The Guilford County Board of Commissioners voted to adopt an $889,196,646 General Fund Budget for the Fiscal Year 2026-2027 (FY2027) during a called special meeting, Thursday, June 25. The Board of Commissioners’ adopted budget adjusts the property tax rate to 78.95 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, an increase of 5.9 cents.
The budget reflects our ability to address five core budget principles:
- Recover from Federal and State Funding Losses While Maintaining Core County Services
- Addressing Inflation and Key Cost Increases
- Sustaining Our Workforce and Ensuring Responsiveness, especially health service and public safety related positions
- Continued Investment in School and Community College Infrastructure
- Sustaining Strategic Investments in Our Community
This increase equates to an additional $8.44 per month for homeowners based on the median home value of $171,600 in Guilford County.
Recover from Federal and State Funding Losses While Maintaining Core County Services
- The budget addresses $7.5 million in reductions to federal and state funding. This includes a $3.1 million loss from the enactment of H.R. 1, related to reduced federal reimbursement for administering Food and Nutrition Services, and a $4.4 million revenue loss from the enactment of SB 889 related to public service equalization. Despite these losses, the county must maintain these statutorily required services.
- Over 185,000 residents rely on safety net programs that support access to food, healthcare, and other essential resources. As funding for some of these programs decline, Guilford County is increasingly called upon to help address community needs. Our budget is designed to preserve services and support vulnerable residents during a time of uncertainty.
Addressing Inflation and Key Cost Increases
- Like families and businesses, local governments are experiencing higher costs for fuel, utilities, healthcare, and other operational expenses. For example, fuel costs for our ambulances and county vehicles have increased significantly, and expenses associated with foster care, detention services, and mandated programs continue to rise. Guilford County and others are seeing an increase in length of detention stays due to the impact of Iryna’s Law (House Bill 307). The impacts include a 14% increase in monthly food services expenses for the detention centers.
- Reducing the use of fund balance by $5 million to align with our financial policies and support maintaining AAA/Aaa bond rating.
- Cutting departments’ operating budgets by over $3.7 million to reduce new funding required through a tax rate increase.
Sustaining Our Workforce and Ensuring Responsiveness
- The adopted budget adds 7 new positions while maintaining approximately 5.5 positions per 1,000 residents, one of the lowest position-to-resident ratios in the state.
- Recruiting and retaining qualified public safety and health professionals in the Sheriff's Office, Emergency Management, and Public Health requires competitive compensation in today's labor market. The FY27 budget includes a 3% performance-based merit program to support employee retention while continuing targeted investments in critical frontline positions, including paramedics, deputy sheriffs, detention officers, and nurses. These investments help reduce vacancies, improve emergency response times, and enhance the quality and reliability of services provided to Guilford County residents.
- Enhance the standard of coverage in rural fire districts by adopting tax rate requests from local fire district boards to address additional positions, increased costs of operations, and implementing strategic plans.
Continued Investment in School and Community College Infrastructure
- The budget allocates $288.1 million to Guilford County Schools (GCS) for operating needs, an increase of $5.6 million, which is 2% increase over the prior year.
- Maintains the commitment approved by the voters in funding $2 billion for school capital construction by allocating $26.9 million in property tax revenues for debt service. Through these bonds, the following schools have been constructed: Claxton Elementary, Kiser Middle, Peck K-8 Expeditionary Learning, Foust Gaming & Robotics Elementary, Brooks Global, Peeler-Hampton Visual and Performing Arts, as well as safety/security and technology improvements at every school across the county. The completed construction projects are tangible examples of the County and GCS’s collaborative commitment to quality education. Additional projects are underway at Erwin Montessori, Sternberger, Sumner, Allen Jay, Swann, Lindley, Northwood, Shadybrook, Northwest Middle, Joyner, Bessemer, and Millis Road.
- The budget allocates $20 million to Guilford Technical Community College (GTCC) for operating needs, an increase of $0.3 million or 1.5% over the prior year. The budget also includes $57.4 million in project ordinances to prepare for the workforce demands of economic development successes in aviation, advanced manufacturing, health sciences, and bioprocess manufacturing.
