HomeMy WebLinkAboutC.054.93011_0342Commissioner Comments
Commissioner Madison said he and Commissioner Tice had been on the board of
commissioners for many years, and in 1990 a goal was set -- not as a policy or a commitment --
to advance the current expense fund by five percent to try to achieve the state average. Madison
said, "We have greatly exceeded the state average." He stressed this was a goal -- not a policy --
and further, that the commissioners did not have the power to commit future boards of
commissioners to any particular action. He said the county budget could only be approved for
one year at a time. In regards to Dr. Serene's comments, he said "She is not advocating for the
children, or for the citizens, she is suing the county. This is a precursor to a lawsuit." Madison
said he cut out an article that appeared in the Record and Landmark over 25 years ago that was
recently reprinted. He said the article read: "A tentative tax rate of 49.9 per $100 valuation was
reached last night by the county commissioners after more than a month of meetings, emotional
discussions, and hard examinations. The increase from last year's 39¢ tax rate was due to
funding for capital outlay requested from the county school system, limited to $I.I million, and
the renovation cost of the Department of Social Services Building." Madison said that within the
next four years, the commissioners who voted for the 10¢ increase had left office and this was
not by choice. Mr. Madison said the voters of Iredell County would not stand for a higher tax
rate. He said, "Mr. Parker, it seems you need to be on this board instead of the school board."
Parker said, "I tried."
Madison said that through the years, candidates had said time after time that they would
increase taxes, and these same people were not elected to office. He said Attorney Yarborough
had pointed out an option the school system had to obtain more money. Madison said, however,
"I'm not suggesting that we do that (supplemental tax), but the option is available."
Chairman Johnson said the school officials had indicated they did not know the county's
revenue projections until May, and this was not true. He said in February of 2004, when Dr.
Holliday presented his $124 million plan, that an advisory session had just been held with the
county's financial director. He said after the school system's presentation, Dr. Holliday and his
staff were warned that the sales tax and property tax revenues were lower than what had been
seen in the past. Johnson said he had also previously stated in a joint meeting with the school
board that the 2000 census indicated that 20% of the homes built in Iredell County had been
constructed since 1995. He said the overwhelming majority of the homes were built in the
southern townships. Johnson said this was growth in the tax base, but it was not the type that
paid for the schools. He said it took in excess of $400,000.00 of tax base to fund one child in the
Iredell-Statesville School District, and if a person looked at the per pupil funding of $1,766.00, it
didn't take long to understand the shortage. He said that if most of growth in the southern end
was residential, then clearly, residential growth was not supporting the schools. Johnson said
references had been made about new revenue that would be generated from the Lowe's facility
in Mount Mourne, and the aircraft at the Statesville Airport, but there appeared to be a lack of
understanding on how economic incentives worked. He said it would be years before the
benefits were reaped. Johnson said, "I'm not crazy about economic incentives, but
pragmatically, they're necessary to locate industry." He said that pertaining to the Lowe's
aircraft, it would be a number of years before any appreciable amount of revenue was recognized
because the county was working with the city on the runway extension. Johnson said another
problem was the loss of personal property due to depreciation, and the lack of capital
investments. He said the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Carolina Business Week, and the
Charlotte Observer, in the past few weeks, had published articles stating that what had driven the
economy, up to this point, was consumer spending, but there still remained a significant lack of
capital investment. Mr. Johnson said the Bush administration had taken this under consideration
when the last tax package was formed, and they had accelerated depreciation in an attempt to
increase capital investment. He said there were some signs of improvement, but he wanted to
emphasize that what paid the bills was capital investment -- not residential. Johnson continued
by saying the recessions in Iredell County in the past were more shallow and shorter than in
other areas, but this one was unusual -- it was deeper and longer. He said the only reason he
could come up with to explain the problem was the state's economic incentive system. Johnson
said other states had better packages, and the industries were not only avoiding Iredell County,
they were also choosing to avoid the entire state. He said a person could see why there was a
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