Last week, Guilford County Manager Victor Isler gave a long-awaited presentation on the county’s proposed budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year. While the numbers may not assuage all of the county’s residents’ concerns, the presentation addressed a top concern for county residents: funding for public education.
In the last few months, residents have been receiving letters explaining how property revaluations and proposed tax rates could affect them. To that end, property owners have been filing appeals after finding their values have sometimes increased by 50 percent or more.
“The re-evaluation of property has created understandable concern about future cost hardship and also economic uncertainty,” Isler said during the presentation.
But on May 7, Isler recommended a property tax rate of 61.90 cents per $100 of assessed property value—a reduction of 11.15 cents from the prior fiscal year but a rate that is 8.64 cents above revenue neutral. Isler said the rate, if approved, would be the lowest property tax rate in more than 20 years. While many property owners were hoping for a revenue-neutral rate of 53.26 cents, Isler argued his proposal is necessary for many reasons, particularly funding of Guilford’s K-12 schools.
Public Education Funding
Property taxes are the county’s primary income source, making up 69% of revenue. Sales tax makes up 11%. Of the recommended tax rate of 61.90 cents, K-12 education receives the highest percentage at 37.21 cents. School funding is also the second largest part of the county budget at 42%, just behind county operations and debt service, which together account for 55%.
“Although this is not our statutory obligation, like most counties, the lack of state funding and budget stalls have strained our public schools’ ability to provide a high-quality education to our youth, and counties have unfortunately had to fill in the gap,” Isler wrote in his recommended budget report.
The recommended budget allocates about $308 million to Guilford County Schools for operating and capital needs for the next fiscal year, an increase of about $25 million over the previous year. However, this notably does not include money for teacher supplements or pay increases. Guilford voters will decide on a referendum this fall that would allocate approximately $20 million for teacher supplements.
This referendum is made possible by a 2025 state law allowing Guilford County to suggest a local sales tax increase of one-quarter of one percent. The proceeds from that sales tax increase would be used solely for “classroom teacher salary supplements, fire protection equipment and services for Guilford Technical Community College.”
“While Guilford County continually exceeds peer counties and salary supplements for principals and assistant principals, it lags and supplements for teachers,” Isler said in the May 7 presentation. “The upcoming Article 46 referendum plans are slated to address this need.”
County voters rejected teacher pay referendums in 2008 and 2024. In 2024, the referendum failed by about 53,000 votes.
If the referendum passes, Isler said, it could “shift demand from property tax to sales tax.”
The proposed sales tax increase would generate an estimated $28.7 million for these core services, Isler said. Among its peer counties, he said, Guilford County is the only jurisdiction without a voter-approved revenue diversification strategy, such as an increase in a sales or prepared-food tax.
“Continued alignment and education with the greater community is needed so we can think about revenue diversification to then shift the cost as it relates to property tax to other alternative forms of revenue,” Isler said.
Guilford County is not the only municipality considering a sales-tax referendum to support teacher pay. In March, a similar measure in Granville County failed by more than 67 percentage points. Residents in Gaston County may also have the opportunity to vote on a quarter-cent sales tax this November.
If Guilford County residents approve the referendum, sales tax funding would be included in the 2028 fiscal year budget. If they reject it, the commissioners “may evaluate a funding strategy as part of the fiscal year 2028 budget process to ensure market competitiveness for public-school teachers,” Isler wrote.
The budget presentation comes at a time when Guilford County is seeing population growth. Guilford is currently the third-largest county in the state, and according to the presentation, there has been a 5% increase in the population since 2020, and a projected growth of about 86,000 residents over the next 20 years.
“Guilford County is growing,” Isler said. “Guilford County is one of the largest counties in the United States.”
On June 4, the county will hold a public hearing on the recommended budget at 5:30 p.m. at the Guilford County Old Courthouse (301 W. Market St.). Those wishing to share feedback can also email the county clerk’s office at publiccomments@guilfordcountync.gov. The budget is slated to be adopted on June 18.