Bond referendums top November wish lists

By Jason King
Information and Communications Specialist

Funding streams for transportation needs are drying up. Ditto for rural water infrastructure. The state’s natural areas – vital to water and air quality, wildlife, and farm and timberlands – need to be preserved. And fully funding school construction needs is an annual sticking point for county boards of commissioners.

Agriculture Steering Committee Chair Norris Keever of Alexander County drives home a point during a joint meeting of the Association’s Agriculture, Environment, and Taxation and Finance steering committees on May 18. (Photos by Jason King)

Groups advocating for transportation, rural water and land conservation needs are each seeking $1 billion in state bond money over the next five years. And all three groups – along with the executive director of the N.C. School Boards Association – appealed to the Association for support during a joint meeting May 18 of the Agriculture, Environment, and Taxation and Finance steering committees.

In the end, steering committee members said they recognized the needs of each of the three $1 billion bond proposals, but that the Association should only support the rural water and land conservation efforts if legislators provided counties with relief from their cost share of the federal Medicaid program. County officials also suggested that the water and land advocates work together on a joint bond proposal.

“If we get Medicaid relief, I’d say we could take care of a lot of our water and school construction needs,” said Gaston County Commissioner Joe Carpenter.

The steering committees’ recommendations will be presented to the Association’s Board of Directors at its June 16-17 meeting.

The bond proposals and school needs were also discussed later in the day at a historic first joint meeting of the executive committees of the NCACC, N.C. League of Municipalities and N.C. School Boards Association.

Funding system for transportation due for an overhaul

Christie Barbee, treasurer of NC Go! and executive director of the Carolina Asphalt Pavement Association, told steering committee members that the state is in the middle of a transportation funding crisis, and $1 billion would only serve as a “finger in the dyke.”

According to NC Go!, transportation needs will exceed available funds by $30 billion over the next 25 years. The system of financing transportation needs reform, as current revenue streams – such as the gas tax – become outdated due to automobile technology and improved alternative means of transportation.

Barbee said that without a long-term solution, the state could downsize the Department of Transportation and turn to counties to partially fund roads. “Other states give their roads to the counties to maintain,” she said. “They pay for it through property taxes. And I know all of you want to go home and raise property taxes.”

NCACC President Kitty Barnes, former chair of the Catawba County Board of Education, talks with School Boards Association President Dr. Jack Cherry (center) of Beaufort County and Marion Mayor Everette Clark, president of the League of Municipalities, prior to a historic meeting of the executive committees of the three organizations.

Other intermediate to long-term solutions could include tolling urban loops, and “user-pay” plans such as an odometer tax.

Committees suggest rural water, land conservation advocates carpool

Although N.C. Rural Economic Development Center President Billy Ray Hall said he’s “getting tired of selling bond issues,” that’s just what he’s doing this legislative session. Two bills – S1281 and H1809 – introduced during the 2006 short session would provide for a $1 billion state general obligation bond referendum on the November ballot.

North Carolina most recently passed a Clean Water Bonds Act in 1998, but according to the Rural Center, money from the bonds was all but gone by the end of 2005.

County officials said they would like to see water bond backers combine their efforts with those of Land for Tomorrow, a statewide coalition pushing for land and water conservation.

The group’s $1 billion general obligation bond proposal seeks to in part protect 740,000 acres of land – 6,000 of which are along stream banks and floodplains.

The difference between Land for Tomorrow’s proposal and the others – according to some board members – is that it is visionary, instead of reactionary.

“If we miss the window of opportunity, we miss it,” said Henderson County’s Chuck McGrady, one of a handful of county commissioners who serve as “ambassadors” for Land for Tomorrow.

The State Treasurer’s Office reported earlier this year that North Carolina has up to $214 million in annual debt capacity for the next 10 years.