HomeMy WebLinkAboutC.054.93010_1322Greater Statesville Development Corporation (GSDC:) Economic Developer Jeff
McKay discusses North Carolina General Assembly Amendment I — Local Option Project
Development Financing (House Bill 1293/Senate Bili 725): McKay said 48 states currently
gave their cities and counties permission to incur debt to finance the public portion of economic
development projects. He said North Carolina and Arizona were the two states that did not offer
this option. McKay said an amendment to the North Carolina Constitution would have to happen
to allow this in North Carolina, and a vote was scheduled to occur in November of this year. He
said there might be some opposition, and the opponents would probably use the argument that
the proposal allowed cities and counties to enter into debt without the vote of the people. McKay
said other states were using the option in many different ways -- downtown development,
transportation infrastructure, and for industrial parks. Mr. McKay said former North Carolina
Governors Jim Hunt and Jim Martin were co-chairing a committee to educate the public about
the merits of the program. He said the issue was being viewed as a bi-partisan, and the Local
Government Commission would be fully involved in the process.
McKay concluded his remarks by saying that a resolution of support, for this type of
financing option, would probably be presented to the commissioners in the future.
Impact of E -Commerce: Mashburn said a University of Tennessee study indicated that
by the year 2006, Iredell County would lose up to $6.8 million (includes all municipalities) in
untaxed remote sales. He said that by 2011, the study indicated the amount would increase to
$8.3 million, which was equivalent to eight cents in property tax.
Representative Mitchell said this was a national problem, and a standardized sales tax
would have to be federally implemented to change it.
Senator Sloan said the legislature passed a simplified sales and use tax bill. He said
many people were against Internet sales taxation, and there was much debate occurring about the
matter.
Blumenstein said two large retailers had already implemented e-commerce taxation on
their own.
Hatfield said she would relay the county's concerns regarding the loss of sales taxes to
Congressman Burr.
Mashburn said he understood this was a federal matter, but he wanted to make sure he
had the support from the General Assembly members.
Air Quality and the Environment Protection Agency: Chairman Johnson mentioned his
concerns about Iredell County being designated as a non -attainment air quality area. He said that
if this occurred, prospective industries would be confronted with additional costs.
McKay said he had previously been told that Iredell County did not have the traffic
patterns for an MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area) designation.
Sloan said the local hospitals had desired an MSA designation for many years.
End of Lunch Presentation/Discussion
Recreation & Parks Update: Recreation Advisory Committee Chairman Larry Johnson
and Recreation Director Robert Woodie said the North Carolina Parks and Recreation
Department had approved changes to the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund (PARTF). Woodie
said the PARTF funding had increased from $250,000 to $500,000. He said it was also
permissible to purchase recreation/parks land, or property, with the funds, but there had to be a
match (web site indicates this is dollar -for -dollar). Woodie distributed biennial reports and
historical documents relating to his department. He said that in the early 1990s, the recreation
advisory committee submitted a four -park plan with each sector of the county
(north/south/east/west) having a recreational site. Woodie said the Stumpy Creek site was the
only park that had materialized. He said Stumpy Creek encompassed 83 acres (includes the boat
landing).