Commissioners ready to turn county manager’s budget into their own budget

The recommended budget that Guilford County Executive Mike Halford presented to the Board of Commissioners last week made some people very happy and others very sad. However, it’s only game over when it’s over, and this 2024-2025 budget game is far from over.

On Wednesday, May 22, Guilford County Board of Commissioners Chairman Skip Alston said changes would be made to Halford’s budget before a true, final budget is adopted in June.

Alston said the manager’s recommendation was just that, a recommendation, and he added that the final decision was up to the board.

“The director makes his recommendation to the county commissioners, but the final budget is the one decided by the Guilford County Board of Commissioners,” Alston said.

Alston added that there were some things in the manager’s budget that he liked and others that he didn’t like, but he added that he didn’t want to discuss what it was for the moment.

He said there would definitely be changes this year.

Alston said he and the other board commissioners were going through the dense and lengthy document to see what needed to be added — and what could be included in the recommendation that should not be in the final budget.

He said one county concern that may need more attention is funding to combat homelessness.

He said the board might want to take money from the county savings account — the fund balance — in some very specific cases, such as to fund community organizations or for an important cause.

One of the things government budget officials warn boards about is using a local government’s savings account for recurring costs each year.

“If this is a one-time item, we could use the fund balance,” Alston said, while acknowledging that this money is primarily reserved for emergencies and liquidity.

For years, the state’s standard advice has been for local governments to keep at least 8 percent of the county budget in savings. Currently, about 15 percent of Guilford County’s budget is kept in savings.

One of the changes commissioners made last year before adopting a final budget was adding more money for Guilford County schools. Alston did not say whether the amount of money going to the school system would be changed, but he said it would be a mistake to assume that just because the school board did it last year that it would even this year.