Guilford County reserve falls below own financial safety policy
Guilford County’s reserve slid to 7%, below its 8% safety floor, even as leaders proposed a $935.5 million General Fund and a lower tax rate.
Guilford County’s unassigned General Fund reserve fell to about 7% in fiscal 2024-2025, slipping below the county’s own 8% minimum just as leaders prepared a $935,455,000 General Fund budget for fiscal 2026-2027 and a lower property tax rate. The county had held the reserve at 12% in both fiscal 2021-2022 and fiscal 2022-2023 before it dropped to 8% in fiscal 2023-2024 and then to 7%, with more than 558,000 residents and projected growth of more than 86,000 over the next 20 years.
Guilford County has adopted a minimum General Fund balance policy of no less than 8% of budgeted expenditures, and the annual comprehensive financial report is GAAP-based and audited by licensed certified public accountants. In the county’s fiscal 2024 ACFR, the unassigned General Fund balance fell by $31.5 million to $70.6 million, equal to 9.7% of total General Fund expenditures and other uses of $730.0 million. County Manager Victor Isler and Chief Financial Officer Donald P. Warn issued the fiscal 2025 ACFR.
The Guilford County Board of Commissioners adopted a balanced $833.7 million fiscal 2024-2025 budget on June 20, 2024, while holding the property tax rate at 73.05 cents per $100 of assessed value. Commissioners then adopted a balanced $847.3 million fiscal 2025-2026 General Fund budget on June 18, 2025, again keeping the rate at 73.05 cents. In the fiscal 2024-2025 budget, the county directed more than $460.9 million, about 50% of the General Fund and Debt Service Fund, to Guilford County Schools and Guilford Technical Community College, including $10 million in additional operating funds for the school system and a total increase of $36.2 million over the prior year.
The county’s fiscal 2025-2026 manager’s recommended budget also proposed 26 new social workers and 24 new emergency services positions. In the fiscal 2027 recommended budget presented May 7, 2026, the county reduced more than $3.7 million from operating budgets and lowered recurring fund-balance support from $17.8 million to $10 million. That budget totals $1.1 billion overall, with a General Fund of $935,455,000, and it proposes cutting the property tax rate to 61.90 cents per $100, down 11.15 cents from the prior year.
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