The Guilford County Board of Commissioners, when adopting the new 2024-2025 county budget in June, won’t increase property taxes – mostly because the 2022 revaluation of property prices countywide brought the board a windfall of about $92 million extra each year since the board didn’t adjust the tax rate lower to compensate property owners for their new much higher values.
However, just because you won’t see an increase in your property tax rate, doesn’t mean the county won’t be hitting you up for more money when it comes to the fees and charges you see every time you use a county service.
Each year, the county manager’s proposed budget includes the fee schedule for the coming fiscal year that begins on July 1. This year it will soon be fiscal 2024-2025, and it’s very rare for the county commissioners, who have the ultimate say on the final budget, to change that fee schedule before a county budget is adopted.
In the 2024-2025 recommended budget proposed by Guilford County Manager Mike Halford, some fees are doubled, some are tripled and some are five times more than what they are currently.
This will bring the county extra revenue – but county officials say that the new fee schedule is being introduced to “align Guilford County’s fees with regional peers, including counties and cities.”
In the proposed budget, likely to become law in regard to recommended fees, cat adoption fees, for instance, will increase from $25 to $75. At the same time the fee for “senior cats’ increases from $10 to $50. If you want to adopt a dog after July 1, that’s scheduled to cost you $75 rather than the $50 it does now.
The same types of increases apply to inspections. Building, electrical, plumbing mechanical, fuel piping and gas log inspections, which now all cost $40, will each cost $75 if the county manager’s budget is adopted as is.
To mention a few other ways Guilford County will be hitting you up in the new fiscal year, subdivision plan review, will go from $150 to $200 per plat, and rezoning fees will increase from $500 to $1,000 per case.
The fee for renaming roads in Guilford County will more than triple: It will move from $100 per renaming to $385, while road closing fees will increase from the current price of $126 to $381.
If you enjoy playing pickleball on county courts, you’ll be paying more for that privilege after July 1 unless the commissioners alter the fee schedules, which is highly unlikely. The price is going up from $12 to $15 per hour.
There are similar increases for the use of county swimming pools, renting baskets of golf balls and accessing other services on county properties.
These are just a few of the ways Guilford County government will hit you up with new fees and charges in the coming fiscal year – so just be thankful the board isn’t piling on a big property tax rate increase on top of all that.
So we have $92 million more and the far left racist commissioners continue with increased fees. The majority of citizens must be so smart that they continue to vote the same way for the same commissioners. Amazing.
Yep, because we enjoy all the amenities that we have and want to continue to improve the quality of life for all. If you wanna live with regressive policies where the people have almost nothing then you should quickly pack your trailer up and drive it down to Mississippi and good luck to ya!
So you enjoy being robbed eh, Fascist Democrats?
You must be joking. I’ll attribute your comment as a poor attempt at comedy, and ignorance.
Bastards! Just what we needed, an added impairment for rescuing a dog or cat from their shelter! The county should be paying US for that!
Yes, adopting a shelter animal is commendable and helps solve one of their problems.
Unlimited in agreement to that!
Why cant they pick on something else! THOSE POOR ANIMALS NEED HOMES!!!!!!
Ridiculous. The process to keep these poor animals alive is already challenging enough. This means more animals will be put down because not getting adopted. With a surplus like this the fees should be lowered. Wait if that is done then there won’t be enough money to piss away. Get these people out of office.
Pet shelters are full and you are asking folks to pay more? The callousness! Why don’t you line up the pets and shot them. Money grabbing thugs.
Voters must keep this Board of Commissioners in power for at least the next 50 years!
I guess the county wants more dogs and cats euthanized, especially senior cats. The increased fees make their prospects of adoption slim. So along with killing more animals the county wants to punish people desiring exercise. Increasing pool and court use fees certainly accomplish that goal
An additional $92,000,000 in property tax revenue and they still want more? Well just who voted these spendthrift’s into office? Hint….It wasn’t me!
Wake up Guilford County! Do you not realize you are paying for all of Skip Alston’s and the Guilford County Board of Commissioner’s racial blunders and biases? First the perpetual millions wasted on the Civil Rights Museum, then the $30,000 given to the Dudley High School Booster Club (but no other Booster Clubs in the County received this stipend), and most recently is the over $10,000,000 wasted by these bigots for cancelling the contract to tear down and build a new county jail and we still don’t have one! What idiots the Guilford County Voters are for continuing to elect these fools?
Jim Donaldson
We need term limits to get rid of the bad actors. Voters in certain districts are ignorant and uninformed. The only way to help correct this is with term limits. Term limits will help eliminate amassed power gathered over time by politicians whose only interest is staying in power. If you agree with term limits, write to your House representative in Raleigh asking that s(he) sponsor a term limits bill, and then make sure it gets out of committee to be voted on.
Term limits are ineffective in districts that always vote for higher taxes. Districts should be drawn to ensure a majority of residents in each district are homeowners to prevent that.
These so-called leaders got drunk on all the Covid rescue money, on top of the opioid settlement and the spending addiction hit them hard.
CUT SPENDING and you will not have to increase anything.
Agree, agree, agree.
Totally unbelievable that Commissioners want people to pay more for cats, especially senior cats and dogs…the shelter is full and killing healthy animals because folks cannot afford to adopt them sure makes sense. If they really care, they would fine backyard breeders and those who refuse to spay/neuter heavy fines rather than increased adoption fees. What a cruel, heartless group of uncaring people to do this!!!!! I am truly appalled that this would even be considered…what is wrong with this BS Board??
That is the way of this administration. They will never pleased until they run us all out of town. It is no wonder that Greenboro and Giilford County cannot get any contractors to bid jobs here.
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These same Democrats will be complaining about the lack of affordable housing, as they always do.
They have jacked up fees and charges for building homes and developing much needed subdivisions. Environmental regulations and fees have also hiked the cost of building even a modest – but respectable – small house.
This means that it’s economically impossible to build small homes, which is why builders have been forced “up market” – or they’ve been put out of business. So there are fewer builders at the bottom of the market.
And guess what? The Left then blames the free market for the damage they have done, as they bemoan the lack of affordable housing that has taken place.
Gee, I wonder why….
If they want to still complain about affordable housing why on earth was Smith Homes demolished that was all section 8 and had just been rehabbed less than 10 years ago. No one in city government will give any information about why it’s gone or where all the former residents went.
Good questions, Rebel.
But bureaucrats do not believe they are accountable to the people. Their empires exist to satisfy their own needs, not ours.
We are not amused.
I wonder what demographic these fees target as the most profitable?
This is what you get with democrat ran government, so you fools keep selecting them into office until they take everything you have away.
Government officials and parasites are basically the same thing. They both feed off of their hosts.
I say keep raising those and many other fees to the maximum! After all, it’s not as if any of the current board members will see any of the money after November.
Meanwhile, let’s elect someone who knows of basic economics: supply and demand. As for myself, I always get my pets from the classified since I’ve never seen the reasoning behind paying for what others are painfully giving away.
Condescending white liberals are worse than racists! Especially aided by a professional racebaiter! Theft by govcrims is the worst! Where will this end? A governor that violates the NC Constitution! No accountability. Rotten from DC to Raleigh to GSO. Why would it not continue to get worse if it is so profitable?