Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston has asked Greensboro, High Point and the other municipalities in the county to provide additional funding for the Guilford County Schools.
Since every single solitary resident and taxpayer in Greensboro and the other municipalities is also a resident and taxpayer in Guilford County, what Alston is actually asking is that the residents of municipalities in the county pay twice for schools while the residents of unincorporated Guilford County pay only once.
The residents of Greensboro already get taken to the cleaners when it comes to county taxes. For residents of Greensboro to be forced to fund schools from both their Guilford County tax payments and their Greensboro tax payments would make a system already out of whack even more unfair.
The residents of Greensboro pay for the Sheriff’s Office, just like residents of unincorporated Guilford County, but don’t benefit from the Sheriff’s department like those in unincorporated Guilford County because Guilford County deputies don’t patrol in Greensboro.
The taxpayers of Greensboro fund the Greensboro Police Department that handles law enforcement in Greensboro. So residents of Greensboro foot the bill for two law enforcement agencies but only get the benefit of one.
Greensboro runs the public library system for Guilford County, and while Guilford County makes a payment to Greensboro, that payment doesn’t come close to covering the cost of the running public library system for Guilford County.
Guilford County has a planning and development department, which does not benefit the residents of Greensboro because Greensboro has its own planning department.
Greensboro has a much larger Parks and Recreation Department than Guilford County. Most of the residents of Greensboro use the Greensboro Parks and Recreation facilities, not those of the county. But the residents of Greensboro foot their share of the bill for the Guilford County Parks Department.
Since the majority of the residents of Guilford County live in Greensboro, the residents of unincorporated Guilford County benefit from the people of Greensboro paying for services and facilities they don’t use. It’s a pretty sweet deal for them.
It would be insane for the Greensboro City Council to give money to the Guilford County Schools, but the sanity of the Greensboro City Council is often in question, so there is a good chance that Alston will get some money, and once again the taxpayers of Greensboro will foot the bill.
Yep, big government overlay….total waste of taxpayer’s money.
As a county resident I have enjoyed the benefits of the city with only the exception of waste removal, city water and sewer. And I pay about half the taxes. Seems fair.
Or maybe it is moving closer to what Skip really wants – combined city/county government.
So go back to a city/county school system.
As for city people paying twice, maybe they’ll get a taste of what it’s like for County folks when we have to pay more for things like water from the city.
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
Talking about the Sheriff Dept. doesn’t patrol in Greensboro, do like Danville, Va. they have a Police and a Sheriffs Dept. in the city and a separate Sheriffs Dept. for the County.