On 11 June 2008 the NC Senate Finance Committee approved a repeal of the land transfer tax option that lawmakers gave to counties last year. Nineteen counties have held referendums to increase the tax. All failed, including the May 6th Orange County referendum on which Commishes spent over $100,000.
Local Orange Progressive Senator Ellie Kinnaird spoke out against the bill, apparently not believing that a 2 to 1 supermajority against such a tax is worth accepting. (See Pulp Local Transfer Tax Defeat Story.)
The legislation is expected to face stiff opposition in the NC House from none other than local Orange Progressive Speaker Joe Hackney.
In the true historic spirit of USA progressivism (such as prohibition), “good” decisions should be forced down your throat whether you want to live with them or not.
No better demonstration can be given of how the local steno pool (local press and other media) works than the failure to report on restraints of annexation abuses practiced by the town of Carrboro in 2006 . The abuses have been well chronicled in the Pulp. Carrboro made a forced (involuntary) annexation of about 400 homes that violated seven aspects of the law (all missed by 2007 elected Carrboro Alderman Lydia Lavelle who lives in the annexed area and was in favor of the annexation as performed).
Annexation illegalities included:
1) Annexation was through a vacant half mile, non-urban area;
2) Annexation was without upgrading inadequate water pressure to the annexxed area;
3) Annexation was without providing road annexation much less road maintenance;
4) Annexation was without providing access to bond improvements (sidewalks);
5) Annexation was without providing adequate public safety protection (fire, police, and EMS) with a promised completed second fire substation not even under construction;
6) Annexation provided no value to annexed citizens; and
7) Annexation unduly burdened, without notification, the existing municipal citizens by not calculating all municiapl costs to bring all annexed citizens up to par in service levels.
Despite the embarrassment surrounding the annexation and a subsequent attempt to deannex some of the area annexed (through a petition to State Representative Bill Faison), the steno pool slept through the House Select Committee decision. No local paper presented the outcome of the committee vote with any weight or explanation.
After holding a series of public hearings across the state, a special House select committee on annexation moratorium voted Wednesday April 24th to recommend that a temporary moratorium be placed on all involuntary and satellite municipal annexations. If adopted after the General Assembly goes into its short session on May 13, the moratorium would be in place until June 30, 2009. The proposed moratorium was approved 10-2 by the committee. One of the two dissenters was UNC law professor and former Carrboro alderman Judith Wegener.
Amazingly, Professor Wegner told the house select committee that another blue ribbon committee paid for by your state taxes (with her also as a member of that committee, of course) is needed to study state annexation laws, water resource availability, and the role of counties. Although there have been some abuses, Professor Wegner felt that a three month legislative session was enough time to form the blue ribbon committee and to address any problems. She was more concerned about enabling municipalities to “face” major growth armed with annexation statutory weaponry.
The annexation moratorium still faces long odds before being implemented. The all powerful city and town lobbying group, the North Carolina League of Municipalities (NCLM), whose efforts are paid for by city and town taxes without voter approval of NCLM policies. The NCLM says that forced annexation is needed to maintain strong growth and economic vitality for many of the state's municipalities., an admission that many municipalities live beyond their means.
Chairman Goforth disagreed with the appraisal of the NCLM, ”So many cities are doing a good job with annexation in a calm, timely fashion, but so many are abusing the people of North Carolina.”
Several state representative committee members suggested that the annexation laws be changed to give more public input for annexation. The incredibly non-progressive idea of allowing people who own land slated for incorporation to receive more reliable service installation schedules, members said, and have an easier time getting city taxes deferred or refunded if timetables aren't met threatens existing NCLM autonomy to treat citizens as economic wage slaves.
House Speaker, developer, and bourgeoisie rentier Joe Hackney is against the idea of a moratorium.
