Final Adopted Budget FY23-24

MWBE Program The Office of MWBE is very crucial to achieving equitable economic prosperity. During FY 2022-23, Council added 2.75 positions to the office. Included was a Construction Outreach Specialist who was hired to strengthen the office’s ability to engage and incorporate MWBE contractors with City projects. At its February Strategy Session, Council identified “easiest place to do business” as a key priority. Council also affirmed the City’s vision as a place for “endless economic opportunities and exceptional quality of life” for all Greensboro community members. Equity and inclusion are two of the city’s core values. In our effort to achieve these priorities, vision and values, the City is updating its Disparity Study. This will be completed in the fall of 2023, and will outline recommendations for achieving the City’s MWBE goals for increased utilization in construction and professional services. The State legislature approved the City’s request for a Small Business Enterprise bill in 2022. The Disparity Study will support efforts to improve branding and outreach for the MWBE office over the next several years. In an effort to make the program more effective, the City Manager’s Office will consider a number of options which align the MWBE program with the City’s procurement management and contracting services. The year started with the announcement of former Deputy Chief John Thompson as Chief of Police. In his first few weeks, he held several meetings with the community to listen and answer questions. Chief Thompson restructured his executive team to put the Greensboro Police Department (GPD) in a position to continue to effectively respond to community needs while retaining and attracting top talent in law enforcement. According to the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), “Law enforcement agencies across the United States are struggling to recruit and hire police officers. Though agency-specific needs exist depending on size or locale, the difficulty with recruitment is a significant problem that is broadly affecting the field of law enforcement—it is not simply a result of poor agency management or localized failures.” According to a recent IACP survey on recruitment “the difficulty in recruiting law enforcement officers and employees is not due to one particular cause. Rather, multiple social, political, and economic forces are all simultaneously at play in shaping the current state of recruitment and retention. They are both systemic in nature and reflect individual level considerations, making solutions to the problem particularly challenging.” Greensboro is facing the same challenges peer cities are facing across the country. Our Council recognizes this challenge, and the FY 2023-34 budget continues to address it. At its February Strategy Session, the City Council identified public safety as its top priority for FY 23-24. The budget includes a compensation package that increases officer starting salaries from $46,367 to $52,479 annually, while applying a 10.6% salary adjustment across sworn positions within Greensboro Police Department. GPD currently has about 115 vacancies. Thus, this budget is able to temporarily eliminate 30 positions from these vacancies, and shift 10 sworn positions to professional roles to support these compensation improvements. During FY 21-22, the police take-home vehicle program was implemented with the addition of 20 patrol vehicles. Since that time, despite vehicle supply challenges, 40 patrol vehicles have been added to the City’s fleet to support this program. Capital purchases, vehicle upfits, and on-going lease costs totaling $1.7 million for 20 additional vehicles are included for the continuation of the Police take-home car program in FY 2023-24. Office of Community Safety As a result of Council’s adopted FY2022-23 budget, a new Office of Community Safety was created in September 2022. Led by Ms. Latisha McNeil, the Office focuses on collaboration and cooperation between City leadership, the Greensboro Police Department (GPD), and the community to enhance public safety. Council also adopted the position of Violence Prevention Coordinator, in the Office of Community Safety, which works with violence interruption groups throughout the city to develop action plans centered on encouraging neighborhood participation and engagement in violent crime reduction. The Office of Community Safety was selected among ten other cities in the country to participate in the Cities United Roadmap Academy. This intensive year-long program is designed to help develop a comprehensive violence reduction plan for Greensboro. The GSO LEAD program will begin accepting referrals from Greensboro Police Officers on June 1st. This program is designed to help divert participants from the criminal justice system and support them in addressing various quality-of-life issues such as Public Safety Greensboro Police Department

Adopted 2023-24 Budget

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