CAFR 2017

music, arts and crafts and festival type events. The venue will also support entertainment at the annual Central Carolina Fair. The name White Oak was selected in honor of the City of Greensboro’s “official” tree and a selection of white oaks surround the venue’s seating area. The traditional amphitheatre season is a six-month schedule of events running from May through October. To further boost economic activity, Greensboro was selected from among thirty-two applications to host the annual National Folk Festival from 2015 to 2017. The free, three-day outdoor event attracted roughly 400,000 visitors over its three year run, generating an economic impact between $15 to $30 million per year, based on the experience of other previous city hosts. The 2017 event drew more than 162,000 attendees, an increase of

58% from 2015. The event also utilized the newly opened LeBauer Park as one of eight venues across downtown Greensboro, located in the vicinity of the planned Steven B. Tanger Center for the Performing Arts. The talent included fifty acts, with genres ranging from classic country, jazz, and Cajun, to gospel and hip-hop. With the success of the national event and enthusiastic response from attendees, ArtsGreensboro and other local partners are working with the City to host a new local festival in 2018 - The North Carolina Folk Festival. The legacy festival will continue as an admission free event, funded by sponsorships and fees paid by craft and food 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 Brewing Company, Preyer Brewing, Pig Pounder and Joymongers. Established craft brewery, Natty Greene’s, is increasing its capacity by 50 percent with plans to create a larger footprint in neighboring states. The company is increasing its brewing capacity to 30,000 barrels annually, setting its sights on the 200,000 barrel mark with the planned investment of $14.25 million for a new production brewery and “Kitchen + Market” at Revolution Mill in Greensboro. 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 2017 General Fund revenues are reported at 99.5% of budgeted amounts with 94.1% of budgeted expenditures spent. $1.2 million of the $16.8 million General Fund fund balance appropriation was used. Appropriated fund balance was $6 million higher than normal due to budgetary action taken to allow set up of a new Law Enforcement Special Separation Allowance Benefit Trust Fund and movement of assets accumulated in the General Fund to advance fund it. The fund balance policy target of 9% of the subsequent General Fund budget was maintained ($25.8 million) and the General Fund reserve for capital projects decrease from $10 million to $7.6 million. This reserve amount is recorded directly within the General Fund accounts. Significant revenue improvements were noted in recorded local option sales tax in FY 2017, however, notably sales tax receipts on electric utility amounts were $2 million less than expected. Property tax collections were 99.35% 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. In addition, cost containments allowed for new facilities to staff up, including six firefighter positions, with no increase in the property tax rate of 63.25 cents. The budgeted City-wide tax rate for FY 2018 remained the same at 63.25 cents per $100 assessed valuation. The General Fund budget of $279.2 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

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