By Leanne Cloudman

Staff reporter

lcloudman@yadkinripple.com

Commissioners Kevin Austin and Brady Wooten have tired of banging their heads against the wall and sought help from a higher power. An appeal made to Mr. Tim Romocki, the Director of Debt Management in the North Carolina Department of State Treasurer has not yet yielded results, but according to Wooten, he’s trying to abide by the oath he took.

“There was one thing on the county application to the Local Government Commission that made me draft the statement in opposition,” said Austin. “It was claimed on the application that there would be no tax increase as a result of this project. That could not be further from the truth, so I wanted to paint the complete picture showing just how much the impact will be over the next fifteen years. Some people may not like the result of the figures I put together, but no one was able to dispute them.”

Austin and Wooten, without approval or knowledge of the other commissioners sent a list of “Objections to Approval of the Yadkin Jail Project” to the Local Government Commission. This entity decides whether to allow local governments to borrow money for projects.

Austin and Wooten allege as follows.

The Yadkin County tax rate is already 50 percent higher than other comparable counties in the 25,000 - 49,000 population group. Yadkin County imposed a 16 percent property tax increase in 2007 - 2008.

Funding recent projects already require another 11percent increase. Funding the Yadkin Jail Project will require another 7 percent increase. The resulting tax rate will be 77 percent above comparable counties within Yadkin’s population group. The current fund balance is below the average for Yadkin’s population group. Yadkin has a current budget with $2.4 million appropriated from the fund balance. There is an un-booked commitment of $500,000 to the Town of Jonesville. There may be another $3 million committed to Jonesville. Yadkin may operate ‘in the red’ for several years to come with a .89/100 tax rate. A legitimate lawsuit exists against this project.

Romocki provided Stan Kiser, Yadkin County Manager the opportunity to respond to the allegations made by Austin and Wooten.

Regarding the taxes and tax rate and their burden on the residents, “This statement is purely conjecture and is based, not on any legal fiscal limits set by the State, but on subjective beliefs of what fiscal policy should be. The function of the Local Government Commission is to assess a division of local governments ability to finance and service debt, not to referee a disagreement in political fiscal policy that a county’s citizens or its Board of Commission may have. The majority of the Yadkin County Board of Commissioners has consistently supported the jail project and continues to do so.”

Kiser’s response continues by defending the debt per capita based on figures from 6-3-07 for counties in Yadkin’s population group. “Yadkin is clearly, even with the debt acquired within the last year not close to the high end of the range. Assuming a population of 38,000 the debt per capita would be $1,361 less than 30 percent of the most indebted county Yadkin’s size.”

The majority of the remaining responses simply assert that the actions taken have been the action of a majority of the board of commissioners and that public hearings were held during the budgeting process.

In addition, the response states there are no negotiated agreements in writing with the City of Jonesville. The city has also turned down the offer of the $50,000 loan.

Kiser asserts that the county continues to maintain a healthy fund balance and will endeavor to match the state average for Yadkin’s population group.

Regarding the pending litigation, “the county did have a second rezoning hearing for the jail property and it is in the opinion by legal counsel that the county followed all necessary requirements of the zoning ordinance. It is the recommendations of legal counsel that in answering the complaint filed in the matter, the county asks for attorney fees and cost of delays, not limited to, but including any increases in interest rates or increases in construction bids over what the county has secured at present.”

The Yadkin Ripple had not been notified of a decision by the Local Government Commission prior to press time.