.”

The governor can veto the bill, but the votes in the General Assembly indicate that supporters likely have enough votes to override a veto.

That means Guilford County, Greensboro, the county’s other towns and the fire districts may all have to prepare for a one-year budget reset they didn’t ask for and weren’t expecting.

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