The commissioners appear confident that the voters will approve the 1/4 sales tax revenue. The traditional appeal of a sales tax increase to voters is it will reduce property taxes--a claim never made by Lee County Commissioners. Their intent is to leverage the $1,500,000 into roughly $36 million of new debt for as yet unspecified capital projects. The commissioners are near the end of their credit limit so without the revenue to make interest payments on bond issues for new large capital projects like schools and classrooms at CCCC will come to a halt. Pass or fail, taxpayers are not likely to see their property taxes reduced.
On what basis then--other than daily conversation among themselves and with their same cronies--do the commissioners gain their confidence in the success of the referendum. Poor-mouthing! County Manager John Crumpton summarized the financial position this way:
“If we don’t get the sales tax increase, we do not have a capital improvements plan,” he said. “Without the sales tax, we can’t do anything. . .The message to the community is pass this tax or your capital needs for schools and government will go unmet. And if not, tough, because we warned you. In the meantime, just trust us to spend it wisely.
Now, be clear this is not Crumpton's position. It is just the cards he has been dealt by a board so weak in leadership that doesn't recognize its own shortcomings. It takes hard work and leadership to take a well thought out spending plan to the public, and the commissioners have simply failed to do it.
On the other hand, the Board of Education takes a view strongly supported by the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners--these referendums have passed only where a good community foundation was laid and where voters knew exactly how the additional revenues will be used. Almost without exception, the endorsement by various civic groups for the tax referendum have come about through the efforts of Board of Education Chair Bill Tatum--not the commissioners. Most have referenced renovations at Lee County High School.
Secondly, the Board of Education and advocates on behalf of LCHS have worked hard to make a strong, compelling case for the renovations at the aging campus. Moreover, they have already compromised on a phased approach that will reduce the initial need from $22 million to less than $16 million. Now the Board of Education fears that the failure of the commissioners to commit to use a portion of the tax referendum revenue for LCHS renovations will leave the referendum without the specific use it needs to win voter approval. This is the very kind of error the commissioners own state association warns against!
Those who watch the television rebroadcast of the meeting will see clearly the difference between a board that has been built into a team and the fragmented group of commissioners. They will hear Board of Education Chairman Bill Tatum pledge his support to the referendum regardless of the outcome of the discussions on the inclusion of the renovations of Lee County High School and urge his board to do the same. It was a statesman-like approach.
Were it not for the meeting of the two groups, it is highly unlikely that the County Commissioners would have organized the committee proposed yesterday (read about this here) to work for community support of the proposal. And who asked for that meeting? You guessed it. The Board of Education. Evidence of Tatum's leadership again.
Bob Brown is the chair of the county commissioners. The problem is he is not their leader. As he puts it "I am just one commissioner." On the other hand Bill Tatum is more than just a member of the board of education. He is the chairman AND a leader.
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