The Guilford County Board of Commissioners isn’t calling it an emergency work session but that’s essentially what the afternoon meeting on Thursday, June 18 will be after state legislators in Raleigh threw a very large wrench into the board’s budget plans at the last minute.
The commissioners had planned to adopt a budget on June 18 based on new property values the Guilford County Tax Department spent over a year preparing – but Senate Bill 889 prevents them from doing that and that means the board will have to come up with a new budget.
And fast: The deadline for local governments adopting a new fiscal budget in North Carolina is July 1.
It’s highly unfair of the state to dump this on the commissioners at the last minute like this. Usually, it’s the type of thing elections departments have to deal with when state or federal lawmakers make last-minute changes and elections officials have to do a whole lot of work over again.
The commissioners rarely have to do something like that but, in this case, they can’t take their time, go to the state, and say on July 1, the dog ate my budget.
First of all, that wouldn’t be true.
It was the state that ate the planned budget.
In fact, the new bill affects the budgets of all the towns and cities in the county, and even the fire districts, which are all in the same boat.
The Guilford County Board of Commissioners has scheduled a work session for Thursday, June 18 at 3:30 p.m. in the Carolyn Coleman Conference Room on the first floor of the Old Guilford County Court House at 301 W. Market St. in Greensboro.
The stated purpose of the work session is “to receive a legislative update and discuss considerations related to the FY 2026-27 recommended budget and conduct any other necessary business.”
In other words, the commissioners and county staff have to figure out what the county’s new budget options look like now that the county can’t simply adopt the budget that was being built around the new 2026 property values.
The notice also states that the board “reserves the right to take action on any properly noticed items” – which means this may be more than a sit-around-and-talk meeting.
Guilford County had planned to adopt its fiscal 2026-2027 budget at the board’s regular Thursday, June 18 meeting. That budget had been prepared using the new 2026 property revaluation numbers, which were supposed to be used for tax bills in the upcoming fiscal year.
However, Senate Bill 889, the “Property Tax Reappraisal Moratorium,” was passed by the North Carolina General Assembly on June 10 and that threw that plan into chaos.
The bill prevents counties with reappraisals effective Jan. 1, 2026 from using those new values for the 2026-2027 fiscal year. For Guilford County, that means the county is now being forced to base its budget on the older 2022 property values rather than the 2026 revaluation numbers the county had been preparing to use.
That’s not a minor adjustment. The county budget is a massive document with hundreds of moving parts, including school funding, sheriff’s department funding, fire service funding, employee pay, health and human services, debt payments, capital projects and outside agency funding.
Guilford County began its fiscal 2026-2027 budget process in late 2025. The Board of Commissioners kicked off its annual budget retreat in January 2026 and, since then, the board has held a series of bi-weekly budget work sessions, six community input meetings and a June 4 public hearing on the recommended budget.
Now, after all that, the county is being forced into a last-minute do over.
In a county press release announcing the budget adoption schedule adjustment, county officials stated that, under the North Carolina Local Government Budget and Fiscal Control Act, counties are required to adopt a balanced budget ordinance no later than July 1.
The county also announced that, because of the impact of Senate Bill 889 on Guilford County’s recommended budget, the Board of Commissioners is no longer considering adopting the budget at the June 18 regular meeting.
Instead, the board will give county staff more time to prepare budget adjustment options.
Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston said the county manager has been asked to prepare items for the board to consider.
“We have asked our county manager to prepare items for the Board to consider adjustments to his recommended budget as result of the restrictions placed on us by the state at this late date,” Alston said.
The chairman added: “The Board remains committed to adopting a balanced budget by the statutory deadline while carefully evaluating the impacts of this legislation on education, public safety, workforce preparedness, rural fire services, and other core county services.”
That quote gives a pretty good idea of where the pain points are likely to be.
Education is almost always the largest and most controversial part of the county budget. Public safety is another area where cuts are difficult and politically dangerous. Rural fire services are also directly affected because fire districts depend on the county’s tax base – and the same sudden shift in property values affects them as well.
The county now has to sort through the effects of SB 889 while also trying to preserve, as much as possible, the budget review process that’s already taken place.
County officials stated this week that the revised budget adoption date will allow the Board of Commissioners to consider the impacts of Senate Bill 889 “within the context of the extensive public input and budget review process already completed.”
That’s a nice way of saying that a lot of the work already done still matters, but the numbers have changed.
For those who don’t want to attend in person, the county will also provide virtual access through Zoom. The meeting can be watched or listened to by visiting the ZoomGov platform and using webinar ID 165 360 9579. Those joining by phone may call (646) 828-7666 and enter the same webinar ID if required.
The meeting will also be livestreamed on Guilford County’s Facebook page.
County officials stated that they will provide public notice of the revised meeting schedule and budget adoption date for a special called meeting before July 1.
Under North Carolina’s Open Meetings Law, a special meeting requires at least 48 hours’ notice before the meeting date.
The new world order means they have a couple of weeks to redo the budget they just spent half a year on.
The city is raising taxes 12 cents so my bet is Skip goes for 10. Any takers?
Skip never likes to come in 2nd, so I’m betting on 12 cents. Thats would be roughly a 16% increase in property tax rates and therefore revenues, when the original budget has the projected increase in property tax revenues at 19% over the 2025 budget. This way there are still “cutting taxes” and not affecting the items they most want to be fully funded.
I have faith in our local folks…we will get through this..
I don’t think so. The voters are responsible for what we got.
The first and only responsibility of any government is to protect the people. When City and County staff act first to ensure their own preference and preservation it’s time for a change. There are many ways to protect the people and offer a balanced budget. A good faith approach by City and County officials is called for.
