The Thursday, June 4 public hearing on County Manager Victor Isler’s recommended budget saw a little bit of everything: people who said the tax hike the manager is calling for will put some people out of their homes; a small second grader who wants the schools supported; a speaker who said the tax hike should be higher than the manager was calling for; the sheriff of neighboring Rockingham County; and a medical emergency that had security clear the room.

The scariest moment came as the speakers – totaling more than 40 – gave their input to the county commissioners at the hearing and, suddenly, county staff and others began signaling frantically. For a moment, everyone knew something frightening was happening but no one knew exactly what it was.

It turned out to be a medical emergency involving Mike Perdue, who at the start of the meeting – as part of speakers from the floor – had just given the commissioners a highly intense diatribe about why they shouldn’t raise taxes.

That was technically before the public hearing started and, in the middle of the hearing, Perdue passed out, EMS staff in the room tended to him and security cleared the meeting room.

Perdue later told the Rhino Times that he had recently suffered a heart attack.

Fortunately, that night, he was well enough that, by the end of the hearing, he was the last speaker and once again gave the board a piece of his mind on the matter of taxes.

While a lot of people who saw their new housing values in the 2026 revaluation didn’t have a medical emergency, many of them did get quite worked up about the new values.

The reason is that Isler’s proposed budget calls for a property tax rate that is lower than the current rate but far above the revenue-neutral rate. His recommended budget sets the county property tax rate at 61.9 cents per $100 of assessed value. That’s down from the current 73.05-cent rate, but it’s 8.64 cents above the estimated revenue-neutral rate of 53.26 cents.

In other words, if the county commissioners adopt Isler’s recommendation, Guilford County homeowners will hear county officials say the tax rate was lowered – but many of those same homeowners will still see much higher tax bills because of the 2026 revaluation.

Isler’s proposed General Fund budget totals about $935.5 million, an increase of more than 10 percent over the current fiscal year.

The budget debate has become one of the most important fights before the Board of Commissioners this year because it raises a basic question: How much extra money should Guilford County government collect after the revaluation?

The hearing showed just how divided residents are.

Several speakers said homeowners, renters, seniors, farmers and working families simply cannot absorb higher tax bills after years of inflation.

One woman told the commissioners that families are already facing higher costs for groceries, housing and healthcare. She said many lower- and middle-income homeowners saw dramatic increases in their property values and added that residential property values rose much more sharply than commercial properties in many areas.

She said that means more of the tax burden is being shifted onto homeowners.

Renters, she said, will feel it too because landlords will pass higher tax bills along through higher rent.

A 72-year-old farmer from the Julian area told commissioners that rural residents weren’t being heard enough in the budget debate.

He said he and his wife live on a fixed income and that many small farmers and legacy farmers are barely making it.

He also said a lot of his neighbors were not going to come to Greensboro, sit through a long meeting and speak at the podium because they were out working in the fields and taking care of their animals.

He asked the nine commissioners to remember that there are a lot of rural residents in Guilford County who own land, feed people and also need representation.

If taxes go up too much, he said, some small family farms might not survive.

“Then what’s going to happen?” he asked. “Then you’re going to have corporations come in and buy farms.”

Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page also came to the meeting and urged the board to listen to taxpayers.

Page said he’d attended previous community meetings regarding Guilford County’s property tax revaluation and repeatedly heard concerns from residents who were worried about higher property values and higher taxes.

Page said the purpose of a revaluation is to properly assess property values, while the purpose of setting the tax rate is to fund necessary government services.

He said the tax rate shouldn’t be set higher in order for government officials to create a wish list.

Page said the county should start with the revenue-neutral rate and then adjust only as necessary to cover the cost of government operations and needed services.

He also said no citizen should feel like they don’t really own their property but only rent it from the government.

On the other hand, many speakers said the county needs Isler’s proposed budget to fund schools, libraries, healthcare, eviction mediation, public safety and other services.

Jeff Beckwith told commissioners that he supported the manager’s proposed budget, including the recommended tax rate.

Beckwith said he’s a retiree on a fixed income and knows the budget will increase his own property taxes. Even so, he said, the investments in the budget are necessary to maintain the quality of neighborhoods and preserve home values.

He added that Guilford County has an aging population, which will increase the need for safety-net services such as healthcare, nutrition and public health.

Beckwith also said the county is growing and needs to invest in services that support that growth.

“If we don’t grow, we will slide backwards,” he said.

One woman, a homeowner in District 5 and a teacher, described Isler’s budget as a middle-of-the-road approach.

She said many homeowners saw their property values go way up and that inflation, along with no pay raise for her as a teacher, has stretched her budget.

She added that she understands why some people want commissioners to go revenue neutral, but she said that’s not the right choice for the community.

The woman said lowering the proposed tax rate by even one penny would mean about $11 million less in revenue and that money is needed for public schools and classified school employees.

School librarian Jonna Pendleton, president of the Guilford County Association of Educators, said she was in the unusual position of supporting the manager’s budget.

Pendleton said that educators have been coming before commissioners for years saying schools were on fire financially.

“You’ve told us that we can’t keep saying everything’s on fire every year,” she said. “But we’re telling the truth.”

Pendleton said the commissioners had taken a bold step by working with the Guilford County Board of Education to create a longer-term school funding plan.

She said she was in the “unprecedented position” of being a local union president giving a thumbs up to the manager’s budget proposal.

“It’s never happened before,” she said, adding that she reserved the right to never do it again.

She said the budget offers relief to homeowners while still funding schools and services.

Several speakers emphasized that the county budget funds programs that many residents rely on – even if those programs don’t always get as much public attention as the tax rate.

Steve Puckett said that he and his wife moved to Guilford County about six years ago to be closer to family and they’ve been happy with that choice.

He said members of his church recently interviewed other church members about what was important to them and what was missing in their lives. He said healthcare, education, safe and affordable housing and childcare came up repeatedly.

Puckett said he thinks Isler’s budget is a reasonable effort to balance many important needs.

He said he liked the increased investment in K-12 education, support for libraries, Medicaid eligibility positions, food security, homelessness programs and eviction mediation.

Like others, he said he thinks taxes are already high and is wary of anything that raises them. However, after looking at the proposed budget, he said he was willing to pay modestly more to keep the community a great place to live.

One second grader (pictured above) came to the podium and asked commissioners to give more money to her school.

Another speaker argued for a half-cent county sales tax, saying commissioners should let voters decide whether to shift more of the burden away from property owners and onto sales taxes paid by residents, visitors and others who come into Guilford County.

One of the most unusual comments came from a woman who asked commissioners to imagine aliens visiting Guilford County and seeing what local government does.

She said the aliens would see schoolchildren learning in summer reading programs, students getting low-cost classes at GTCC, public health nurses in schools, the Family Justice Center helping domestic violence victims and emergency personnel saving the life of an older person having a heart attack.

Her conclusion was that property taxes pay for important things.

“Please raise my taxes,” she told commissioners.

The commissioners are expected to adopt a final budget later this month.

The June 4 hearing made it clear that, no matter what they do, a large number of people are going to be unhappy.

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