COG Comprehensive Annual Financial Report

engineered and hosted a highly successful local festival in 2018 - the North Carolina Folk Festival . The legacy festival included over 30 acts of music, dance, and other events at seven locations across downtown Greensboro and attracted an estimated 150,000 visitors. The event continued as an admission free festival, funded by sponsorships, donations and fees paid by participating vendors. Among the vendors sponsoring the festival are local craft brewers, an industry that has been gaining traction locally in recent years. Several new Greensboro breweries have opened, including Gibb’s Hundred, Preyer Brewing, Pig Pounder, Joymongers, Leveneleven and Little Brother. Established craft brewery, Natty Greene’s, has been busy with preparations to relocate its brewery operation to Revolution Mill by the end of 2018. The company plans to increase its brewing capacity to 30,000 barrels annually, setting its sights on the 200,000 barrel mark for the new production brewery with a tasting room at the Mill’s “Kitchen + Market”. World of Beer, a network of taverns known for offering more than 500 bottles of brew from around the world, opened a Greensboro location in late 2015. The restaurant occupies a 4,800 square-foot space within the 9,000 square- foot expansion of Westover Gallery of Shops. FY 2018 General Fund revenues are reported at 100.4% of budgeted amounts with 96.7% of budgeted expenditures spent. General fund revenues and transfers in of $280.7 million exceeded budget amounts by $1.0 million while expenditures and transfers out were $281.6 million. $898 thousand of the $11.5 million General Fund fund balance appropriation was used. The fund balance policy target of 9% of the subsequent General Fund budget was maintained ($26.3 million) and the General Fund reserve for capital projects decrease from $7.6 million to $6.2 million. This reserve amount is recorded directly within the General Fund accounts. Property tax collections were 99.4% of the current year’s levy, slightly higher than at the same time last year, with overall collections approximating close to 100% over a two to three year period from levy date. The continued high collection rate is further bolstered by the new motor vehicle property tax system implemented by the State of North Carolina called “Tax and Tag Together”. North Carolina’s vehicle registration program only allows a vehicle to be registered by the State with corresponding payment of local property tax due. The budgeted City-wide tax rate for FY 2019 remained the same at 63.25 cents per $100 assessed valuation. The General Fund budget of $291.8 million was adopted, at the same rate of 58.56 cents. Another 0.69 cents is recorded directly in the Housing Partnership Fund and 0.50 cents is recorded in the Economic Development Fund to support those purposes. Additionally, a transit tax of 3.50 cents was levied for the public transit system. The FY 18-19 adopted budget includes a net addition of about fourteen (14) full-time equivalent position across all operating and non-operating funds. The property tax base for FY 2019 is estimated at $28.0 billion and is expected to be higher than the prior year by 1.5% General sales tax revenues, including revenue from the rental vehicle gross receipts, are projected to increase by approximately 5% in FY 2019. State shared tax revenue, including the Electric Utility Sales Tax, Piped Natural Gas Sales Tax, Telecommunications Sales Tax and Beer and Wine Taxes, are projected to show little change from FY 2018 amounts. Water and sewer system rates increased 3.5% for residents inside and outside the city limits, effective July 1, 2018 to help fund significant water and wastewater system improvements due to regulatory requirements and other infrastructure needs. The Randleman Dam pumped water to the City for the first time in October 2010, through a newly installed 30-inch feeder main from the Randleman plant; 7.4 million gallons per day (MGD) are received on average from this source, securing the City’s future water supply.

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