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Guilford County residents will have a chance today to speak about the county’s 2009-10 budget plan in front of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners.

Though there’s no property tax rate increase in the proposal from County Manager Brenda Jones Fox, the budget does include cuts to schools, libraries and county employees, with funding increases for economic development and new funding for nonprofit groups.

The hearing will begin at 5:30 p.m. at 301 W. Market St., Greensboro. Each person will have two minutes to speak.

The Board of Commissioners will hold a public work session May 28 and then another hearing June 4.

The commissioners must pass a budget by July 1.

Key figures in 2009-10 budget plan

Total budget: $585,010,815

Tax rate: Would not change from the current 73.74 cents per $100, or $1,475 for the owner of a $200,000 home.

Property tax revenue: Expected to increase by 1.9 percent next year to $327.8 million, the smallest increase in total property tax revenue since 2004-05.

Other revenue: Sales tax is expected to drop by $13.3 million next year to $64.3 million. The county is pulling $16 million more from the county’s reserve fund for a total of $43.1 million spent from that fund. Local fees, such as those for ambulance rides, inspections and other county departments, are expected to grow 1.4 percent to $38.7 million. State and federal funds make up the rest of the county’s budget, about $97.9 million, and are expected to drop by $4.6 million. Investment earnings and other revenues make up $13.2 million, which is $9.2 million lower than this year.

Losing funding

Schools: In the current budget, Guilford County Schools received $7 million for maintenance. In 2009-10, the system would receive $4 million. The schools’ operational funds remain at $175 million.

Libraries: Greensboro and High Point libraries lose. Fox says she based her proposal for the Greensboro Public Library on the percentage of the county’s population that lives only in Guilford County. She suggested $1.7 million, which is a $400,000 cut to the current funding level of $2.1 million. Fox applied the same formula to the High Point Public Library, giving it $385,000.

Greensboro library boosters argue that county funding should be based on the percentage of library patrons who live in the county, which is a greater percentage than Fox’s formula.

County employees: A salary freeze for county departments is expected to save $1.7 million, Fox said. Layoffs and early retirements felt across most county departments trimmed about $16 million in staff salaries this year.

Fox said it’s “a difficult thing to measure” how much the county would spend on severance packages and benefits connected those early retirements and the layoffs and has not released such information.

Meanwhile, Guilford will increase payments to employee retirement funds by a combined $3.2 million.

Transportation: Fox’s recommendation limits county-funded transportation to just those on Medicaid and qualified handicapped riders. This would save the county $948,000.

Gaining funding

Community groups: Fox’s recommendation gives an extra $537,917 to fund community groups such as YMCAs and arts and economic development groups, compared to the 2008-09 spending of $250,000.

Groups below were not funded in 2008-09, except where noted in parenthesis.

• Malachi House: $25,000, general grant.
• Carl Chavis Branch YMCA: $25,000, general grant for youth sports and a teen center.
• Hayes Taylor YMCA: $300,000, to help fund a new facility.
• Nia Community Action Center: $25,000, general grant.
• Joseph’s House: $50,000, general grant.
• Guilford County Tourism Development Authority: $37,917, a local match for 2009 Nike Outdoor Nationals track meet at N.C. A&T.
• North Carolina Shakespeare Festival: $50,000 ($25,000 in 2008-09. The Shakespeare Festival did not apply for county funds for 2009-10).
• War Memorial Foundation: $50,000, to pay for staff to plan a veterans memorial field at Triad Park.
• East Market Street Development Corp.: $50,000, general grant ($25,000 in 2008-09).

Economic incentives: Vice Chairman Steve Arnold plugged $1.3 million into Fox’s recommendation for an economic incentive plan that he said would spread more money to commercial development.

Arnold has given few other details publicly, but other commissioners such as Paul Gibson and Billy Yow already oppose the idea.

Capital projects: Most of the county is seeing cuts in staffing, but $10 million would be transferred from the reserve fund to pay for a backlog of day-to-day capital needs.

According to Fox, what those needs are has not been defined.

“We’re in the process of looking at that,” she said.

Contact Gerald Witt at 373-7008 or gerald.witt@news-record.com