At the Yadkin County Commissioners meeting on Monday, Brady Wooten immediately made a motion that was seconded by Commissioner Kevin Austin, to suspend the rules regarding public comment section of the meeting to allow as many people to speak as desired.

“I know a lot of the people have the same things to say,” said Austin, “I believe it would be valuable for us to hear from several of these people.”

After no further discussion the motion passed 4-1 with Chairman Chad Wagoner voting against allowing the suspension of the rules.

Wagoner requested a list of people who had requested to speak and was told there was no list.

“Then this will just be a free for all,” Wagoner said. “Whoever wants to come up and have at it, come up and speak your peace.”

As former Commissioner Leon Casstevens, made his way to the front of the room to speak first, Wagoner asked that all speakers provide their name, residence area.

Casstevens presented Commissioners Wagoner, Moxley and Garner with candy pacifiers and a copy of the Republican Principles. He admonished them for “hanging on to Kim Phillips’ coattails.”

Casstevens continued by briefly discussing the county budget and blaming the current financial situation the county is facing on poor management. He scolded the commissioners for spending that the public was allowed no voice in and specifically mentioned the middle schools, the hospital, and the new jail. He suggested that Attorney Graham needed to collect the past due taxes and that would go along way toward paying the county bills. Though he referred to The Yadkin Ripple as “that sorry Ripple,” explaining he didn’t subscribe, that someone had given it to him, he had no qualms about using information from the newspaper to further his rant.

“I just want everybody here to know that Chad Wagoner denied me of being on the agenda tonight and I am a former commissioner,” said Casstevens. I would like to know how one person could make this decision. This did not happen on my watch.”

Among the more than 40 people who spoke their mind, some drew more applause than others.

Brian White of Jonesville spoke to the concerns of the elderly people in Yadkin County. Those living on fixed incomes who struggle each month to be able to afford medications, simply cannot afford the increase in property tax. “I’m not putting all the blame on the commissioners, but somewhere down the line somebody’s going to have to help the people in this county,” he said. “We’re putting this on ya’ll because that’s what we elected you to do. We’re asking ya’ll for help.”

Mr. White received applause and several “Amens” from the audience.

Wayne Todd of the Deep Creek Community stated he wanted to say what he needed to say before he got so mad he couldn’t. He related the decrease in property value of 38% that he heard on the local news on Monday. “My taxes went up 30%,” he said. “Something is wrong here. The President is lying, Congress is lying, the United States Supreme Court is lying and the news media’s lying or somebody here in this county is lying. Somebody’s wrong. I don’t know whether it’s you or the people who did this valuation, but the rest of the world can’t be wrong.”

Lloyd Davis of East Bend was more sympathetic and told the commissioners he prayed for them every day, but he was certain the county could not tax itself out of debt.

There were brief moments of lighter hearted comments as those expressed by Garland Hall who lives on E. Lee Avenue, “better known as Shacktown Road.” He said he didn’t know why they changed the name, but felt that maybe if they called it Shacktown Road again his taxes might go back down. Hall explained that he understood hard times. He said everybody knows that property values are down. He believes the banks don’t have money to loan so no one can buy the houses that are for sale. He said he was born during the depression and times were hard. “But I tell you what, they’re hard now also,” he said. “I looked out the window the other morning and saw a worm jerk a bird into the ground.”

As the evening continued, there were residents who said they were ready to leave Yadkin County based on the lack of jobs and the expense of living here. Others were upset because of the funds that are going to the illegal residents.

Randy Jenkins of East Bend told that he just built his house last year. His statement said then it was valued at $253,229. “Eleven months later, my house is valued at $346,255. That’s a $92,000 increase in less than one year.” He described his decision to move to Yadkin County from Forsyth County because he felt the taxes in Yadkin were reasonable. “I’m going back to Forsyth County.”

Peggy Boose of Boonville encouraged everyone to attend all the meetings. “We don’t have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem,” she said. Boose also questioned the financial advisor, Janice Burke because she stated the Burke is paid according to the number of loans the county is approved for. She rebuked the county manager and the commissioners who have represented the county in a sound financial position. She commended Commissioners Austin and Wooten for trying to show the amount of debt the county if facing. She questioned a 52% increase in tax on a piece of property without road frontage that is owned by a member of her family. “The people in this county deserve to be heard,” she said. “Whether you agreed with them or not.”

J.D. Caldwell of the Fall Creek/Boonville area spoke and said he has lived in the county all of his life and he had never been to a commissioners meeting. “That should tell everybody something,” he said. “They tell you to go vote, well I went and voted. I’ve always voted. I voted the middle schools down twice and guess what, they borrowed the money to build them, now I’m having to pay more taxes. They’ve got a jail right over here. I know plumbers that can fix the plumbing,” he said to the amusement of the crowd. “I didn’t know we was running a country club for the criminals in Yadkin County. If my taxes continue to go up, I may just throw it all aside and commit a robbery or something and go to the country club.” This drew laughter as well as applause, but his next comment really pleased the crowd. “I’m glad to see friends and neighbors that I see every day that’s come over here to voice their opinion and let the commissioners of this county know that we elected them and we can unelect them. No disrespect to any of ya’ll, but there comes a time when something has got to give.”

Pat Weston, a widow from East Bend questioned how Yadkin County is the only place in the nation where property values have not fallen. “That is very hard for me to understand,” she said. “If the whole country has gone down, how on earth is Yadkin County the only one that has gone up?”

Jeff Groce of the Longtown community offered to sell his property right then for what it has been appraised for. One of his properties increased 28%. He told the commissioners that he prays for them, and he wouldn’t have their job. He questioned whether they were hiding something as well as commenting about the meetings that take place outside of possible public scrutiny.

Linda Hopkins of Yadkinville said she knew who appraised her house. “She works in the tax office and she about as much about appraisal as I do,” she said. “You should have had some real estate people if you wanted to get a true appraisal value.” Hopkins continued by suggesting that the county is trying to run everybody out of Yadkin County. “I made a mistake,” she said. “I put a couple of new doors on my house. They were worth $37,000. They came from the salvage store, so you know they were worth that much.” She continued by admonishing the commissioners regarding their budgeting. “When we have to budget at home, you need to budget here.”

Residents became increasingly frustrated when they had questions, but the commissioners were not allowed to answer the questions. Wagoner kept telling the people this was their time to speak. As the level of exasperation increased, Commissioner Tommy Garner finally told them the commissioners could not answer them. This brought questions called out from the crowd wanting to know why they were unable to answer questions.

According to the county rules of public comment, the commissioners are not allowed to comment in order to avoid public debate. Commissioner Brady Wooten confirmed this information.

Questions that were not addressed included confusion over how property was being reevaluated or reappraised. They questioned the training that was given to those who decided what they’re property value would be. One resident wanted to know where he could find a copy of the county budget. There were numerous other questions raised by residents, however none of the questions were answered. Some questioned what services they receive for their county taxes.

Some residents offered suggestions along with their criticisms. One suggested that the commissioners try to find another way to raise the revenue they need without constantly putting the entire burden on Yadkin County property owners.

The tension within the crowd increased throughout the public comment section of the meeting, but for the most part even with emotions running as high as they were, conflict was minimal.

When the public comment section was closed, a majority of the audience rose to leave. Wagoner sent one of the law enforcement officers to the lobby to maintain order. Wooten suggested a five-minute recess, but Wagoner refused and continued on with the meeting though the noise level was so high commissioners speaking could not be heard. No altercations were reported, though Pat Weston did suggest she might have to do what Lady Godiva did in order to protest the high taxation in Yadkin County.