May 29, 2008 issue
Speaker Hackney Listens to County Concerns
Story by Kathleen McFadden
Joe Hackney, Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, traveled to Boone last Friday at the invitation of NC Representative Cullie Tarleton, and the Watauga County Board of Commissioners boardroom was filled with elected officials, representatives from the university and area agencies, and citizens.
Introducing Hackney, Tarleton said, “To the best of my knowledge this is the first time we’ve had a sitting speaker in the district listening to the concerns of our people.”
Tarleton said that the meeting had no format or agenda, that the purpose of the meeting was “for you to meet the speaker and for him to hear directly from you.”
“I love this format,” Hackney said, “even though I can talk for two hours.” Before opening the floor to questions, Hackney praised Tarleton’s work in the House.
Cullie is one who provides aggressive representation,” Hackney said. “When folks knock on his doors at home, he’s knocking on our doors. He’s a valuable member from a lot of perspectives and does a great job.”
Many of the comments during the meeting pertained to the state budget for fiscal year 2008-09. The General Assembly has convened in short session to hammer out the state’s budget for the next year.
Watauga County Clerk of Court Glenn Hodges opened the discussion by pointing to the governor’s proposed $4 million reduction in the Administrative Office of the Courts budget and an additional $9 million reduction recommended by committee. If those cuts occur, Hodges said, it’s likely that the assistant and deputy clerks approved last session “won’t be able to come to work in July.”
Hackney pointed out that the legislators are facing $47 million in additional fuel costs for school buses over last year and that government cuts have fallen on every agency. “We expand and contract to get to the bottom line,” Hackney said, “and early in the process, we tend to overcut. Then we look at where we made mistakes in the cutting.” Hackney told Hodges that his local courts had been making the same points to him.
Mac Forehand of the Boone Convention & Visitors Bureau said the state’s Division of Tourism was looking for a $5 million increase that it didn’t get from the governor. Because of fuel costs, Forehand said, “The tourism industry is worried; we need marketing.”
Hackney said that although the state’s economy is in good shape, the revenue growth estimates have been reduced from 4.6 to 3.5 percent. “There’s not as much new money this year,” he said, “so everybody’s fighting about it. I can virtually assure you that the North Carolina Division of Tourism won’t get $5 million, but maybe it will get $1 or $2 million to advance the needs.”
Mayor Loretta Clawson made an appeal for a new fire truck for Boone, one with a 100-foot ladder needed to protect ASU property. Hackney said, “I am careful to act in a way that Erskine Bowles [president of the University of North Carolina] said to graduates, ‘Never overpromise.’” Hackney continued, “You can be assured that your representative will be aggressively pursuing, but it’s doubtful it will get done the first time you ask.” Tarleton pointed out that he asked for the first time last year.
Dr. Ken Boham, president of Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute, made a case for funding for spikes in community college enrollment, for vocational and technical programs to train nurses and teachers and to support partnerships with ASU. Dr. Ken Peacock, chancellor of ASU, added his support to the request for the fire truck and asked that the General Assembly consider the university’s request for $4.2 million in planning money for a health sciences facility.
Hackney pointed out that in the next 30 years, North Carolina will gain population equivalent to the current population of South Carolina. He acknowledged the need for medical personnel and teachers and said that such training is a priority.
Nancy Spann, chair of the Southern Appalachian Historical Society, asked for recurring funding for Horn in the West. Hackney said that such projects are difficult to “shoehorn into the budget” from year to year, particularly because they are often classified as “pork barrel projects.” However, in his experience, he said, such projects are often very good projects. He suggested that the General Assembly set up an outdoor drama fund that would provide systematic funding. “I think it would be good; I’ll try to help,” he said.
Other topics included education, mental health, road paving, environmental protection and rural healthcare.
Clawson brought up a recently introduced bill that would place a moratorium on annexations. Because of the amount of tax exempt property in Boone, Clawson said, “annexation is very important to us as a town.” Hackney’s legislative assistant explained that the moratorium would only apply to involuntary annexations, that the committee did not approve the original version of the bill that called for a moratorium on all annexations.
Another subject was the possible transfer of oversight of the Upper Mountain Research Station in Laurel Springs. The Program Evaluation Division has recommended, in the interest of governmental efficiency, that oversight for the state’s research stations be transferred from the Department of Agriculture to the UNC system and that each station be evaluated to determine if it should be closed and sold.
“Steve [Goss] and I will fight that until the last dog dies,” Tarleton said. And Hackney added, “That may be an efficiency we don’t need.”
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