If I’m going to talk seriously about running for mayor, then I need to understand something fundamental:
Where does the money go?
Greensboro’s adopted budget for fiscal year 2025–26 was about $830.6 million. Of that, the General Fund—the part that supports many of the everyday services people associate with city government—was about $440 million.
Now, $830 million sounds like an unbelievable amount of money.
You hear that number and think:
“Hell, I’ll fix everything Tuesday.”
Not quite.
Because the first lesson in municipal government is that an $830 million budget does not mean there’s $830 million sitting in a checking account waiting for the mayor to decide what to do with it.
A lot of that money is already committed to operating the city.
Employees have to be paid.
Police officers and firefighters have to show up.
Streets have to be maintained.
Water has to flow.
Sewers have to work.
Trash has to disappear.
Libraries and parks have to open.
And when somebody calls 911, somebody damn well better answer.
The FY 2025–26 budget maintained Greensboro’s property-tax rate at 67.25 cents per $100 of valuation. It also funded community-safety programs including the Behavioral Health Response Team, LEAD and GSO HOME, while providing infrastructure spending for water mains, sewer lines, stormwater projects, street resurfacing and bridge rehabilitation.
So here’s where my thinking about city government starts.
Don’t begin by asking, “What can I spend?”
Begin by asking:
“What are we getting for what we’re already spending?”
That’s a question every taxpayer deserves an answer to.
And I don’t mean going into City Hall with a chainsaw looking for somebody to fire.
That’s easy politics.
I’m talking about something much harder:
Measure results.
If we’re spending money on homelessness, what’s happening to homelessness?
If we’re spending money on transportation, are people getting where they need to go?
If we’re spending money on economic development, are residents getting better jobs?
If we’re spending money on mental-health response, are fewer people ending up unnecessarily in emergency rooms and jails?
That’s accountability.
And then there’s another distinction we need to understand.
Operating money and capital money aren’t the same thing.
Suppose Greensboro wants a new transit center.
Building it is one problem.
Operating it for the next 30 years is another.
Same with a mental-health facility.
Same with parks.
Same with downtown improvements.
It’s relatively easy for a politician to stand in front of a beautiful rendering and say:
“Look what we’re going to build!”
The harder question is:
“Who’s paying to operate it in 2037?”
That’s the question responsible government has to answer.
And Greensboro is already dealing with exactly these kinds of choices. The city’s current FY 2026–27 budget emphasizes public safety, parks and recreation, solid waste, infrastructure and water quality; it also funds additional police positions and expanded Behavioral Health Response Team coverage.
So my approach wouldn’t be:
“I have arrived with all the answers.”
My approach would be:
Open the books. Explain the books. Measure the results. Then bring the community into the conversation.
Imagine if ordinary Greensboro residents could understand the city budget without needing an accounting degree.
Here’s what we collect.
Here’s where it goes.
Here’s what each major program costs.
Here’s what we promised.
And one year later:
Here’s what actually happened.
Green. Yellow. Red.
Working.
Needs improvement.
Not working.
Because $440 million in General Fund spending isn’t just a number.
That’s somebody’s money.
It came from people who own homes.
People who rent homes and indirectly pay property taxes through rent.
Businesses.
People buying things.
People paying fees.
Every dollar represents somebody who worked for it before government spent it.
And that doesn’t mean government shouldn’t spend money.
Government should spend money.
That’s how you get firefighters.
That’s how you get roads.
That’s how you get parks.
That’s how you get infrastructure.
The question isn’t:
“How do we spend less?”
And it isn’t automatically:
“How do we spend more?”
The question is:
“How do we get the greatest public benefit from every dollar Greensboro spends?”
That’s the conversation I’d want Greensboro having.
Because I’m not interested in becoming mayor simply to administer what already exists.
I’m interested in asking what comes next.
What can we do better?
What can technology improve?
Where can partnerships stretch a dollar?
What should government stop doing?
What should government start doing?
And most importantly:
What do the people who actually live here want their city to become?
We’ve already got a substantial city government.
We’ve already got infrastructure.
We’ve already got institutions.
We’ve already got talented employees.
So we’re not starting from zero.
We’re starting from Greensboro.
And the opportunity isn’t to tear the place apart.
It’s to take everything Greensboro has already built, measure it, improve it, experiment where it makes sense—and see just how extraordinary this city can become.
That’s the challenge.
And frankly?
That’s the fun part.
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