Seqirus Expansion

Very happy to read news of the Seqirus expansion.  I can recall a very exciting time back in  2006 when we did the impossible by successfully recruiting the pharma giant, Novartis, to Holly Springs.  The town was mentioned in media headlines throughout the world and we could not have been more proud. 

Before any of this could have started, we had already established an excellent relationship with economic development leaders in the state, thanks to Economic Development director Jenny Mizelle.  This put us in amongst other prospects for what was called “project aardvark”.  (We never knew what company was interested in Holly Springs until late in the game.)

In order to get to this point, we spent many hours hammering out details and incentives which would put us in contention for this economic development prize. We knew that the town was moving in the right direction and we had the growth and amenities that a large company would need to succeed, such as proximity to talent, homes for employees to live, restaurants and shops for them spend their money.  There were so many different economic components, some riskier than others, but in the end we were the best option for Novartis.

Very glad to see the current town council enjoying the fruits of the town’s labor from a decade ago!  They need to make the Seqirus expansion process as easy as possible since other large economic development prospects are watching.  Let’s hope this inexperienced council, with limited exposure to economic development, can quickly come up to speed on what it takes to continue to make Holly Springs the best place for large investment.

Last push to defeat this ill conceived bond referendum

Election Day is this Tuesday.  Many have already voted via absentee ballot or early voting.  Holly Springs voters (not those in ETJ) will have the chance to vote on an ill conceived and costly referendum which will increase our municipal taxes by almost 12%.   As an experienced municipal official, I encourage you to vote NO.  Here are a few more reasons to support opposition to this transportation referendum.

You have a generally inexperienced council that will be making multimillion dollar decisions using a $40,000,000 credit card, which will eventually cost you $60,000,000 ( $40M plus interest.)  Four of the five council members have minimal municipal experience.   

Inconsistent messages have been coming from the town council.  First, out of one side of their mouths they state that the bond money should address congestion issues at various “hot spots”.  Then on the other side of their mouths they want to widen Grigsby Avenue, a road which rarely sees a back up other than once or twice a year for fireworks or some other special event.  I don’t recall ever seeing rush hour congestion on Grigsby. 

The other inconsistent message involves developer responsibility for impacts.  This council seems more concerned about developers taking down a few trees than having to pay for necessary road widening in front of their projects.  If the town widens a road along the footage of a future project, the town cannot get compensated for that prior expenditure.  So essentially this bond will pay to subsidize developers.

No amount of money will ever change where and when people want to drive their cars. Is Holly Springs unique with its rush hour congestion? No.  Will bond money change when anyone travels on town or state roads?  Probably not.  NCDOT reports on the bypass rates average delays in terms of seconds.   Frankly on all of the roads identified on this bond, they are free of congestion over 90% of the time. 

To date, I am aware of only one council member who has shared on social media  how they will vote on this bond.  If this was such a clear and logical vote, wouldn’t the entire council and mayor be publicly and enthusiastically publicizing their support?  Since that has not been done by all six members, perhaps some are skeptical too?

Just vote NO

This Election Day will offer a number of critical political races at the state and county level, it will also include some bond referenda which will raise our taxes significantly.  The Holly Springs transportation referendum stands to raise our municipal taxes by 11%.  There are a number of concerning and troubling  issues with this referendum which I would like to share.

First, although the town council has had to vote on the various steps in the referendum process in order to put this item on the November ballot, they did not provide any information on the town website until very late in the game.  It was not until there were less than three months until Election Day that any information was made available.  Actually that timeline is even less of you consider the first day of early voting.    Why wouldn’t this information be made available sooner especially since a number of council members referenced “transparency” in the past.  

