Greensboro budget proposal boosts public safety, cuts property tax rate

Greensboro’s next budget would lower the city property tax rate while steering the biggest new dollars toward police, behavioral health and housing, a combination that will shape what residents pay and what they get back in services.

City Manager Nathaniel “Trey” Davis recommended a $913.2 million budget for Fiscal Year 2026-27, including a $485.9 million General Fund. The proposed city property tax rate would fall to 58.30 cents per $100 of assessed valuation from 67.25 cents, an 8.95-cent cut. City officials estimate the revenue-neutral rate at about 48 cents, a reminder that this is also a revaluation-year budget, not just a simple rate reduction.

Public safety would get the clearest boost. City budget materials say spending tied to public safety would rise by $20.5 million, with added officers connected to a federal grant the city received years ago and an expanded behavioral health team. The plan also supports Guilford Metro 911, contracted security, animal control, fire service agreements, and major equipment and apparatus needs. That builds on last year’s adopted budget, which already backed the Community Safety Department, Behavioral Health Response Team, Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion and GSO HOME for the unhoused.

Housing is the other major winner. The recommended budget directs $6.8 million to the Nussbaum Housing Partnership, which helps fund emergency shelters and tenant-based rental assistance. City materials say housing and neighborhood vitality would continue to be supported through homeowner assistance, down payment assistance, housing preservation, multifamily production and the Road to 10,000 housing initiative. The city’s homeless prevention requests also point Nussbaum dollars toward summer cooling stations, day centers, day labor programming and support services for people experiencing homelessness.

Neighborhood services would also see pressure relief. Davis said the city wants to restore some parks and recreation hours that had been cut back after residents said the reductions were being felt in everyday life. That change, along with other adjustments, accounts for a $3.7 million increase. The plan would also raise the minimum wage for benefited employees from $20 to $21.25 an hour and for roster employees from $17.21 to $18, while providing a 2.5% cost-of-living adjustment, a 1.5% average merit increase for general employees and 4% step increases for sworn public safety employees.

The scale of the proposal also matters. Greensboro’s adopted Fiscal Year 2025-26 budget was $830.6 million, making the new recommendation substantially larger. Nearly 30 people spoke during public comment at the City Council meeting in the Katie Dorsett Council Chamber at the Melvin Municipal Office Building, and the council is set to move toward final adoption on June 16 before the fiscal year begins July 1.