Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/18075
ELECTION Guide 2010 begin. We need to reverse that decision — and those priorities. Erasing the stigma that has attached to our community since the heyday of Hay Street strip clubs, will require leadership that sees beyond quick profits, and is willing to engage in long-term strategic planning for growth and development. As we improve public safety, education, and infrastructure for ourselves, others will also stay and make this their home. We must also address our high tax rates. Cumberland County has the second highest sales tax rate, and one the highest effective property tax rates in the state. The county has begun offering a tax grant back program for businesses that build and add value to the county tax base, and that is good. New businesses that originate here are able to benefit, as well as those who may come into our community to expand. But the incentives do little to encourage families to live in our county. Public school enrollment in Cumberland County has been on the decline for several years, indicating that we are losing out to neighboring counties in the competition for families. Our high property tax rate is not competitive with surrounding counties, and is driving residential development away. We must do a better job of managing and prioritizing county spending to bring our property tax rate down. We can grow the employable workforce that major employers want through better job-training and edu- cational opportunities, and by capturing the smaller opportunities that defense contractors are bringing today. Through a combination of transplants adopting our community as home, and new and replacement personnel hired from the local market we will grow the base we need. But we also must elect leaders who are willing to engage is collaborative planning, and understand that we can do better. The status quo is not good enough. We must expect better for ourselves, and better from our leaders. When we do that, we will become a better place for our children to come home to. (2) We must distinguish between spending for essential government services and discretionary spending, and set priorities accordingly. We must also understand that spending cannot continue to grow faster than the incomes of taxpayers. A nearly 5 percent growth in spending is not sustainable. 1. Because personnel costs make up nearly 80 percent of departmental spending, we need to look at ways to control those costs, which are up 6.3 percent in this year’s budget. Commissioners added dozens of new employees this year, and each year since 2002 there have been new positions added to the county payroll. The county policy set by Commissioners of retaining all current positions — 2,646 of them, does not allow for any consideration of reasonable cuts even through attrition during the budget process, and ties the hands of county staff that prepare the budget. I recommend that Commissioners abandon their policy of retaining all county posi- tions so that reasonable savings can be identified. 2. Better management of capital expenditures. The $250K bill for replacing rusting water pipes in the jail is an example of waste through mismanagement. We need better management of all capital projects. Commission- ers voted for a new Health Department building with a price tag of $18M, but spent nearly $30M because they were not given the total cost of equipping the building. Not enough questions are being asked, and taxpayers are footing the bill. Taxpayers are also spending $140K per year for a shell building at the county industrial park that has never been occupied — nearly $1M so far, including maintenance costs for an empty and unused building. The old county health services building is an empty building that could be either sold or rented — reducing maintenance costs, and returning an $8M property to the tax rolls. 3. $4M in annual occupancy taxes on hotel and motel rooms is currently used to fund only three items — the Visitors and Convention budget, the Crown Coliseum and the Arts Council, and the $500K accumulated balance has been left unappropriated. Unspent money should be returned to the general fund. I would not, as some have suggested, recommend that we engage in “across the board” spending cuts. The may be the politically correct answer, but it is the wrong answer. Not all current spending provides equal value or return on investment to our community. The county’s published budget document does not give departmental spending detail, so it is difficult to be specific about departmental spending cuts. Our commissioners considered only one area for reduced spending during this year’s budget process — that was a recommendation to cut funding for community organizations by $25,000. Instead, the commissioners increased the $1.6M in appropriations to non-profits in our community for the coming year. In speaking with the county finance staff, it appears that unless commissioners ask for more budget detail, it is not made available. I attended all of the county budget sessions this year — more than 15 hours, and never heard a commissioner request departmental spending details. Total general fund spending is up nearly 5 percent. Families in our community are learning to live with less. Our government needs to do the same. We cannot continue to grow government spending faster than we grow our tax base. Failing to prioritize spending places an undue burden on taxpayers, while suppressing real growth and development — at the risk of not providing adequate funding for the basics of public safety, education, and infrastructure. (3) No. School funding should be a high priority for county funding — second only to public safety. But teaching positions in North Carolina schools are state-funded, so the decision to cut positions is made by the legislature. The county funds school operating expenses, and in Cumberland County the funding amount has been set at 50.7 percent of property tax revenues ($76M last year). Funding is up 33 percent over the past five years, as property tax revenues have increased, and the county currently provides about 18 percent of the school system funding in Cumberland County. Unlike many areas, public school enrollment in Cumberland County has been declining over the past sev- eral years. BRAC might still reverse that trend, but it appears that many families moving to the area are locating WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM OCTOBER 20-26, 2010 UCW 21 in neighboring counties, where enrollments are up. According to a school spokesman for the Cumberland County Schools, “revenues have outpaced expenses over the past several years,” and the current fund balance now sits at over $30M. Cumberland County Schools appear to be in a good position to absorb whatever may come from state cuts. (4) Several years ago the county proposed giving $875K to a company (E85) that wanted to build an ethanol plant on North Ramsey Street and nine other plants around the country. The company was a start-up with ambitious plans, but no track record. There would have been no way to recover the taxpayer investment if the project failed. The proposed safeguards were meaningless because the company had no assets. I was one of those who spoke up, and eventually the county decided not to give the money. That was a good decision. The company never built anything — anywhere. There really are not any sufficient safeguards when cash is given upfront to a private enterprise. Earlier this year the county adopted an incentive plan that does not require upfront money. It provides up to 60 percent property tax rebates during the first five years after a project is built. It doesn’t front money to any- one. It also allows local companies who make a new investment in the community to benefit from the incentives on the same terms as a new company coming into the area. It gets the government out of the business of choosing among competing interests. Diane Wheatley (1) To attract business we must provide them with a well educated workforce, sufficient infrastructure to support them and a quality of life that makes our area attractive. A lot of this is government’s responsibility, but if we truly want to see substantial change we must all work together. Elected officials can and should lead the way, but it will take the participation of private citizens, service clubs, private agencies, and others to accomplish the goal. (2) It is more likely that asking all departments to trim their budgets would accomplish the goal of reducing the overall budget. I would work with staff and Commissioners to review the budget line item by line item and set priorities. Since 80 percent of the total budget is personnel, the first step would be to look at and eliminate non-critical vacant positions. Next, an analysis of programs to determine whether they are mandatory or discre- tionary could reveal non-critical services that could be eliminated. (3) Weakening our educational system is among the last things we would want to do if we are trying to develop the economy of our county. Even within the school system, everything else should be considered first before cutting classroom teachers’ positions. When facing the need for deep budget cuts, however, there should be no sacred cows. In the final analysis, this would be the decision of the members of the Board of Education. As a county commissioner it would be improper for me to interfere with the decisions of this duly elected body. Since the Commission provides part of the schools funding, it would be my responsibility to gain their cooperation in trimming their budget in conjunction with other departments in an effort to meet budget constraints. (4) I feel that it is rare in the extreme that government should get involved in teaming with or providing financing for private business deals. If the proposition cannot stand on its own well enough that a bank or other lending institute is will- ing to provide financing, then it is probably not a very good business deal. Propping up a bad business deal is not something government should be doing. Providing incentives to established businesses that are considering opening additional facilities or relocat- ing to a new area is a different issue. Providing incentive in these situations is the norm now. If we want to attract these businesses, we will have to compete with other areas who will be offering them. We can reduce the need for incentives by providing the educated work force, infrastructure and quality of life that will make businesses want them to come here. In addition, we all benefit from these things. As far as incentives go, it is crucial that the positive economic impact of a business be determined. It is pointless to provide incentives that equal or exceed this figure.