On Thursday, May 19, Guilford County Manager Mike Halford stood up before the Guilford County Board of Commissioners and delivered his proposed budget for fiscal 2022-2023.
However, that’s not the end of the process – it’s merely the beginning. Over the next month, county residents, county commissioners and anyone else with advice to give will be able to offer their input regarding the $855 million budget Halford would like to see passed.
Each year, after a budget proposal is unveiled, the commissioners set a time for the public to speak at a meeting to express any concerns. This time around, the commissioners have scheduled the public hearing for the commissioners meeting on Thursday, June 2. That hearing will be held in the County Commissioners meeting room in the Old Guilford County Court House in downtown Greensboro shortly after the meeting starts at 5:30 p.m.
There will also be plenty of input on the budget from county commissioners over the next few weeks. The board has tentatively scheduled budget work sessions for Thursday, May 26 and Wednesday, June 8. Those meetings are open to the public. However, the commissioners generally do not take any public comments at work sessions.
The Board of Commissioners will take into account Halford’s budget as well as the public input and then attempt to arrive at a budget that can get at least five votes from nine commissioners.
Chairman of the Board of Commissioners Skip Alston works hard in years when he is leading the board to find a budget compromise that can draw a unanimous vote. Sometimes that’s possible; sometimes it is not.
The board plans to adopt a final county budget on Thursday, June 16, however, in some years, budget adoption doesn’t go as planned. Under state law, the county has until Friday, July 1 to have an adopted budget in place.
The people in the Peanut Gallery look like the are there to have some fun – nothing else to do. Whoever they are, it is only a minute few.