The Greensboro City Council often justifies increased spending by comparisons to other cities.
Durham, which is essentially the same size as Greensboro, also passed its budget on Tuesday, June 20, and unless you are a fan of out-of-control spending and enormous tax increases year after year, the comparison of the two does not fare well for Greensboro.
Durham has population of 292,000 according to the US Census Bureau, while Greensboro has a population of 301,000, so the difference in population is less than 10,000. But it is worth noting that Durham is growing in population – more than twice as fast as Greensboro – and unless there is a dramatic change in growth rates Durham will be larger than Greensboro in population before the next census in 2030.
The difference in the 2023-2024 budgets for the two cities is substantial. Durham passed a budget of $610 million with a tax rate of 55.77 cents and no tax rate increase. Greensboro passed a budget of $751.3 million with tax rate of 67.25 cents and a 4-cent tax increase. This follows a tax increase equivalent to 8.69 cents for the 2022-2023 fiscal year.
Without the massive tax increases in the past two years Greensboro would have a tax rate of 54.56 cents, slightly less than Durham’s current tax rate.
Before Greensboro City Manager Tai Jaiyeoba took over in 2022, the budgets for Greensboro and Durham were much more in line with what you would expect with two cities in the same state of nearly equal size.
The Greensboro 2021-2022 budget was $619 million while the 2021-2022 budget for Durham was $601.8 million.
In the two budgets for which Jaiyeoba has been city manager, Greensboro has increased its property tax rate by the equivalent of 12.69 cents. During that same time Durham with essentially the same population has increased its tax rate by 0.6 cents.
With the huge tax increases in the past two years, Greensboro has left Durham behind in spending. The year before Jaiyeoba took over as city manager, Greensboro’s budget was a little more than $17 million higher than Durham’s budget.
After two years with Jaiyeoba at the helm, Greensboro’s budget is now $141 million more than Durham’s budget while the population gap between the two cities has narrowed.
Durham must be doing something right because Durham continues to grow in population at a rate twice as fast as Greensboro.
Also, despite spending $151 less this year, Durham provides free public transportation while Greensboro continues to charge fares for public transportation with the notable exception of the soon-to-be-introduced faux trolley downtown.
I think it might be time to send the Charlotte reject, Tai Jaiyeoba, back to where he came from. He’s costing Greensboro a fortune.
John, don’t give out ideas for free public transportation. Guessing Durham does not have as many council member pet projects that we taxpayers have to fund plus maybe they are not quite as racist as the east Greensboro city council is. I predict Durham will surpass us in population much sooner than stated due to flight away from Greensboro and Guilford County. The voters got what they wanted….not sure why?
8 people a day!
Maybe the Greensboro City Council considers that all issues can be resolved through higher taxation while subconsciously desiring their claim to fame to be one of the highest taxed cities in North Carolina. That will be their legacy. At some point they have to look into the cookie jar and see that it is rapidly being emptied by them and the Greensboro City Manager. This type of spending is not sustainable.
Spend, spend and spend more is often the mantra of Democrat run cities. Of course increased spending has to come on the back of increased taxes. If we don’t like it then we must take action and vote out those whose dedication to public life centers on taxing and spending.
Durham is a Democrat run city and Democratic States produce waaaaay more revenue for the country that the damn near illiterate Republican Red States. So, take all that rah rah trump bs with you to Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, West Virginia or whatever other backwards hillbilly state you want to live in.
Council provides money to “friends of the council” instead of public service. Yes they raised police salaries, BUT also increased our taxes.
This was a great idea to compare these 2 cities budgets. Let’s go even deeper and compare them by line item. Number of police officers and their salaries, number of administrative jobs and their salaries etc. This would be quite interesting and would give us voters a better picture of what is going on. Keep in mind one can move out side the city limits snd still use all the services and retail establishments without all these high taxes and that will drive the population of Greensboro down even further.
We are gaining 8 people a day that’s and 6 last decade which is why Durham is still third
Our Nigerian Prince costs us all a lot of money…
Return to 2012. For many years the tax rate was around .0057, growing to .61 by the next revaluation. This process had occurred numerous times before during revaluation periods. The city budget grew nominally each year and the tax rate dropped back to .0057, increasing each year until the next revaluation .
In 2012 the rate was not set back to .0057, but remained at .0062, allowing for a larger budget (more expenditure) than would otherwise would have occurred. Greensboro does indeed have a higher tax structure than most – if not all – North and South Carolina towns and cities.
