Fiscal Year 2025- 2026 Recommended Budget

GENERAL FUND

The accompanying chart shows a service area comparison of General Fund expenditures for FY 23-24 actual expenditures, the FY 24-25 amended budget, the FY 25-26 recommended budget, and the FY 26-27 projected budget. The FY 25-26 recommended budget of $441,185,567 is $19.3 million, or 4.6% higher than the amended FY 24-25 budget. Debt service remains approximately the same at $41.2 million based on expected support for recent GO bonds and other debt financing. General Fund Expenditures by Service Area

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The Public Safety service area, which includes Police, Fire, Community Safety, and the General Fund support for the Guilford Metro Communications Fund, is the largest service area in the General Fund. The total service area budget is $205,408,360 million, which is almost 47% of the total General Fund. The budget is $11.8 million, or 6.1%, higher than the current year budget. A portion of the increase is the addition of the Community Safety Department to the Public Safety service area. The budget includes funding for additional market adjustments for Fire Engineer position classification with a first year cost of approximately $200,000. Internal radio charges are increasing to help maintain the City’s radio infrastructure. The combined radio charges increase for the public safety service area is $651,000. The continuation of support for financed replacement of fire trucks of approximately $3.6 million is also included. The Infrastructure service area, which includes Solid Waste and Recycling, Transportation, Engineering and Inspections, Planning and contributions to Solid Waste Management and the Coliseum Funds, is the second largest service area at $94 million, or 21.3% of the General Fund. The Infrastructure budget increases by $1.3 million. The budget reflects the delay of three roof repair projects for one year, a savings of $1.2 million. The General Fund transfer to Solid Waste Management is $4.4 million, an increase of $2.5 million to support increased contract cost and to address necessary compliance issues at the transfer station. The Community Services service area, which includes Library, Housing and Neighborhood Development, Parks and Recreation and Human Rights Departments is $48.3 million, a reduction of $1.7 million from current year budget. The reduction is due to the Code Compliance division of Housing and Neighborhood Development transferring to the Executive Department. The General Government service area budget is $51.3 million, a $7.9 million or 18.2% higher than the current year budget. The service area was part of a multi-department realignment which included the transfer of energy management from Engineering and Inspections to the Office of Sustainability & Resilience and the Code Compliance division from Neighborhood and Housing Development to the Executive Department. The transfer to the Parking Fund increased by $1.4 million, the increase reinstates a reduction from the prior year that occurred due to the anticipated sale of city assets. The budgeted contribution to the Debt Service Fund will remain flat at $42.2 million. The budget will continue to support debt repayment associated with previously approved bonds and further support fund balance goals. The FY 26-27 projected budget of $464.5 million is $23.3 million, or 5.3%, higher than the recommended FY 25-26 budget.

Recommended FY 25-26 Budget

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