When it came to approving $2 billion in school bond funding in recent years and a total debt with interest of well over $3 billion, the voters of the county got to decide.  But when it comes to the next massive funding plan – a $572 million capital improvement plan that means tearing down the Truist Bank Building and building a new county government complex with a sky bridge connected to the Old Guilford County Court house – there are no plans to put the funding up to a vote of county residents.

In fact, voters already unknowingly voted to fund a large part of the project when they approved the school bond money – thanks to a semi-magical funding trick known as two-thirds bonds which lets county leaders borrow millions and millions for totally unconnected projects to the one they actually voted for.

Guilford County commissioners got a detailed look at how the county plans to pay for a massive slate of building projects during a recent work session in the Blue Room – now known as the Carolyn Q Coleman Conference room of the Old Guilford County Court House in downtown Greensboro.

What emerged from that work session was a clear picture of the county preparing to borrow heavily in  the coming years – roughly $550 million in order to finance a capital improvement plan that totals about $572 million – while already carrying an enormous amount of voter-approved school bond debt that has yet to be issued.

That $572 million could turn out to be a lot more depending on what happens regarding inflation and unexpected snafus like the huge one that affected the brand new Sheriff’s Office headquarters that just opened.

Instead of putting the matter to voters, county staff told the commissioners that the projects would be financed through a mix of limited obligation bonds and so-called two-thirds bonds – both of which can be approved by the board without a public referendum.

This approach allows the county to move forward as projects are designed and bid, but it also means taxpayers won’t have the direct say they had when the county asked voters to approve $2 billion in school bonds.

Guilford County Deputy Director Toy Beeninga, who just got promoted from budget director, introduced the funding plan – describing it as the next step following earlier work sessions and months of facilities assessments, master planning and internal cost modeling.

Beeninga emphasized that the plan reflects both deferred maintenance across county buildings and new construction driven by growth and service demands.

The project list spans nearly every corner of county government.

Guilford County Facilities Director Eric Hilton described a familiar and repeating set of needs across buildings – interior upfits, furniture replacement, carpet, paint, elevators past their useful life, water intrusion and building envelope problems, and ADA restroom upgrades required by changes in federal standards.

Some problems are more acute: Hilton described serious issues at the High Point jail, including failing elevators, HVAC replacements and a collapsed kitchen drainage system that has forced operational workarounds. He told the board that the county is preparing to build a new kitchen annex rather than attempt an invasive repair beneath thick concrete slabs that would disrupt jail operations.

He also outlined chronic window leakage at the Independence Center, major modernization needs at the Old Guilford County Court House, ongoing HVAC, roof and technology upgrades at the Greensboro courthouse, similar needs in High Point, ADA renovations at the Cooperative Extension building, and a long list of parks, animal shelter, juvenile detention and EMS facility needs.

The parks plan famously includes a “Two-million-dollar treehouse” that Rhino readers can google to learn about. One, which, as Commissioner Pat Tillman pointed out late last year, is something county leaders may want to rebrand.

Beyond repairs, the plan includes very ambitious new construction projects. Hilton presented a conceptual plan for a consolidated government complex in downtown Greensboro, replacing the Truist building and surrounding area with a large new structure that would centralize county services now scattered across multiple buildings. Similar consolidation concepts were presented for High Point and for Health and Human Services operations in Greensboro, though Hilton acknowledged significant challenges related to parking, zoning and site constraints.

Taken together, Beeninga told commissioners the full project list totals roughly $549 million to $572 million, depending on final cost estimates and timing.

Of that, staff estimates about $550 million would need to be financed.

How the county plans to pay for it is where the discussion turned consequential.

Beeninga explained that Guilford County isn’t proposing to use voter-approved general obligation bonds. Instead, the planned financing strategy relies on two tools.

Limited obligation bonds, he said, would be issued only after construction bids are in hand, meaning that borrowing would happen in stages as projects move forward.

Two-thirds bonds, by contrast, allow the county to issue non-voted general obligation debt up to two-thirds of the amount of debt retired in the prior year. In practical terms, two-thirds bonds allow the county to reuse debt capacity without returning to voters to ask permission.  It’s like running up a credit card bill and then each time you pay it down, you charge two-thirds of the amount you paid off right back onto the card.

Because two-thirds-bonds don’t require a referendum, voters have no opportunity to approve or reject the borrowing.

Beeninga told commissioners that, under the current model, the county would need about $12 million in new annual revenue beginning in fiscal year 2026-2027, which begins July 1, to start servicing the debt. That amount would grow at roughly 2 percent per year, with an additional $12 million to $15 million likely needed around fiscal year 2031-2032 as larger projects come online and the county’s debt service peaks.

Several commissioners pressed staff on the long-term implications, asking whether the figures included interest and whether the assumptions accounted for inflation and future construction costs.

Beeninga confirmed the estimates include interest but acknowledged that final numbers will depend on market conditions, interest rates and project timing.

Complicating matters further is the county’s ongoing school construction program, which is where the county is really piling up massive debt.

Beeninga reminded the board that Guilford County still has approximately $1.1 billion in voter-approved school bond debt that hasn’t been issued yet. Because Guilford County Schools has spent bond funds more slowly than originally projected, staff now expects the next $565 million school bond issuance to be pushed back to fiscal year 2027-2028, with the final tranche potentially delayed into the early 2030s pending approval from the Local Government Commission.

That commission almost never rejects projects.  For instance, in fiscal year 2024-2025 there was about over 200 proposed projects and extensive research of those documents could not find one instance of the commission rejecting one of those.

That’s the state finance oversight board that exists to make sure counties don’t get in over their heads and, if the county’s savings account runs too low, they send a sternly worded letter to that county.

Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston noted that inflation has already reduced the buying power of the $2 billion school bond package approved by voters, and that additional school funding needs are likely.  He has talked in recent months about a need for another $1 billion or so in additional school bond money in the coming years – that’s on top of the $3 billion plus the county is already having to pay back to the schools.

Layering a new county facilities borrowing plan on top of that existing school debt raises concerns under the county’s own debt policies.

Beeninga reviewed three board-adopted limits: debt per capita, debt as a percentage of assessed value, and debt service as a share of general fund spending – and showed that the combined impact of school bonds, county projects and other obligations would push the county close to or over those thresholds in some years.

Here’s the great thing for the commissioners though: Those limits, he noted, are local policy choices, not state mandates. So, the commissioners can just make those debt limit brakes just go away with a vote.  No more debt circuit breakers.

 Staff outlined several options for the board to consider, including removing or delaying major projects, stretching the plan from 10 years to 15, reducing the size or frequency of future school bond packages, or, and this is the Rhino Times’ guess, revisiting and raising the county’s own debt limits.

No decisions were made at the work session. But by the end of the discussion, the direction of travel was clear.

After five years of taking on a boatload of debt, Guilford County is preparing to take on a whole lot more.

This time, however, unlike with the school bonds, county voters won’t be asked.

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