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Six votes will pass Guilford County's 2008-09 budget. There's 11 members on the board, and a simple majority will make the budget go.

Let the lines be drawn.

County Manager David McNeill will present his budget to the Board of Commissioners on May 22. There are no new members on the board, so each will go into next week's meeting with an idea of what they want in the county's $550 million budget. Some said they want funding for community organizations. Others want more money for schools. And some want no new taxes, no matter what.

But what do you want to get funded? Contact your commissioner, or post a comment down here.

Commissioners tell us all the time that voters contact them and say this or that. But we'd also like to hear from you after you talk with your elected representative. What did they say? What do you want? It is your tax money, after all.

Also, in a conversation with Chairman Kirk Perkins today, he said that things going unfunded this year may come back to haunt the county later. So saving now may mean paying more for it later.

Because there's an expected property tax rate increase with the bonds that passed. We've been giving averages out for these bonds lately, but here's how it breaks down for the next couple years: In 2008-09, there will be a property tax rate increase of about $70 for the owner of a $200,000 home. In the following year, 2009-10, that homeowner will have another increase of about $100. Then, in 2010-11, that homeowner will pay an extra $16 on the tax bill.

That number fluctuates because bonds are issued and paid on different timetables and the property tax increases this year and next will go to cover those bonds. And while they are intended to cover the bond payments, what happens when the bonds are paid down? Who ever heard of a local government lowering taxes?

We caught up with Guilford County commissioners this week to see what they think now that the dust has settled on the May 6 votes for $671 million in bonds and the quarter-cent sales tax.

Guilford voters approved all the bonds except for the $20.2 million for parks. And they refused the sales tax.

But few commissioners managed to hold closely to what the voters wanted in their districts.

Below is the list of what commissioners said they wanted before the election, which excludes at-large commissioners John Parks and Paul Gibson:

District 1, Bruce Davis: No to the $412 million school bond and jail bond. Yes to other bonds. Undecided on sales tax.

District 2, Steve Arnold: Yes on Eastern Guilford. No to the other bonds and sales tax.

District 3, Linda Shaw: Yes to bonds and sales tax.

District 4, Kirk Perkins: Yes on bonds and the sales tax.

District 5, Billy Yow: Yes on the jail bond and sales tax. No for the other bonds.

District 6, Kay Cashion: Yes on bonds and the sales tax.

District 7, Mike Winstead: Refused to give his position on the bonds or sales tax.

District 8, Melvin “Skip” Alston: Yes to Eastern Guilford. No to the other bonds and sales tax.

District 9, Carolyn Coleman: Did not comment.

Here's some extra fun stuff that didn't make it into the paper today ("Council cuts budget to avoid tax increase"), in case you were dying to know all the gory details of this year's budget debate.

Council asked the city manager to keep the tax rate flat for next year. He offered them nearly a dozen ways to save or make the city money to get there.

Here are some of the cuts they approved and items they kept in the budget:

Ways the city will save money:
$2 million: cuts for road repaving
$200,000 — no coliseum suite renovations
$1.65 million — delayed payoff of parking deck debts
$60,000 — reduced staff at lakes
$200,000 — cut landscape contract
$600,000 — revenue from increased refuse fees
$200,000 — savings from a rolling hiring freeze

Items the council will keep in the budget:
$550,000 — housing and community development fund
$65,000 — street light fund
$679,000 — nonprofit funding
$100,000 — neighborhood grants

Things I'd still like to know: how many street lights can you buy for $65,000? And how many roads will you pave with $2 million?

City Council is considering new rules for its speakers from the floor session, a regular public comment period at the beginning and end of each council meeting.

Councilman Zack Matheny recommended that council limit the first session of the meeting to city issues only. The session at the end of the meeting could be used for everything else.

The city's legal department ruling: No way. City Associate General Counsel Jamiah Waterman says the Constitution of the U.S. and state law are pretty particular on this point.

Government can limit the "time, manner and place" speech takes place. But not the content.

Limiting speakers to city business would not be content-neutral, Waterman concludes in a memo to council (which you can read here.)

And -- highlighting a point made by Councilwoman T. Dianne Bellamy-Small and others -- Waterman says "city business" is ambiguous, vague and gives too much discretion to council to determine who can and cannot speak.

"Depending up the circumstances, topics as varied as the war in Iraq, global warming, abortion or A&T's homecoming events can be considered city business,"Waterman wrote.

So, the speakers from the floor can keep doing what they do. Score one for the First Amendment, and the local residents of Crazytown.

Most of the time, we simply ignore the calls asking for us to investigate the great ketchup famine of 1996 or the relationship of some elected official to Area 57.

This morning was a touch different when a caller asked about who pays for these bonds, particularly the school bonds.

