The proposal for the City of Greensboro to offer mortgage and rental assistance to city employees includes almost all city employees.
According to the presentation at the Greensboro City Council strategy session on Thursday, Oct. 13 – unlike the city’s current first-time homeowner mortgage assistance program, which has an average median income cap, there would be no income cap on city employees eligible to receive up to $15,000 in mortgage or rental assistance from the city.
The presenters said that the program would be available to all city employees who were not at the executive salary level.
According to the Greensboro Human Resources web page, the top non-executive salary for city employees is $173,721. This is the top salary under the “general” category, and the presenters, who did not identify themselves, said that all employees in the general salary category would be covered by the program. The lowest salary at the executive level is $94,575. So according to the presentation, a G25 general employee of the City of Greensboro making $173,721 would be eligible for mortgage or rental assistance from the city, but an “executive employee” making $94,575 would not.
Those salaries are for the 2021-2022 fiscal year and do not include the raise that city employees received in the 2022-2023 budget, which included a tax increase of about 30 percent to pay for raises for all city employees, among other things.
The City Council had no problem with offering mortgage assistance to all city employees in the general salary category.
City Councilmember Marikay Abuzuaiter said, “I think this is something that is certainly needed in this economic era we are in.”
Abuzuaiter added, “I can’t really see a negative about it at all.”
And to reemphasize that point she repeated, “I can’t see any negatives about it at all.”
City Councilmember Nancy Hoffmann said, “This is great. I’m really happy that you presented this to us. If you live in the city you work in, you understand that city and its neighborhoods and its infrastructure so much better.” (To qualify for the assistance, the residence must be within the city limits.)
City Manager Tai Jaiyeoba, who participated in the meeting via Zoom, noted that there was an affordable housing crisis in the city and when the program was presented to him several weeks ago, he decided that it was something the City Council needed to consider.
Taxpayers want to know who presented this crazy idea to Jalyeoba and why did he think it was worthy of consideration? Please respond.
A group of city employees, who thought to be on their way toward top management positions, called the 2022 Leadership Edge Cohort.
Is there no shame among Parasitic Sector employees?
You would think they wouldn’t have the chutzpah to organize and lobby for outrageous benefits for themselves. And yet they do.
– Shameless.
– Selfish.
– Greedy.
– Mercenary.
John, can you elaborate on this? Perhaps do an article outlining where this idea came from? Thanks!
It appears that the government officials are trying to spend the windfall they received by the real estate reevaluation. Rather than reduce the tax rate to protect taxpayers, they are opting to use the 30% of increased property tax revenue to invent new benefits for government employees. A good portion of the Bond money will probably be wasted in a similar fashion. In a democracy, the people get the quality of government they deserve. They are about to get it “good and hard”.
So what does “mortgage” or “rental assistance” actually mean? Is this a loan or is it a direct payment? Is it taxable as income? Can anyone explain the “details” before the train starts rushing down the tracks? Is this how our new property taxes will be spent? The tax payer gets no assistance, his taxes increase logarithmicly, and the employees get our money? Rotten, rotten, rotten.
Hi
I’m deaf lady but just curious about the Where is this house location & Is any near city bus GTA area close by the house
Shopping area near by house
I hoping this will fit my location plus Shopping, GTA city bus area too
I rather rent to own that house — interesting myself need place to live
I’m homeless but I’m at Nursing home that my Dr doesn’t want me to sleep outside because it’s not good for me sleep outside
Give me more information about this
Thanks
Wendy
This is insane! Senior citizens can barely afford to fill their pantries and we get the highest tax increase in the history of the city and then the council goes and gives this type of benefit to city employees while this country is experiencing the highest inflation in decades? Infuriating!!!
Leftist local politicians cheering an obscene taxpayer funded subsidy for public sector parasites who are paid $3,500 PER WEEK – because they can’t be expected to save money for a downpayment like the rest of us.
Leftists like to say that free market capitalism is greed. No, this is greed. Government greed – as always.
The Parasitic Sector disgusts me.
Say what???
So now we can clearly see who needs to be replaced in the next election cycle. The city council does not have the best interest of the tax payers in mind.
They needed to be replaced during the last election cycle (and the one before that), but apparently, the majority of Greensboro citizens are either happy with the status quo, or just don’t care enough to get out and vote in local elections.
The State of NC already does this for teachers.
So the taxpayers of Greensboro are paying mortgage and rental assistance for city employees? At least one council member sees nothing with taking tax payer funds to subsidize city employees?
City Manager Tai Jaiyeoba is correct in stating there is a housing crisis. One reason for this is there is more demand than supply. That makes prices/rents increase. Using tax payer money to offer mortgage and rental assistance will only make the problem worse by softly encouraging people to rent/buy properties they normally couldn’t afford.
Absolutely right! And the reason there is a shortage of affordable housing is because the government has made it uneconomic, with swathes of rules, requirements, restrictions, regulations, and red tape. It is now impossible to viably build inexpensive houses – because of the state.
And then the Left claims it’s “a failure of the market”!
Government has caused this problem.
Unbelievable! Talk about out of touch.
This is absolutely appalling . Most will not know this has been proposed. Yet this is what Greensboro wanted since these clowns got voted back in . This is what you get when u vote in left socialist .
These people are so out of touch, like so many elected officials these days! They all need to go when will Greensboro wake up?
If this ONLY applied to police officers then I would be okay with it ONLY because there is such a shortage right now.
THIS! This is exactly what is wrong with local government. “Hmmm, how can we City Employees gat more money to pay for more expensive homes? Let’s raise taxes on the citizens who can’t afford their homes!”
“It’s good to be King!”
VOTE SMARTER between now and Nov. 8th for ALL elected officials. They do crazy stuff like this when you’re not paying attention. Share with your friends.
City Council members will not be paying attention to what residents of Greensboro have to say until next election. Greensboro voters missed an opportunity to change direction by voting for the write-in candidate. This would have been a huge change for Greensboro. The current Council members are not up to the challenge to govern. They simply do not have the wherewithal to lead. Since Council members will not leave on their own, we need to make the decision for them by the use of term limits. Politicians who are elected time and again get stale, lazy and ineffective. Fresh blood is needed to revitalize the governing process.
The majority of some of the 15,000 people who bothered to vote in the last election gave us most of what we just got. The Dems got out the faithful (govt employees and benefactors), the Right just sat on their bums.
No whining. Get off your arse and vote.
Interesting that Nancy Hoffman lives at Well Springs that is a 501c non profit, she nor Well Springs pay city or county property taxes but she is allowed to vote on how tax payer money is spent. Welcome to Greensboro leftest socialist politics!
“Non-Profit” = Non Taxpaying.
Nancy Hoffman is not affected by the tax increase she voted for. As stated, Well-Spring is designated a non-profit thanks to the Raleigh legislature. Therefore, Well-Spring Retirement Community is exempt from property tax. Since it costs $500,000(+) for the privilege of calling Well-Spring “home”, it seems that they have the wherewithal to pay property tax. On another note, the non-profit is reimbursed for any sales tax paid to the state during the year. Imagine not having to pay property tax and sales tax. Would this not make life a little less stressful?