Greensboro, NC – Furthering Guilford County’s commitment to empowering Successful People to live in a Strong Community supported by Quality Government, Guilford County Manager Michael Halford presented his Fiscal Year 2024 (FY 2024) recommended budget to the Board of County Commissioners (BOC) during their regular meeting on Thursday, May 18, 2023. The recommended total for all budgeted funds is $918.6 million, with a General Fund total of $832 million. The recommended balanced county budget focuses on maintaining the County’s essential core services, supporting healthy children and youth, improving overall wellbeing for the County’s most vulnerable residents, preparing for Medicaid expansion, maintaining investments in education, workforce, and economic development, and ensuring the County’s continued fiscal stability.

The Manager’s recommended budget includes no tax rate increase. The proposed general property tax rate remains unchanged at 73.05₵ per $100 of property valuation.

Highlights of the FY2024 Recommended Budget include investments in:

Healthy Children & Youth:

• $1.1 million to expand school health services by adding ten school nurses, for a total of 66 positions, resulting in a total program cost to the County of $8.0 million.
• $600,000 to implement a new Child and Family Support and Early Intervention Team in Health and Human Services to provide primary prevention support through coordinated services, especially in underserved populations, and reimagine child protection as a preventive rather than a reactive process.
• $575,000 to support efforts to reduce infant mortality and improve infant survival and wellbeing, especially among black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) families.
• Additional $150,000 for a School Health Alliance partnership in Health and Human Services to support a sustainable model for school health clinics that will be constructed as part of the $2 billion school construction bonds with a goal of advancing health services in communities.
• 48% of the budget between the General Fund and Debt Service Fund, or $413.4 million, is allocated to Guilford Technical Community College (GTCC) and Guilford County Schools (GCS). This maintains the more than quarter-billion-dollar investment in education operating support ($262 million), $87.8 million for existing and planned debt, $11.5 million for annual capital projects support, and $51.1 million to honor the school capital funding priority for the $2 billion school construction bonds. This support maintains maximum flexibility for the Board of Education and the Board of Trustees to meet their priorities.

Improving Well-Being for Vulnerable Residents:

• $3.5 million for mental health, behavioral health, and medical services for people in the Greensboro and High Point Detention Centers as well as the Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Greensboro. The programs were previously funded through the County's allocation of federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding.
• $360,000 for a community team to provide enhanced support and care for people who regularly use emergency services, like Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and Fire Services, for non-emergency situations. The team pairs a social worker team with EMS and the Family Justice Center to help connect these callers with the appropriate care and resources they need. The effort is expected to reduce approximately 600 calls the first year, the equivalent of 900-1,200 response hours, for first responders to remain focused on emergent life and safety calls.
• $430,000 to enhance access to healthcare through a Mobile Health Clinic. The mobile clinic will provide clinical and laboratory services to residents in Guilford County, especially in underserved and rural areas.

 Medicaid Expansion:

• $5 million to prepare and ensure proper support for the approximately 200,000 Guilford County residents expected to qualify for Medicaid, including an increase of 33,000 newly qualified under the upcoming statewide Medicaid expansion. The expansion will allow low-income individuals and families with incomes of up to 138% of the federal poverty level to be eligible for Medicaid coverage. The County funding will support 59 new positions in the County Department of Health and Human Services.

Workforce and Economic Development:

• $2.4 million in additional funding for anticipated incentive grant payouts associated with recent economic development successes based on approved agreements and verification of taxable property investment and job creation milestones. Over the last two years, companies have announced expansion plans that include more than $900 million in private investment and nearly 2,400 jobs.
• $2.4 million for Community-Based Organizations (CBO) and Community Economic Development Organizations (EDO). $1.77 million will support community-based organizations and $505,000 will support community economic development organizations.
• $550,000 for the Minority and Women Business Enterprise (MWBE) Department to establish a Capital Access Program which is designed to provide financial support to small businesses owned by minorities and women, with the goal of increasing the availability of capital to MWBEs that may not have easy access to traditional funding sources due to their size, lack of collateral, or limited credit history.This amount includes $100,000 for the County’s MWBE Department to partner with community organizations in High Point and Greensboro to further support MWBE firms.
  

Core Services

• $12.2 million in county funds to maintain the service level gains that resulted from a more than 30% decline in vacant positions following the implementation of the County's competitive pay plan. The plan brings emergency responders, public health, social work, and other county employees up to market rate. The recommended budget supports a full-year implementation of the plan and plan maintenance to maintain market competitiveness, as well as proposed adjustments employee benefits, and reinstatement of the County's performance-based merit program consisting of a merit pool equivalent of 3%.
• Continued investment in the replacement of critical equipment, technology, and vehicles, primarily in Law Enforcement ($3.4 million) and Emergency Services ($2.7 million).
• $400,000 to completely overhaul the County’s existing website, which was last updated in 2018. The website, which currently receives more than 4 million annual unique visits, serves as a front door to County services and information and will be completely reworked to provide clear, concise information that is easier to find, easier to navigate, more engaging, and fully accessible to all users.

• The recommended total for all budgeted funds is $918.6 million, with a General Fund total of $832.3 million, including $19 million in APRA enabled projects, an increase of $29.5 million.
• The budget reduces the amount of recurring fund balance, or savings, used to balance the budget by $6.2 million, while maintaining the County’s fiscal resiliency to weather economic uncertainty.
• Across all funds, the budget includes a total of 2,932.38 positions, a net increase of 30.13 positions. This is equivalent to about 5.3 positions per 1,000 residents, one of the lowest position-to-resident ratios in the state. New positions include additional Health and Human Services staff to support Medicaid expansion, additional school nurses to improve the nurse-to-student ratio, a community navigation support team for adults who frequently interact with EMS, and a new Child and Family Support and Early Intervention Team. Most positions are partially or fully funded from non-county sources. Additionally, 58 positions will be eliminated because related funding sources are no longer available.

• Guilford County has 24 fire protection and service districts that provide fire response service in areas of the County not serviced by a municipal fire department. The primary funding for each district is property tax revenue generated by a special district tax. Recommended tax rates for fire districts are included in the budget.

 Next Steps:

• Tentatively scheduled for May 25, June 6, and June 8, the Board will hold public work sessions dedicated to the budget.
• This budget continues to fund County education partners at their current operating and annual capital maintenance levels – which represents an increase of nearly $47 million since FY 2021. The total increase in local budget support requested by education partners far exceeds the estimated resources available to the County for FY2024. The County Manager recommended the BOC engage in additional conversation with the Board of Education and GTCC Board of Trustees over the next several weeks regarding their requests, the latest information regarding state and other funding for each institution, and the County’s financial resources.    
• In addition to the work sessions, residents are invited to attend a budget public hearing on June 1, during the Board’s regular meeting.
• The Board of Commissioners will discuss and consider adopting the budget during its June 15 regular meeting.

Fiscal Year 2024 begins July 1, 2023 and runs through June 30, 2024. The full recommended FY2024 budget is available on the Guilford County Budget & Management website following the County Manager’s presentation.

###