GREENSBORO, NC (February 3, 2011) – Statement from Greensboro Mayor Bill Knight:

“Following numerous attempts to find agreement with Guilford County over the past year, I, along with my colleagues on the Greensboro City Council, have directed our City Manager to proceed with plans for the City to conduct its own tax collection program – a task currently performed by Guilford County. We are acting in the best interests of the citizens of Greensboro in going forward with a program that is certain and under our control. We simply cannot wait any longer for the County to decide what it wants to do, especially with the uncertainty of when and the exact nature of their decision that might be made.

Furthermore, it is not reasonable, and I think most reasonable persons would agree, for the City to accept an almost four times increase in our tax collection cost, from $400,000 to $ 1.5 million. The County has performed this task for years, during which time costs have remained relatively flat. The City held seven meetings with the County in 2010 to resolve this, and several other outstanding issues. The City made several offers to the County, but no meaningful responses were received. In fact, the City’s latest offer was submitted on December 23 to the County, and a personal letter seeking resolution to this situation was submitted from me to Chairman Alston a week prior to the County Commissioners retreat. To date, the City has not received a County response.

I understood that the County would take up our last proposal at its January retreat, but to our knowledge it did not do so. I have been informed that the County might wish to take this matter up at a Commissioner’s meeting in March. However, the City does not have the luxury of waiting longer for a response that may, or may not, be forthcoming – particularly when we do not know what the County might decide to do.”

Negotiators to this matter included:
City Manager Rashad Young
Assistant City Manager Bob Morgan
Mayor Bill Knight
Mayor Pro Tem Nancy Vaughan
County Chairman Melvin “Skip” Alston
Vice Chairman Steve Arnold
County Manager Brenda Fox
City and County attorneys

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