By the numbers: A look at how much Triad cities and counties are spending on public safety this year

About a month ago, the Triad’s municipalities adopted their budgets for the 2024-25 fiscal year which runs from July to June. They include budgets for public safety departments such as police and sheriff’s offices for each city and county. Most of the municipalities are increasing their budgets for police or public safety, with the exception of one city. Here’s a look at how much money is allocated to these services compared to years past.

Greensboro

Adopted on June 18

• Total budget: $802 million ($50.6 million increase from last year, or 6.7 percent)
• The public safety department has a $202 million budget and accounts for 25 percent of the total budget.
• Public safety includes emergency telephone system, fire, guilford metro communications fund, police, technical services, non-departmental public safety.
• The police department, which makes up the largest part of public safety expenditures, has a $104 million budget ($4.9 million increase from 2023-24 budget, or 4.9 percent).
• The increase in the budget includes a continuation of the police vehicle take-home program with a planned purchase of 20 more cars at approximately $1.7 million.
• Since fiscal year 2021-22, the city has increased salaries for police and firefighters by more than 30 percent.
• Now, starting police and firefighters get paid $59,509 and $51,713, respectively.
• The budget includes an increase of $967,758 for Axon contact increases, $74,000 for security contract increases and $31,475 for Cellebrite software increases.
• The patrol bureau is the largest expenditure within the police department at $40.9 million, which is an increase of 3.3 percent compared to last year.
• The patrol bureau has four divisions and responds to citizen-initiated calls for service and enacts “proactive law enforcement activities.”
• Two additional positions are included in the budget to expand the Behavioral Health Response Team, but this is now housed in the General Government Service area in the Office of Community Safety.

High Point

Adopted on June 3

• Total budget: $518.7 million ($40.2 million increase from last year, or 8.4 percent).
• Public safety has a $77.7 million budget and makes up 15.2 percent of the budget (third behind electric services and transportation).
• Public safety includes the communications center, police, fire, building inspections and local code enforcement.
• The police department has a $40.7 million budget this year, up $2.8 million from last year, or 7.4 percent.
• The largest increase in the police budget is due to a 26.4 percent increase in money for police facilities from last year ($113,024).
• The High Point Police Department moved into a new facility back in 2021 and looks to demolish its old facility in the future, which would cost at least $150,000 according to reporting by the High Point Enterprise.
• The second largest increase — 14.2 percent or $1.2 million — was for the investigations bureau.
• The budget includes salary increases for the police department which totaled about $908,000.

Guilford County

Adopted June 20

• Total budget: $831.4 million, a $10.2 million increase or 1.2 percent increase compared to 2023-24
• There are three main sections of Guilford County’s budget: successful people (which includes schools), strong community (which includes law enforcement) and quality government
• The law enforcement budget for this year is $89.1 million, or a 3 percent increase from last year ($86.8 million)
• Part of the increase includes a salary increase for deputy sheriffs and detention officers
• Part of the budget increase — $3 million — is also allocated for increased service levels at the two county jails as well as more dedicated mental health professionals.

Winston-Salem

Adopted June 17

• Total budget: $658.9 million, an 8.4 percent increase from last year
• Public safety, which includes police, fire, emergency and non-departmental public safety, makes up 22.4 percent of the budget. 
• The police department has a budget of $93.9 million, which is a 0.5 percent decrease compared to last year.
• The largest decrease is in the development and training category which saw an 11.8 percent decrease in funding.
• Several other divisions and programs have also seen decreases in funding including patrol and support services.
• Investigative services saw an 7.1 percent increase in funding.
• The budget does include an increase in funding for 60 pursuit vehicles, three SWAT vehicles, nine cars for the criminal intelligence bureau and a motorcycle for the traffic enforcement unit.

Forsyth County

Adopted June 13

• Total budget: $581 million, an increase of 2 percent or $11.4 million compared to last year
• The public safety budget, which makes up 18 percent of the total and is the second largest expenditure after education, comes in at $104.2 million.
• Public safety includes the sheriff’s department, emergency services, the jail and emergency management.
• The sheriff’s department makes up 72 percent of the public safety budget coming in at $75.4 million, a $4.6 million increase compared to last year (6.5 percent increase).
• A significant driver affecting the sheriff’s office’s budget is the increase in pay for deputies and detention officers.
• Another budget increase includes a jail medical contract with Naphcare that is up $592,307 and a food service contract with Aramark that is increasing by $159,620.