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GREENSBORO - Some good news for Guilford County residents: Your tax bill probably will go up in 2009, but it might not go up as much as previously thought.

The county plans to issue a $164.6 million bond package this month that's about a third less than originally planned and may mean a smaller tax bill increase.

Payments on the Jan. 13 bond sale for schools, GTCC and a new jail are linked to a property tax rate increase.

The previously planned bond sale would have raised property taxes about $100 for the owner of a $200,000 home. The county doesn't know yet what the new bond would cost property owners, and that figure wouldn't include inflation or rising operating costs for the county, either.

Guilford government, like the people it serves, appears to be getting tighter heading into 2009 as county politicians promise to itemize county spending.

"I would ultimately like to see no tax increase," said Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin "Skip" Alston, who lately has been using recession-speak such as "less with more" and "lean, mean machine" when talking about county government.

Working toward that goal, Alston and the board vice chairman, Steve Arnold, gathered leaders from GTCC, the sheriff's office and Guilford County Schools in December to ask them to change bond requests to include spending only on 2009 projects.

Just before the county's Christmas holiday, the groups submitted revised numbers for a total bond figure that's $68 million less than the previous request.

The timing on construction for projects this year shouldn't be affected, according to interim County Manager Brenda Jones Fox.

The bond amount doesn't address day-to-day spending for departments such as law enforcement, planning, public health and social services.

Along with school funding - which takes up roughly half of the county's budget - those are the services people often expect from local government.

Some of that departmental spending may be cut under the line-item scalpel Alston and Arnold pledge to use to review the budget and further thwart a property tax rate increase.

"Right now, you're looking at 26 [million] to 30 million in cuts," said Commissioner Billy Yow.

"You'll probably see a 5 percent reduction across the county."

Those reductions are likely to come as people are relying more on the government for help.

Lately, county departments that help the unemployed are especially in demand, Fox said.

That includes social services, which helps residents with day care and emergency funds when they have nowhere else to turn.

"In an economy like we're in right now, people have a need for those kinds of services because they are out of work," Fox said.

Contact Gerald Witt at 373-7008 or gerald.witt@news-record.com