Final Adopted Budget FY23-24

One of the more significant General Fund costs is transfers to support other funds. General Fund transfers increase $3.3 million in the recommended budget. The largest transfer is to the Debt Service Fund totaling $41.6 million, a $1.5 million increase, to support continued bond issuance and debt service needs. Additional transfers to support the Guilford Metro 911 fund is also included totaling $10.1 million, a $1.4 million increase due to technology cost increases, additional support positions, and operating costs no longer covered by State 911 funding. In the FY 2022-23 adopted budget, a penny was approved to fund a $3.5 million General Funds transfer to support parking deck debt costs. This transfer is maintained in the FY 23-24 budget. In March 2023, Council approved a property tax relief program for low income home owners totaling $250,000. This cost is accounted for in the FY 2023-24 budget. With this recommended budget, we have a great opportunity to be a City that is economically competitive, driven by the desire to deliver services to our community in an equitable manner, strengthen our resolve to be an employer of choice, and enhance our capability to meet our present and future challenges. Proposed User Fee Changes Core service priorities including water, sewer, and solid waste services face significant cost increases that must be addressed to provide expected services levels. All fees are based on cost maintaining or improving recovery and will support maintaining service levels. Water and Sewer Rates The recommended budget includes an average rate increase of 8.5% for inside and outside customers. These increased rates are driven by a variety of reasons such as prices of treatment chemicals, bid prices for capital projects, system capacity expansion, supply chain issues, inflation, and compensation for employees. The adopted FY 2022-23 budget for Water Resources was $148.6 million. This budget recommends $165.7 million, an increase of $17 million or almost 12%. Compared with other NC water and sewer services, Greensboro will maintain the second lowest water and sewer rates in the state. To assist customers with these increases, multiple assistance options will be provided to low income residents. Field Operations This budget also includes increases for landfill and transfer station fees, as well as commercial solid waste services largely driven by cost increases and market factors. Proposed transfer station disposal fees would increase $4 from $44 per to $48 per ton, and construction disposal fees increase $3 from $31 per ton to $34 per ton. Commercial solid waste services increase $15 per service frequency. Even with the changes, solid waste service fees are well below comparable private and peer city fees. Development Services Fees As the City continues to grow through annexations and in-fill, development services continue to be a primary focus. The recommended budget includes the continuation of a goal of 80% cost recovery. However, compared with other larger NC cities, this recovery percentage is low considering our size and pace of development. I propose that a goal of 90% cost recovery be considered. Economic Development Our city continues to grow at a pace previously unseen. Since January of 2022, Council has approved over 1,700 acres in annexations, resulting in approximately 5,700 additional housing units. Greensboro has grown from 137 square miles to 139.4 square miles. In 2022, we issued 1,170 commercial permits and 2,810 residential permits, with a combined construction value estimated at over $803 million, one of the largest years of development we have seen. The FY 2023-24 budget includes continued support of more than $1.4 million for multiple community organizations such as the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce, East Greensboro Now, Downtown Greensboro, Magnolia House, Greensboro Business League, and others that serve as critical economic engines for Greensboro. This budget recommends over $150,000 to support initial planning and outreach for the Gateway Corridors Improvements program, which will identify opportunities for economic development in challenging communities to raise the quality of life of the residents and create jobs in these areas. Additional funding will be identified from existing bonds and other capital funds in future years. Further, the budget maintains $500,000 added in FY 22-23 for Creative Greensboro to award arts and culture support for community organizations active in our creative economy.

Adopted 2023-24 Budget

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