HomeMy WebLinkAboutC.054.93009_0206 (2)Let's look past the public statements and do what is best for
Iredell County.
Fellow commissioners, I for one am in favor of quality
education in Iredell County, coupled with accountability and fiscal
responsibility, and I support a May bond election that will give us
a number of advantages:
More voters will cast ballots, giving us government of the
people, by the people, and for the people. It will give our staff
time to do an adequate job in preparation, and will give the school
board time to give us a list of their needs instead of their wants.
If two other commissioners will vote with me, we will give all the
voters of Iredell County the opportunity and the time to make an
informed vote on this critical issue next May.
Thank you.
Commissioner Boone: Madam Chairman, I have a few comments.
I don't have prepared remarks. I will say at the beginning I very
much sympathize with what Mr. Madison just said. That was a very
moving statement. He made some excellent points, and I agree with
the biggest part he just said. I have always believed, though,
that people should be allowed to vote. I have always believed in
the democratic process. Last month I voted against the October
referendum date for four reasons: (1) Because we would have had
city elections and no county elections. We would have discriminated
against rural voters. That is not an issue this time. We will
have a statewide referendum. Two other reasons were the fact that
Mitchell and Mooresville had not yet prepared their bond package;
they now have their bond package prepared. There is an issue of
turn -out. I think the ideal time would be November 1994, because
I think when people vote you should have the maximum number of
people voting. You can groan. I think you should, but I'm not
making a motion to do that. But I think that would be an ideal
time. But I will vote for this November date because I believe in
allowing the people to vote.
I think Mr. Madison made a very good point when he said that
a number of people who advocated a referendum now, not all of them
are in this category by a long shot, but a number of them were
people who three years ago were against a referendum on the issue
of school consolidation. We had 1600 petitions presented tonight,
and I do pay attention to petitions, but three years ago there were
10,000 petitions presented from people asking for a referendum on
the issue of school consolidation, they didn't ask for any
particular date, they just asked for a referendum at any time.
Four of the five commissioners (none of whom are sitting here now,
by the way) at that time voted against giving the people the right
to vote. I think I am consistent. I was for a referendum then; I
am willing to go with a referendum now.
In saying that I am not personally endorsing the bond vote. I
want to make that very clear. I am endorsing giving the people the
right to vote. I have very serious reservations about the amount of
money. I am not endorsing it personally; I am not asking the
people to vote for it. I am just saying, "Let's put this to the
vote of the people; let the people decide." That's all that I am
saying. I cannot reiterate enough times I am not personally
endorsing it. I have very serious reservations about the amount of
the money. Of course it has been reduced considerably from the
original request, but still, and I stated this at the meeting this
morning, this county will face a number of capital needs in the
next few years. We may face a number of needs. We are under a lot
of state mandates, and I think we have to be very cautious and
conservative about spending money if this $41 million bond passes,
we will have exhausted 75% of our capacity to go into debt. We
will have very little room for contingencies that may occur down
the road, and I would give serious consideration to further trying
to reduce the amount of the bond. This county does have a lot more
things that it has to spend money on than school needs. There are
a lot of critical needs out there. i stated that this morning and
PAUL ' 1991 189