Column for Sept. 6, 2012

Selma has two main claims to fame.  Well, besides being the home of a great newspaper and television commentator (typed while my tongue was firmly pressed in my cheek), we can claim to be the birthplace of Vicks Vaporub, and we can claim to be a railroad town.  I don’t know if the latter can really be considered a reason to be famous, really.  Thousands of towns across the country have railroads running through them.  We just happen to be a high traffic railroad centric town.

As anyone who has traveled through Selma can tell you, freight trains run through town many times a day and Amtrak makes regular stops at Union Station (an original name if I ever heard one).  Amtrak may be making more trips through the area sometime soon.  A newly announced Thruway Motor Coach service will be serving eastern North Carolina through the Wilson train depot.  One route will connect cities like Greenville, New Bern, Havelock and Morehead City to train service on the north/south corridor of New York City to Savannah, and another will run to Goldsboro, Kinston, Jacksonville and Wilmington.

I don’t know how popular the routes will be, but the most likely people to benefit may be college students and military personnel.  The ones who will least benefit are the American taxpayers.  Don’t get me wrong, I have made use of Amtrak service before and I may again.  Unfortunately, my experience has been that traveling by train has been no cheaper than traveling by air or automobile.  

I once took a trip on Amtrak from Selma to New York City.  I appreciated being able to get on a train just a mile from my house and step off the train in Penn Station in Manhattan.  The down side was that I literally paid a little more for the round trip tickets than I would have if I had flown direct from RDU Airport to New York City.  The flight would have taken about ninety minutes whereas the rail trip took nine hours.  I had to put up with expensive onboard food, train staff with bad attitudes, backed up train bathrooms, and nine hours of “buck and sway”.  On the plus side, I didn’t have to travel to RDU, pay to park, go through security, board, deplane, and get transportation into the city once I arrived.

The sad part about Amtrak is that the train system loses billions of dollars.  We taxpayers foot the bill for it.  Every rider’s trip is subsidized by the taxpayer.  I have read the arguments both pro and con about federal and state funding for Amtrak.  I realize that with gas prices staying high, ridership has increased.  I also realize that the US taxpayer can’t afford to keep paying for every service, program, and policy that some bureaucrat thinks is needful.

Personally, I don’t like flying.  I drive most places to which I travel.  Of course with an increasing and young family, I don’t always relish the thought of putting three children in a mini-van and driving fifteen hours to go visit family.  On the other hand, Amtrak doesn’t go everywhere I would like to go and I don’t feel like packing lightly for air travel and hustling a family of five through airports.

I would love to see rail service privatized, but I don’t know if an efficient private service could make it or not, considering the amount of improvements that would need to be made to compete while keeping fares affordable.  I was looking at fares to go see a Carolina Panther’s football game in Charlotte.  With service being indirect to the destination, the train only leaves from Raleigh, and the cost being as much as gasoline, is it worth it?  It’s probably not.

Will thousands of people take the train from down east to connect to New York and points north or even just to the Triangle or Charlotte?  I don’t know if they will or not.  

As much as I would like to see rail passenger service be a viable form of transportation, I am having a hard time maintaining support for it when I see the dollar figures for the losses incurred per passenger and for the high fares charged per passenger.  When fares are as much if not more than airfare, the travel times are horrendously longer, and the taxpayer subsidizes the service, I am finding it hard to support the idea of more routes being added to a money pit.

Column for May 3, 2012

It is not all that unusual for me to be stuck in a hotel room instead of being with my family at night.  I occasionally have to travel for my job, and thankfully it is not an every week thing.  Though I would much rather be at home with my toddler saying “Hold me, Daddy!” because he is a bit jealous of the new baby and enjoying a home cooked meal with my family, this is a small sacrifice that I have to occasionally make in order to keep and properly execute my position of employment.  How is all of this relevant?  Well, it relates to the frustration my wife and I experienced this past weekend.

