Saturday's Internet Edition, May 17, 2008.
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Senate Bill 1513 — passed at last year’s General Assembly — says that counties are “authorized and empowered to acquire land by dedication and acceptance, purchase or eminent domain and make improvements to portions of the state highway system lying within or outside the county limits utilizing local funds that have been authorized for that purchase.”
Bottom-line: The state is trying to pass the buck for fixing and maintaining roads to the counties.
“I can see it being like the gas for the buses we have to provide,” Potts said. “The heat for the schools we have to provide. If we ever pay for the first one, in my opinion, we’ll get enough money to do about a third of them like they do, and we’ll take all the heat for it.”
Potts recommended that County Manager Robert Hyatt draft a resolution to be sent to Raleigh stating the commissioner’s problems with the bill by next month’s meeting. Money for state roads are mainly available through state highway funds that amass revenue from fuel and car taxes, and some federal contributions.
Commissioner Dr. Max Walser expressed great concerns over the bill, saying this is just another state tab the county has to pick up. Walser also recently attended a meeting with state officials concerning school facilities and sees some similarities.
“Clean water, sewage and school facilities and now roads?” asked Walser. “You’d have to raise property taxes 50 cents to build a reasonable number of roads in this county. The state of North Carolina has a lot of taxes, sales taxes, high gas taxes. We’ve got a serious problem in county governments across the state, trying to provide all these services, and roads, that’s impossible.”
Commissioner Fred McClure likened the bill to the recent Medicaid situation the county pulled themselves out from under after the Assembly approved a plan that phases out the county’s share of the cost over a three-year period. That move cost the county a half-cent in sales tax revenue.
“It is optional now,” said McClure. “But I can see the same slippery slope with this thing.”
In other business:
• Commissioners unanimously approved a $5,000 grant application from Parks and Recreation Director Charles Powell for a new 1,200-foot trail from Boones Cave Park, designed to help canoers and kayakers access the Yadkin River. Powell said the trail will cut down paddling time from N.C. 801 to the York Hill access point by three hours, increasing the amount of visitors to the park. The announcement will be made in August by the Adopt-A-Trail program.
• Abbotts Creek may be next up in the Impaired Stream Restoration Program. The board received a grant a month ago to find ways to clean up Rich Fork Creek, and County Planning Director Guy Cornman feels that Abbotts Creek has the best opportunity to receive another grant from the N.C. Clean Water Management Treatment Trust Fund next month.
Staff Writer Eliot Duke can be reached at 472-9500, ext. 233, or at eliotduke@hotmail.com.