Sustaining Strategic Investments in Our Community:
- Targeted investments within existing debt service capacity to help Guilford County plan for future development and meet increasing service demands, include:
- $15 million project ordinance to address deferred capital at Bur-Mil, Gibson, Northeast, Hagan-Stone, Southwest, and other park facilities.
- $10 million project ordinance to construct a Women and Children’s Residential Recovery Center
- $1.5 million for the Greensboro Courthouse
- Continued full-year funding for the Tenant Education, Advocacy, and Mediation Program.
- Investing in technology improvements to enhance efficiencies including replacement of the enterprise resource planning system for Human Resources and establishing a replacement plan for servers, switches, and computers ($3.1 million).
- Sustaining the food security program and the Social Service/Family Justice Center team previously funded with ARPA funding ($0.5 million).
At its core, Guilford County’s adopted budget aligns with our expansive and thriving community by addressing the impacts of federal and state revenue reductions, inflationary pressures, and increasing service demands. The budget sustains the County workforce, with targeted investments in critical health services positions, while continuing to support capital needs for public education and the community college system.
“The adopted FY 2026-27 budget demonstrates the Board of Commissioners’ commitment to serving Guilford County residents while maintaining fiscal responsibility,” said Board of Commissioners Chair Melvin “Skip” Alston. “This year’s budget process was unprecedented given the implications of Senate Bill 889, and I am proud of how this Board worked together to pass a budget that protects the county’s financial health, prepares us for growth tied to our economic successes, supports public safety, and works to balance the burden on taxpayers. It also honors what we heard from residents throughout our community budget town hall process. Our commitment to Guilford County is strong, not because the work is easy, and not because the work is finished. It is strong because we are listening, planning, investing, and moving forward together as OneGuilford.”
Fiscal Year 2026-2027 begins Wednesday, July 1, 2026, and runs through Wednesday, June 30, 2027.
More information on the FY2027 adopted budget is available on the Guilford County website at GuilfordCountyNC.gov/Budget.
Property Tax Moratorium
In keeping with the organization’s Core Value of Transparency and Communication, Guilford County acknowledges that there has been some confusion and miscommunication about the 2026 Property Tax Reappraisal Moratorium (Senate Bill 889). To provide clarity, here’s what residents need to know:
- North Carolina Senate Bill 889 (SB 889) was signed into law by North Carolina Governor Stein on Friday, June 19, which imposes a moratorium on the 2026 property tax reappraisal. The bill was approved by the North Carolina General Assembly on Wednesday, June 10.
- Your 2026 tax bill will be based on the same property value from the 2025 tax bill, not the 2026 reappraisal value from your February notice.
- There will not be a reappraisal in 2027. The 2026 property reappraisal values will be applied to your 2027 tax bill. The next reappraisal is scheduled for 2032.
- The county estimates notices to be issued by Saturday, August 15, instead of Friday, July 10, due to moratorium
- Property tax bills for FY2027 will be based on 2025 assessed values. Residents can look up those values by searching for their address or name on the Guilford County Bill Search web page.
- If property owners have appealed their 2026 values, the appeal will still be processed.
- If you appealed your 2026 property tax reappraisal this year, the appeal would still apply on next year’s tax bill.
- Property owners can still apply for tax relief. However, if you have already filed an application, there is no need to reapply. Applications were due in June for the county tax relief programs. Late applications can be taken to the Board of Equalization and Review.
- Residents who pay their tax bill by Monday, August 31, will still receive a 1% discount. Under the current North Carolina General Statutes, the Board of Commissioners cannot adjust the dates of the early payment discount period at this time.
- Any pre-paid tax funds will be applied to your 2026 tax bill.
In addition, based on this adopted budget, the next fiscal year (FY2028) would be based on the 2026 assessed values after the moratorium expires. Should those values hold, the estimated revenue neutral tax rate as prescribed by NCGS 159-11 would be $0.5854 cents.
For more information, visit GuilfordCountyNC.gov/TaxMoratorium.