For the second year in a row, the Greensboro Police Department is facing personnel cuts in the city budget.
The 2022-2023 budget was City Manager Tai Jaiyeoba’s first budget as the city manager. Jaiyeoba’s recommended budget included a property tax increase equivalent to 11.69 cents – by far the largest recommended tax increase in the history of Greensboro.
When the City Council insisted that the huge tax hike had to be lowered, Jaiyeoba mainly increased the estimated revenue, but also cut eight positions from the GPD to bring the property tax increase down to the equivalent of 8.69 cents.
In the 2023-2024 recommended budget, Jaiyeoba cuts 30 sworn officer positions from the Police Department and lowers the number of sworn positions by another 10 by converting them to unsworn positions.
The executive department headed by Jaiyeoba goes from 47.36 employees in the 2022-2023 budget to 57.36 employees in the 2023-2024 recommended budget, while the Police Department went from 813.38 employees in the 2022-2023 budget to 738.38 employees in the recommended 2023-2024 budget.
Greensboro Police Chief John Thompson, when asked to discuss vacancies in the Police Department, said the number had changed slightly because, “We had one resign last night to go to Burlington.”
Thompson also noted that Burlington had a 25 percent vacancy rate before the starting salary for police officers was raised to $57,000 and now the Burlington Police Department has three or four vacancies total, and according to Thompson, Greensboro has lost eight officers to Burlington.
But Thompson said, “Winston-Salem has 150 vacancies. If they do something bold and raise their salaries to $57,000, I just don’t know how many officers I might lose to them.”
Councilmember Marikay Abuzuaiter, who has been the most outspoken proponent of raising police starting salaries to $57,000, objected to the way the budget was being presented. She said the way it was presented, if she was in favor of raising police salaries to $57,000 – as the majority of the City Council voted to do – she also had to be in favor of raising taxes more than the 4 cents recommended by the city manager and cutting programs.
Abuzuaiter said the way it looked was “Because I want public safety that I’m being punished by having this put in my face.”
Yes, let’s “defund the police” so we can use the money to hire more minority contractors that can clean up the mess that the absence of law enforcement will leave.
Progress.
You hired this man and now he is going to ruin Greensboro …. you can still fire him. De-funding the police is the last thing anybody should want to do. My question is does this city manager live in the city or county ? Because after trying to raise taxes in Mecklenburg county he lived in Union county where taxes were cheaper. This is the man you hired.
How about we cut the City Manager’s position at $280,000 and hire 5 police officers for $57,000?
How about cutting Tai’s position. His salary alone would definitely help city budget. They need to start trimming the fat elsewhere instead of the police department. How much was used for the homeless condos? I’ve forgotten.
So is the City Manager single handedly defunding the police department?
Now this budget and its cuts to Public Safety is a reason to cry.
Absolutely absurd.
The City Council needs to fire the City Manager and find someone who care for th safety of the City Of Greensboro and forvtte betterment of Greensboro. The current city manager only cares for himself and notvwhatvis best.
Can anyone explain why he was hired in the first place?
That’s easy. We have a very liberal, politically correct City Council.
I was born here long ago (and far away) most of my child years, and adult years. I lived in Winston-Salem & Goldsboro a bit, and six other states. But it was great here. Grade school here was very good – learned more than many of the recent College grads. No more, the LEFT has taken over here; but it is the lack of civic participation in our Republic that has put us in the spot now.
As a sidebar, I just recd another stealth rate increase from nuestros amigos @ Spectrum. No more large annual rate increases, but nickel-diming now. $5.34 on May 20, $5.00 last October. The dreaded AT&T is not an option. But now, they have competition. Some I’m outta here. I done dropped Verizon (look at their stock price now).
Try calling the Philippines “customer service” line. A faint voice with an accent that will challenge anyone. Although both our cell #s have been moved elsewhere, I don’t know if I were successful in closing my account. My experience with 3 local branches has been negative, as no one I spoke with knew their job. By the way, Verizon increased their rates to maintain their stock price, and pay the dividend. They promptly dropped from the #1 carrier to #3. I call their rank as #2.
We have voted with our feet. We can do the same with our feather-tarred politicians downtown, and in Washington.
Time for major changes. You voted this mess into office. Don’t waste or throw your vote away come next election.
Looks like it’s time for a new City Manager
It’s time for a new mayor, who would have lost last election if it weren’t for three candidates running.
The members of the city council should each grow a pair and either stand up to the socialist city manager and tell him who is (or should be) the boss, or dismiss him. The growth of his bureaucratic bloat is unconscionable at the expense of public safety. His barely disguised “Defind the Police” agenda is not what the city needs. How much money was thrown at the “Cure Violence” ahain after it seemed violent crime actually went up afterit was implemented? How many non- profits recieved a government grant from the city,?
It seems to me that not granting a large tax incentive to the company coming from Winston-Salem would go a long way to pay for a couple of more police officers.
I know, I know .. we get what we vote for. How bad will it have to get before thereis a substantive change?
The African Marxist City Manager is not implementing the instructions of our elected representatives on the council, he is thwarting them to further his own political agenda.
Nasty, arrogant, imperious narcissist.
Bananarepublic scumbag Tai
FIRE TAI!!!!!
THIS MAN MUST GO! He cannot be terminated soon enough.
Citizens also need to vote out any city council member who is not in favor of immediate dismissal.
The cutback in police funding is designed to make room for more money to be funneled to local non-profits, especially some members on the council who have a vested interest in keeping the gravy train flowing to their family and friends. See how this works? It’s also a down payment to turn out the vote in the next election in which the same folks keep getting elected.