The first person who gets a crack at creating a Guilford County budget is County Manager Mike Halford and, at the Board of Commissioners’ Thursday May 18 meeting, Halford recommended a 2023-2024 fiscal budget that adds $48 million dollars to the budget adopted last June.
Though the new recommended budget is larger, no property tax increase is being proposed by Halford.
In June of 2022, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners adopted a final budget that totaled $784 million. The budget proposed by Halford at the May 18, 2023, meeting would increase the size of the county’s budget by more than 6 percent.
The budget is now in the hands of the county commissioners, who’ll make changes before approving a final version, likely in mid-June.
Then, during the budget year, changes will be made. For instance, the budget adopted last June for 2022-2023 started out as a $784 million budget, but the actual amended budget at this point is $805 million.
Halford’s new budget would provide education – Guilford County Schools and Guilford Technical Community College – $262 million for operations and $11.5 million for building maintenance and repair.
The budget includes a lot of additions for that $48 million increase. There is, among many other things, $600,000 to implement a new early intervention team that will help improve neonatal care and “reimagine” child health and child protection in the county.
The budget also proposes spending $360,000 to provide enhanced support for those who frequently use Emergency Services such as emergency medical services. Also health related, Halford’s recommended budget proposes $430,000 to improve public health service to the community by adding a Mobile Health Clinic that would provide medical tests and other services around the county.
Also included in the budget is $2.4 million in additional money for “funding anticipated incentive grant payouts” due to recent incentives the board has offered to companies to lure them here.
Another $ 2.4 million in the budget proposal would go to fund non-profits and other community-based organizations as well as organizations that work for economic development in the county.
Reduce, not add 6 % to budget
“incentive grant payouts (in mean ‘offs’)” You mean with money extorted from the taxpayer for political payoffs, or to favor one business over another by offering a bribe?
Also the one about the 11.5 million for “maintenance and repair”. We seen many articles about buildings falling apart, or developing mold, etc. Where was the maintenance and repair when we needed it? Or prisoners doing maintenance work while incarcerated? One form of make-work is tearing down building to make another one (or make another parking lot). All for benefit of the faithful.
Make me King of Guilford County. I’ll fix this crap.
It makes you wonder what happens to all the money sucked away by the government schools, doesn’t it..?
True, they are adding repair $$ on top of all the money to build new schools. What happened in the past years where the repairs were NOT made! I vote for the King!