The caller wanted to know what happened to the North Carolina Education Lottery proceeds that were intended to build new schools. Then the caller implied that people who don't own property in Guilford County are probably the folks who voted for the bonds, because renters don't have to pay property tax.

We reported last year that the North Carolina Education Lottery wasn't putting up the revenue that was expected. Here's a handy .pdf showing the breakdown from the 2006-07 ticket sales.
While the lagging lottery isn't the only reason bond supporters used to justify that the schools needed the money, it is one of many factors.

As for the property-owners-only-pay-property-tax argument, it's true only to the extent that the person who owns the land pays the property tax bill. Rest assured, every time rent goes up for a person, a part of that increase also goes to cover higher property taxes.

Update: Here's today's story on the 2007-08 county budget. What do you want your board of commissioners to fund?

After Tuesday, when most bonds in Guilford County received the nod from voters, you can likely count on a couple things happening in the 2008-09 budget.

Some commissioners will likely mention that voters could have made things easier in by passing the quarter-cent sales tax. Property tax may well go up. And there could even be more cuts.

All that comes at a time when food stamp claims are increasing at the Department of Social Services, the Sheriff's Office was required to add 28 deputies at the beginning of the year that will be permanent positions and many of the community groups that were cut in last year's budget want to get back on board.

One Soopster mentioned after tonight's Primary results came in that "the real election begins tomorrow."

Nay. Budget season begins tomorrow.

Now all those things that Guilford commissioners talked about - particularly tax increases - are going to come up.

And the referenda that passed only technically gives the board the clearance to issue the bonds. They don't have to, and they don't have to issue them for the full amount.

Soon we can see what the commissioners think about this upcoming budget season.

At the Hillary Clinton rally today we ran into a Guilford College senior wearing a body-sized triangular suit that had a photo of a slice of pizza.

"Loving pizza is the common denominator of human existence," Johanna Breed told Scoop. The statement might be the truest piece of almost-political rhetoric that Scoop has ever heard
(27 second mp3).

Breed said she was there to shoot for a spot as Hillary's running-mate. But after a while Breed showed her true colors. She supports Barack Obama in the presidential primary, and only happened to have the costume on hand.

"I'm actually an Obama supporter, but I just thought this was funny," she said. Though if Clinton approached her, the Guilford College art major might reconsider, Breed said (44 second mp3).

Clinton's press secretary hasn't gotten back to Scoop about the chances of a Clinton/Pepperoni ticket in 2008.

A half-hour of recognitions preceded the regular business in Thursday's Guilford County commissioners meeting, and they spanned from naming bridges to hearing bagpipes.

In a somber moment, the board named the Eugene/Elm Street bridge over I-40/85 in honor of L.E. Pace, a state trooper who died while on-duty in 1963.

The High Point Central High School Men of Valor Excelling program was recognized for receiving the President's Volunteer Service Award.

And then there were bagpipes. Redhead Commissioner Linda Shaw (she's a Republican, too)read the proclamation recognizing April as national Scots, Scots-Irish Heritage Month. Bagpiper David Thomas serenaded the board. (The bagpipe starts at 37 minutes in the video.)

Also, May is now the month for foster care awareness and mental health month. And The week starting May 4 is arson awareness week.

Looks like most candidates for office in Guilford County have been keeping their nose clean.

A background check of those involved in contested primaries next Tuesday found very few who have had brushes with the law, not counting minor traffic violations.

Those who have include two candidates for the Guilford County Board of Commissioners.

Incumbent Billy Yow, who faces two Republican primary opponents in his bid to keep the District 5 seat, was convicted in 1981 of driving while impaired.

E.H. Hennis, who is in the Republican primary for two at-large seats up for grabs, was convicted in 2000 of creating a bomb hoax during a commissioners meeting in 1998.

Apart from those candidates, you've got some speeding tickets, but that's about it.

Of late, the Greensboro city council has been inundated with folks who'd like their three minutes at the public podium.

At the council's public comment session at the beginning of each meeting, there are citizen groups asking for help or promoting an event. Then there are folks who have less important things to do with their designated public comment time ("City council, you've been Punk'd").

With that in mind, Councilman Zack Matheny floated a plan to limit the 30 minutes of public comment to city-related issues only. Folks who want to talk about anything else can wait for the second public comment period at the end of the council meeting.

Matheny said some people were taking advantage of the council.

"We need to set policy for the city of Greensboro. Let's focus on city business," Matheny said.

His request was met by all the right questions from his fellow council members. How could they implement this new rule fairly? How can they do it without violating constitutional rights of free speech? What about issues that don't concern the city, but might be interesting to hear?

They didn't vote on his proposal, but instead asked for the city legal staff to do a little research first.

Continue reading "Move your soapbox to the end of the meeting" »