Second, this $40 million figure is significant.  The projects are separated into two categories: $16 million in "likely" projects and $24 million in projects which are expected to be shared with NCDOT.   At least three of the projects are intended to make travel easier for commuters who travel through Holly Springs during rush hour, these include two stretches on the NC55 Bypass and Sunset Lake Road, both are state maintained roads.   These are not town maintained roads.  At least two of the other projects are roads which would be established, and paid for, by private development.  It is wrong for Holly Springs taxpayers to foot this bill exclusively.

Third, the town is  working to appeal to the emotions of voters instead of  using hard facts.  They have been using thought provoking words such as safety, public  safety response times, time savings, economic boost and smart growth.   For something that hits citizens pockets, they need to provide more financial details. After all, we will be paying back this debt for twenty years.  Any benefits which may be seen will be short lived as any perceived road improvements will prompt more vehicle volume coming our way.

Fourth, the town uses some high level figures to illustrate your increased tax burden.  However, let’s use a $335,080 house in Holly Springs (tax value).  Currently the owner pays $1449 in municipal taxes.  If the bond passes, s/he will pay $1616.  The 11% tax increase will change the current tax rate from $.4325 per $100 valuation to $.4825.   But it does not end there!   Add in a possible 3.8 cents per $100 valuation if the county bonds pass, then your tax bill increases even more.  So the county taxes for this same property will rise from $2192 to $2320.   Overall this homeowner’s tax bill will rise from $3641 to $3936, and that does not consider fees such as county recycling or town vehicle fees.   But the taxation also does not end there, this will also impact your cars and anything else which incur a property tax.

Oh, and by the way, your county taxes went up this year as well!   The 2017 tax rate went from .6150 per $100 valuation up to .6544 in 2018.   This homeowner’s taxes are already going up by $132 this year!  So if you want to compare 2017 to 2019, it could go up from $3509 to $3956!

Fifth, if you are concerned about town debt, not only will the town incur $40 million in principal, but add in the interest and it will probably increase the overall debt to $60 million.  Although prior administrations put the town in such a good financial position, allowing the town the ability to incur such debt, it is never good to increase debt unnecessarily.  This is unnecessary debt. 

And finally, sixth, there is no guarantee nor obligation that any of this $40 million will be used for the listed projects. You are voting on the bond amount and the purpose, not specific road projects.  The town website may reference a certain street, but there is nothing binding them to do it.  So you are essentially signing a blank check.

11% tax increase with no guarantees?

Now that the town has finally posted the basics of the $40 million transportation bond referendum, which will increase our municipal tax rate by 11%, we can take a look at  the nuances in this proposal.

The town has categorized the various projects into two groups: “Green” Bond Funded Projects and “Purple” Bond and Partner Funded projects.   The Green projects are those which the NCDOT would typically not participate in, therefore, they would be completely funded by the bond. They have estimated this to be about $16M.  This includes  roads in places where developers would have funded the improvements as well as some residential street extensions.

The larger $24M portion for the Purple projects is a little more misleading.  These are for  high dollar improvements on commuter roads which many from other towns and counties use to get to work and cause increased volume.    On the town website it states that these projects “will very likely invite funding participation from NCDOT”.  So if you are convinced that this bond will resolve all your morning commute issues, you may be disappointed.  Since this language is so uncertain, there is no guarantee of any NCDOT funding or road improvements to alleviate these temporary volume increases.

Under the careful monitoring by the town attorney, the town will stay clear of improper campaigning for this referendum.  However, we have to be careful and understand the subtle language used to convince us that this will solve any rush hour inconveniences.  This is a lot of money to save 5-10 minutes on a morning or evening commute for people passing through Holly Springs.

Tax Increase? No thanks!

It is no secret that I do not support the upcoming $40M Transportation Referendum.  The town has been coyly campaigning and politicking the benefits of this 11% tax increase over the past few months.  Over the last two decades, the town has done an admirable job with putting the cost of road improvements on the backs of developers, both residential and commercial.  The town has also done an outstanding job with receiving grants to help with various road improvements throughout town.  This has all been done within budget.  We did not live beyond our means.

