The Board of County Commissioners is the chief administrative and policymaking body of Guilford County government, and consists of eleven members, nine of whom are elected from districts and two of whom are elected at-large.
Board members serve four-year staggered terms.
The Board chooses a Chairman and Vice Chairman from among its membership during its first meeting in December. The greatest single responsibility of the Board is control over the County's finances. Every spring the Board must adopt a budget which appropriates funds to the many departments and agencies of County government, and, at the same time, provides sufficient revenue to meet these appropriations. The principal source of this revenue is the tax levied by the Board on real estate and personal property in the County. The Board of County Commissioners does not have complete authority over all the services provided by the County.