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.
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?
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