In approving Greensboro’s next budget, Mayor Vaughan made an interesting point. She said there was a lot of fat in it, and departments could or should be directed to find 5% cost reductions. Since the budget was approved without any reduction, the council should instruct the city manager to immediately initiate steps to bring a minimum 5% departmental cost cutting plan back to the council by late fall when 2024 budget planning begins. Get focused on lowering the overall budget from it’s current level.
Bill Knight
Durham is the Murder Capitol of NC but yet you keep touting them as the model city NC is out right laughable. And we all know why it grew it’s basically a Raleigh suburb. As for us we have had to do all the heavy lifting for this area Winston in stagnant and HP now having a little bit of growth the last two years has helped but nothing like Raleigh. But the trends will change with Durham becoming increasing unaffordable and Greensboro current expansion they will probably lose ground before the next census. But yeah pack your bags and head to Durham so you can pay 600k for a ranch style next to smith homes!
The farce of the revaluation without being revenue neutral in rates is driving foolish spending. Greensboro politics is money in search of projects – not projects in search of funding. And we are about to enter a recession. The people are getting screwed.
We need citizens to rise up against the onerous increase in taxes for foolish spending and force a revision in rates to be revenue neutral.
This is outrageous! And the consequences of democrat controlled government, just as in Chicago, New York, LA, etc. We are relatively new to Greensboro, but a look at history shows this trend started when county and city government changed from republican to democrat control.
Just go back and look at the last home reevaluation 6 years ago. The county and city republican government s at the time REDUCED the tax rates to keep taxes and spending about neutral.
It is clear to me that the present county and city governments, as well as the new city manager are increasing and converting tax revenues to their private piggy banks!
You are typical of an ignorant reactionary person speaking about what you do not know based upon emotional discontent. The republican party that you tout hasn’t contributed to coming up with solutions in decades. They just complain as you are doing with no answers , no solutions. Ignorant people are lazy because they don’t take the time to do the research to analyse and assess the problem presented to them. Democrats in the city and state legislature damn sure are not perfect but they are not quite as bad. I personally am about progress and getting a job done be damn a party. No one wants to pay more taxes than they have to, but some people think that infrastructure and the quality of life that we enjoy will magically take care of itself. Let’s not get things twisted I believe in efficiency not waste. Communication, cooperation, participation and understanding with open minds will get us to where we need to be. Not corruption or self centered egotistical power hungry maniacs in position to harm us all. This is about individuals who are genuinely concerned about the masses. There are plenty of Hippocrates who take an oath and don’t fulfill their duty, damn them. Republican or Democrat! I deal with individuals who respect the constitution, are not racist, sexist, don’t discriminate against someone because of the color of their skin or their language.
….my property taxes are up $1,000 and my mortgage is up $200 in two years now I hear my taxes are going up again . Now when is this rise in taxes going to slow down ! Why is Mayor Vaughn letting the City Manager rob us like this ? I’m retired and can’t take much more of this !
I think the city manager is working as directed. Why else could he get such a large salary increase while thumbing his nose at the council. At least publicly. Behind the scene he is doing what the controlling majority of council desire while letting the mayor enjoy plausible deniability. The political dynamic in Greensboro is a bit unusual so on the surface things look out of whack but no one in power cares.
A few important distinctions have been left out of this article. Greensboro has higher property taxes than our peer cities, but we have lower user fees (water, solid waste, etc.). In FY 22-23, it cost the average Greensboro homeowner around $3,600 annually for taxes and fees, but it cost the average Durham homeowner $5,000.* You’ve also got to consider that our home values are no where near as high as Durham’s. As another commenter pointed out, you are going to pay a whole lot more for a whole lot less as a homeowner in Durham. And then you’re going to stack high fees on top of it.
And lets not forget while everyone trips over their feet to throw money at GPD that it is EXPENSIVE to have a $55K starting wage and to address the significant compression that causes. You can’t have it both ways, my friends. And for the record, the mayor doesn’t have the slightest clue what she’s talking about when she declares that there is a bunch of fluff in the budget. Most departments are scraping by as it is. She’s just saying what she thinks people want to hear so that she’ll look more conservative.
*Source: https://www.greensboro-nc.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/56319/638231342533370000
I think the first major step is to find a solid City Manager who tries to serve the City and Citizens. This Tai Jaiyeoba is a joke. Some of his ideas are big-city liberal thinking. He has got to go.