The Greensboro City Council may discuss the 2021-2022 budget at the work session on Tuesday, May 11 beginning at 2:30 p.m.

A budget discussion has been on the agenda for the previous two work sessions and has not been discussed, but May 11 could be the day. City Manager David Parrish is scheduled to present his budget proposal to the City Council on May 18, which means the City Council is running out of time to provide input for the manager’s proposed budget.

The current City Council has rarely made significant changes to the manager’s proposed budget.  Funding has been added for particular nonprofit organizations, but the City Council has rarely had much input in the budget development process.

The good news is that the preliminary budget presentation recommends maintaining the current property tax rate of 66.25 cents.  At that rate, property tax revenue is projected to increase by $3.7 million or 2.1 percent to $182.4 million.

Sales tax is projected to bring in $67.6 million, which is $15.6 million or 30 percent higher than the revised estimate for the current year.

The preliminary budget calls for adding 12 new city employees other than police in fiscal year 2021-2022, and six more in 2022-2023.

The Police Department is slated to receive an additional $2 million for new positions and increased compensation across the board.  The preliminary budget calls for adding eight new police officers in 2021-2022 and eight more in 2022-2023.  There is also an additional $1 million allocated for raises for police officers.  The entry level salary for police officers will be raised to $40,212 and compensation across the board will be increased in accordance with that increase.

The preliminary budget allocates $4.4 million of the $56.6 million the city is receiving in American Rescue Plan funds to balance the budget.

The preliminary budget for the Greensboro Coliseum including the Stephen Tanger Center for the Performing Arts anticipates operations at full capacity beginning in September.