4 UCW NOVEMBER 24-30, 2021
WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM
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Up & Coming Weekly
www.upandcomingweekly.com
208 Rowan St.
P.O. Box 53461
Fayetteville, NC 28305
PHONE: 910-484-6200-
FAX: 910-484-9218
Up & Coming Weekly is a "Quality of Life"
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information on what's happening in and
around the Fayetteville/Cumberland County
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Association of
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Elected officials and staff of Fayetteville
and Cumberland County could learn a
great deal about cooperation and team-
work from our present Cumberland
County delegation. Congratulations are
due to our Cumberland County Legislative
Delegation Chairman, Rep. Billy Richard-
son, Sen. Kirk deViere, Sen. Ben Clark, Rep.
John Szoka, Rep. Diane Wheatley, and Rep.
Marvin Lucas for the passing of North Car-
olina's first budget since 2018. For months
they worked together diligently for one
primary purpose, to do the right things to
better the quality of life for the residents of
Cumberland County. Serving the citizens
of Fayetteville and the other eight munici-
palities was, and should always be, the
highest of all priorities. Today, we are for-
tunate to have dedicated local leadership
representing us in Raleigh, and they have
done just that. As a result, last week, Gov.
Roy Cooper signed off on a state budget
and infrastructure bill that has been long
over overdue. Anytime you can bring home
over $402 million to your community, one
must give credit where credit is due. It was
only through hard work, compromise and
cooperation that they accomplished this.
e projects and programs funded by the
new budget will impact the Cumberland
County community for decades. e team-
work demonstrated by our bipartisan lead-
ership resulted in the passage of a budget
that will significantly impact Carolinians
from the mountains to the coast. It targets
the state's infrastructure needs in health
care, K-12 education, broadband water res-
toration, community colleges, universities,
medical research and much more. e tax
policy portion of the budget is pro-growth,
lowering the personal income tax and low-
ering the corporate income tax rates.
In addition, military pensions for North
Carolina Veterans will no longer be taxed
thanks to Rep. John Szoka, the primary
sponsor of HB 83 and signed on to by Rep.
Diane Wheatley. According to Szoka, this
will make North Carolina more attrac-
tive to military retirees from all over the
country. Specifically, it will aid in attracting
and retaining retirees here in Cumberland
County. Another budget highlight and a
huge win for our local community was the
allocation of $59.6 million for the North
Carolina Civil War & Reconstruction His-
tory Center. Another example of fantastic
teamwork, cooperation and persever-
ance by project Chairman Mac Healy,
Mary Lynn Bryan, and members of the
Center's board of directors who pursued
an endeavor that is good and beneficial
for the entire community. is state-run
venue will bring hundreds of thousands of
visitors and guests and millions of dollars
into our community annually. What's not
to like about that?
is bipartisan leadership is the kind
of leadership that needs to be replicated
locally in Fayetteville and Cumberland
County. We have an election coming up
soon after the first of the year. We should
be looking for and voting for candidates
who want to cooperate to better the cir-
cumstances of the city and county citizens.
We need honest and trustworthy leaders
who understand the detriment that mu-
nicipal and community silos have on the
progress of a growing community. Sure, we
are moving forward in our development
but not at the pace we should be because
the cooperation and teamwork amongst
our city, county and influential community
organizations are only evident in fruitless
sound bites. We now have a herculean
opportunity to negotiate the $402 mil-
lion earmarked for Cumberland County
into a formidable "can do" community.
Our Raleigh delegation has set the near-
perfect example of what is accomplishable
through teamwork and cooperation. We
must encourage and demand that our local
city and county leaders do the same. We
need action, not empty words. We need to
keep those traits in mind when we vote for
our future leaders. You can find the details
and highlights of the newly passed state
budget in its entirety on our website: www.
upandcomingweekly.com.
ank you for reading Up & Coming
Weekly.
Photo courtesy of Pexels
Local city and county officials pay attention:
Teamwork works
by BILL BOWMAN
BILL BOWMAN, Publisher, UP
& COMING WEEKLY. COM-
MENTS? BILL@upandcomin-
gweekly.com. 910-484-6200.