Now with this “new” town council, we will be faced with the potential of an 11% tax increase.  I have not polled all the members to ask where they stand on the issue, but I expect the majority are in support of the bond. In the spirit of transparency, they probably need to share how they will vote on this when they get to the polls this fall.  

In my opinion, it’s pretty clear that the majority of this council wants to make development more difficult for investors.  Some have also used terms like “responsible” growth to explain their actions.  However, once again, their actions are contrary to what they truly want to accomplish.  We saw that with the Southern Area Planning Initiative (SAPI), where they just implemented urban sprawl style zoning.  In the case of this bond, the intent is to pay for road widening on some state maintained roads.  A good portion of these roads pass undeveloped land, and taxpayers will essentially be paying for these road improvements instead of the future developers.....and there is no legal way for the town to recoup this expense without an action by the General Assembly, which would be unlikely.   Development needs to pay their fare share, not the taxpayers.  Also, these road enhancements will serve to benefit those who pass through Holly Springs from other areas.

Holly Springs did not become one of the most desired places to live and build a business overnight.  The town followed a strong, consistent, logical and successful path which brought many here.  Now this town council wants to change what brought them and many businesses and investment here.  As voters we need to send them the message that we want our tax dollars to be treated seriously.  It is real money, not a credit card with a $40M limit.   We are taught to live within our means....save for a rainy day.....it got us this far, why change the path and saddle us with more of a tax burden?

Rather have growth than not!

This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend a minor league baseball game in Kinston NC.  We also had to drive through the downtown area in Kinston and found it very depressing.  Kinston is obviously a struggling community, so I did some research to see what sort of growth they were experiencing.

Kinston’s property tax base has not changed much since 2008.  Actually their tax base dropped by $10M over the last year.  Their population has dropped by 8.8% since 2000.   Property tax is $.70 per $100 valuation.

Let’s compare this to Holly Springs......

Our property tax base increases consistently every year.  From FY 2014 to today, our tax base has increased by approximately $1.2B.   Our population has increased by 197% since 2000.  Our tax rate is $.4325.

Overall, I much rather deal with the impacts and challenges of growth than what Kinston is dealing with.   We are very fortunate to live in such a dynamic place!

  

Thank you Chuck Simmons

Best of luck, success and happiness to Chuck Simmons as he coasts into retirement.  He had been with the town of Holly Springs for 16 years, starting as Assistant Manager, then interim Town Manager, and finally appointed as the Town Manager about six years ago.  Holly Springs has truly benefitted from his service to the town.  I personally benefitted from his knowledge of municipal government and his wise counsel.

Although Chuck’s loss will be felt in town hall, we are in good hands with Assistant Manager and interim Town Manager Daniel Weeks.  Daniel knows this town as well as anyone.  He has progressed through the ranks starting as an college intern many years ago.  He is also someone I relied on for his vast knowledge of municipal government operations.

The Town Manager position has been widely advertised on the NCLM website and other media, so the net is pretty broad  to get good applicants.  The basic responsibilities of the manager are included in GS 160A-148, however, how the manager runs the town varies by the expectations of the governing body.  In a Council-Manager form of the government, the mayor and council do not get intimately involved in the day-to-day town operations.

As much as the manager is accountable to the mayor and council, s/he is not intended to be the personal servant for every one of their wishes and whims.   The manager is really a part of the council team but has the unique responsibility to challenge and educate the council….Chuck did!    The manager is required to see council initiatives implemented, but a good manager will also challenge the mayor and council by letting them know when they are treading in dangerous or uncertain waters.   This is important as a majority of the council members are relatively new, lack significant municipal experience and will  require this guidance from a town manager.

The town council took a good first step by hiring a search firm to coordinate the recruitment.    Hopefully the search firm will deliver some good candidates for them to interview.   We have no choice but to trust that they will select the best person to serve, not just the mayor and council members, but most importantly, the citizens of this town.