Why they waited was ridiculous as they knew it was a probability a month ago. Why they didn’t do several budget plans was beyond reason. In the business world we did several budget plans because we did not know how our revenue would come in. I’m sure they did the same but you didn’t ask that question. Now they can decide on our needs not their wants and that’s what government should do.
Skippy and the gang will have to learn the concept of do more with less…. just like everyone of the tax payers has hadtl to do.
It sucks to actually have to prioritize, but the prioritization process separates the greedy political wheat from the budgetary chaff.
Politicians actually have to build priorities into the budget as opposed to porky free for all… how novel.
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“It’s highly unfair of the state to dump this on the commissioners at the last minute like this”. – Scott Yost.
Wow.
The Rhino Times sure has come a long way since John Hammer relinquished the reins.
A long way to the left, that is.
Had the same thought Al. I’m not so sure Skip Alston didn’t write this article
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Agreed.
It’s not news that Scott is to the left of John, and his political leanings have become more overt over time.
I am a Libertarian, thus to the right of all of you. In this case, why could the state have not done it sooner rather than make local governments across North Carolina redo their budgets at the last minute. Is that how you think good budgets are made? Or why didn’t they do something that had some real teeth, like actually limit the rate of property tax increases, rather than just say you can’t use the old values but, hey, raise property taxes to the moon if you want.
Are you suggesting that Party loyalty is more important than independent journalism? Stating at simple observation of truth that doesn’t align with party loyalty seems like a high-quality journalist’s role. I think Hammer would support that idea.
As I recall Hammer encourage open and honest debate from both sides of the political spectrum.
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Are you suggesting that the Moon is made of green cheese?
I’m not so sure that article lends itself to honest debate without even a mention of the need for senate bill 889. But I’m certain there Chris that need hasn’t escaped you as you have already moved out of Guilford. Let’s have our local politicians go on record now as to tax policy instead of hiding behind phrases announcing rare cuts that actually raise taxes.
Wouldn’t the inclusion of the need be opinion? Sure, he could include the state reason by Republicans, but he already did that in previous articles. Which do you want….biased conservative opinion based reporting or non-biased based reporting?
Note that the problem is biased reporting, is that not every biased point with agree with yours even if both are conservative.
Good article but not one mention of a budget or tax reduction for citizens. I seriously doubt the county and city staffs are putting any thought into the already prepared budget. Our taxes will increase no matter which evaluation is used. The pet projects, waste, and other promises made for votes will continue. Enjoy digging deep and bend over for another rape of your finances.
Scott,
“It’s highly unfair of the state to dump this on the commissioners at the last minute like this.”
I disagree sir. if these “representatives” were doing the job they were elected to do instead of following the orders of the Omnipotent One we would not be in this pickle.
Given the population difference between Skippy’s kingdom and the County population we have a very high hill to try to climb. Personally I believe it’s time to make those mini-thrones At Large with term limits and allow the WHOLE county have a say, not just their own little local holdings. Along with that eliminate the vote buying tactic of giving TAXPAYER MONEY to these supposed NGOs used by the Omnipotent One and his sycophants to buy their positions. For example, both the proposed and existing the Monument to Skippy downtown and all these Boards and Committees that get created to repay their followers. Yes I know these are “volunteer, non-paid” but they are ego feeding setups and remember folks, the staff working them are County/City paid…oh that means us peasants ARE paying for them.
These tinpot dictators need a physical reminder that WE are in charge so again I encourage free citizens to bring and/or send teabags to their “representatives” and their meetings.
We need the Sons (and Daughters) of Liberty resurrected.
Remember December 16th, 1773.
The same applies to all those excessive administrative positions (Secretary to the Assistant Secretary to the 2nd Assistant Principal for example) in our bloated staff top-heavy schools. They can have billions of dollars in the bank for “expenses” but can’t seem to find the money to do even basic repairs to our existing buildings and pay TEACHERS, not admin gofers, reasonable salaries.
ditto
Patrick let’s not forget the DEI department of 8 mwbe employees that skip himself created a month after the budget was voted on by the board. That worthless department itself costs taxpayers almost a million a year. No other county or city in this state has anywhere near that many employees in that department. That’s such a waste of time and money. Bet you can’t guess the racial makeup of those 8 employees
The MWBE Department ended in 2025
Sorry to tell you Ben but it didn’t end. It was just renamed. Thise 8 bodies are still alive and well today in their offices down on South Elm Eugene St. Check for yourself
If the budget was legit in the first place, they would just increase the tax rate. Why do they keep acting like the property revaluation was a ‘free tax increase’ from a political perspective?
It is not “unfair”. They knew it was coming. Besides, in case you have forgotten, life is not fair.
Is it fair that my hometown has become Blacksboro, loaded with freeloaders? Is it fair that our govt sees fit to slowly bankrupt it’s citizens, especially many seniors who have worked all their lives to secure their golden years; and have their wealth confiscated locally by taxes, and country-wide by inflation?
There is nowhere to hide.
I can think of three departments they could do away with immediately… Minority Business Enterprises (basically discrimination). Any of the cure violence programs enacted to defund the police by a different name. And at least half of the useless mental health programs and homeless programs that do nothing but perpetuate downhill spiral of human dignity. 90% of homeless is drug addiction, and alcoholism. $1 million vans that drive around do nothing for the root cause. These are nothing but employment opportunities for NGO’s and nonprofits with taxpayer money.
ditto
I think this is less about unfairness, and more about “What goes around, comes around.”
I have zero remorse seeing Skippy and the Kingpins in the situation they’re in.
It was their own actions that brought about the situation they find themselves in.
“What goes around, comes around” is an idiom meaning that the way you treat others will eventually affect how you are treated in return, often interpreted as a concept of karma or the law of sowing and reaping.