A Question for Voters: If a family of 5 can’t afford a vacation, and the parents decide to vote on it, and the 3 kids choose the vacation, who’s to blame when they lose their home in foreclosure?

Is Guilford to take on a historic debt load?

 

…Any time voters approve a bond referendum, higher taxes are expected.

 

…In 2010, the county must find $24.3 million in new money to pay back a historic level of bonds that voters recently passed to pay for new schools, a jail, GTCC expansion and other projects.

 

…Meanwhile, the city finance analysts are projecting a property-tax rate increase that would add $60 to the tax bill for the owner of a $200,000 home. Of that increase, $35 would go to bond debt.

 

…more debt is on the horizon.

 

In 2011, the county will issue bonds that would increase that $200,000 homeowner’s property tax bill another $80.

 

The problem, elected officials often say, is one that voters created for themselves.

 

After county voters passed bond referenda worth $651.1 million and city voters approved bond packages worth $155 million in 2008, a tax increase could be expected in coming years.

 

…“We’ll be issuing that $210 million over the next 10 years,” said Rick Lusk, the city’s finance director. The city plans to issue $86 million in bonds next year to primarily fund new street improvements, parks and fire stations.

 

…The county has $512.3 million to issue in voter-approved bonds in coming years… said Reid Baker, Guilford County’s finance director.

 

With those bonds on the horizon, the load of debt that the county is planning to take on is unprecedented. The amount due in Guilford County before 2008 was $694.4 million.

 

Voters of Guilford County and Greensboro approved a total of $806.1 million in 2008.

 

…since 2000, the combined referenda approved by Guilford County and Greensboro totals $1.5 billion.

 

Often, the argument that politicians use when they choose to put a bond referendum before voters is that residents can make the best decision for themselves.

 

But can an informed public truly expect to understand the intricacies and details of government spending and municipal bond markets? What about the way in which a bond that passes affects the property tax rate?

 

Gerald Witt

News researcher Diane Lamb contributed

Greensboro News and Record, October 25, 2009