• By Kim Hepler
• Posted Monday, June 5, 2017

Forsyth County Board of Commissioners Approve the Fiscal Year 2017-2018 Annual Budget

The adopted ad valorem tax rate is $0.7235/ $100 of valuation broken down as follows.
$0.6437 to fund continuing operations of all departments of County government;
$0.0451 dedicated to the Education Debt Leveling Plan for bonds passed in 2006 and 2008
$0.0057 dedicated to the Library Debt Leveling Plan for bonds passed in 2010
$0.029 dedicated to the Public Improvement Debt Leveling Plan for bonds passed in November 2016.

The Board of Commissioners approved the Manager’s Recommended Budget that continued the current level of service and also included funding for other initiatives including:

• Additional positions with Public Health for Environmental Health to enhance restaurant inspections.
• Additional positions with Social Services for provide protective services for vulnerable adults and children.
• Additional positions with Emergency Medical Services to enhance ambulance capacity.
• Additional position with Sheriff’s Office for additional patrol capacity in Clemmons.
• Additional funding for Tax Administration to support new automated systems.
• Funding to continue the Nurse Family Partnership program originally funded by grants.
• Incentive funding to encourage new programming at Tanglewood and Triad Park amphitheatres.
• Creation of efforts to improve small business start-up efforts in the County.
• Observance of Veteran’s Day and an additional ½ Day at Christmas - bringing the holiday schedule in line with other counties in North Carolina by observing 12 total holidays.

Special Appropriations were awarded to:

• Arts Council ($100,000)
• Children's Law Center ($25,000)
• Experiment in Self-Reliance ($26,695)
• HARRY Vets ($25,000)
• Kaleidium ($250,000)
• National Black Theatre Festival ($65,000)
• Old Salem ($50,000)
• RiverRun Film Festival ($15,000)
• United Way 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness ($7,695)
• Winston-Salem Foundation Neighbors for Better Neighborhoods ($1,863)
• Work Family Resource Center ($10,000)

Only two of the 25 Fire Tax District rates were adjusted in the FY 2018 Adopted Budget, including:

• Horneytown Fire Tax District, increased from 10¢ to 12.2¢
• Beesons Crossroads Fire Tax District, increased from 8.8¢ to 9.5¢

Printed copies of the FY 2018 Adopted Budget will be available at any of the Forsyth County Public Library Branches, the Budget and Management Office on the 5th floor of the Forsyth County Government Center, or online at the County’s website at www.forsyth.cc by July 1st.