We were shopping for some household essentials, and we were not sure how we were going to pay for all that we put into our shopping cart.  I understand being on a tight budget.  I have gone through periods of lean times.  I have gone through periods of abundance, as well.  My wife has not been working for three years now, and we are minus an entire paycheck each and every pay period.  However, we decided that we would suffer through anything we had to in order to allow her to stay at home and raise our children rather than her work to have just enough to pay some day care center employees do it for us.  Add to that the high utility bills in Selma, a mortgage, car payments, and now a monthly payment for an expensive new air conditioning system, and we have a tighter than desired monthly budget.

Ahead of us in line at the checkout was a couple with at least one infant (that is all I saw at the time) paying for their groceries with three separate transactions.  The first was a WIC voucher, the second was paid for with a food stamp card and a little bit of cash, and the third was yet another WIC voucher.  My wife and I just looked at each other in wonder.  We had three children with us and a full grocery cart.  We had to come up with a method of paying for our own groceries and there we were helping pay for the groceries that were purchased in front of us as well.

Add to that the frustration that the couple were definitely “English as a Second Language” class candidates of most likely questionable legal status, and we were all the more frustrated.  According to the Center for Immigration Studies (as long ago as 2004), the costs of food stamp, WIC and free school lunch programs to "illegal alien households" costs approximately $1.9 billion per year.  I almost wanted to follow Julio and Maria home and let them serve us supper.  After all, we helped pay for it.  As we were leaving the checkout lane, what did we see behind us?  Another couple with a food stamp card in hand to tender payment for the cart load of groceries.  I am reminded of a quote I read recently from one of our Founding Fathers.

"The government of the United States is a definite government, confined to specified objects.  It is not like the state governments, whose powers are more general.  Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government."

~ James Madison, Speech, House of Representatives, during the debate "On the Memorial of the Relief Committee of Baltimore, for the Relief of St. Domingo Refugees" (January 10, 1794)

My wife and I attend a church congregation in Garner.  It is a bit far to go for worship services, but we chose that group of believers out of relationship and preference.  We have been overwhelmed with the graciousness of our church family yet again, who love to bless people in that congregation with meals whenever someone is sick or has a newborn baby.  Others have been blessed as well, going through the loss of a family member.  That is what the Body of Christ is supposed to do to minister to one another.  Locally, there is a church right down the street from my house that gives away groceries every Thursday to people in need.  I just wish I didn’t see some of the same cars and people there week after week, still in need.

As James Madison realized, it is the job of the Church to provide such charity, not necessarily that of the government.  As I am away from my family as a result of being willing to work some long hours and make some small sacrifices in order to feed my family, I am also reminded of the Bible verse in 2 Thessalonians3:10 “... if any would not work, neither should he eat.”  Nonetheless, I am still frustrated in seeing others eat at the expense of others every time I go to the grocery store.

Column for Feb. 9, 2012

When considering the government expenditure of public money, we all have to ask, “To what end?”  Not everything that is a nice idea is necessarily a good idea, nor is it in the public best interest.  Furthermore, government has to take into account the impact on area residents when entering into contracts.  There are several cases in point in the news.

There have been and will be meetings in the Town of Selma at which residents can express their concerns to the town leadership.  One big concern has been the high cost of utilities in town.  Selma, like other towns, is a public power community, meaning that the town owns the electrical system and is contracted to purchase energy and then retails it to its citizenry.  I have written many times about this.  Basically, this amounts to another tax upon the town residents.  Since we pay significantly higher rates than customers who deal with Progress Energy directly, any dollar amount above what would be charged if we bought the electricity ourselves from the power company should be considered taxation, not merely utility costs.

What I found unacceptable was the town’s attitude of “Too bad, we have a contract to do business this way, so you have to live with the high costs.  Try cutting back on your electricity use.”  No, the town brought this burden upon us by a poor contract for services, so the town, if not already doing so, should be looking at being released from that contract.  I never hear that as a possibility from anyone.  Also, any town should never obligate itself and its citizens for numerous decades as has been done with many local communities.

I looked with interest at an article about the Town of Selma moving forward with building a train viewing platform.  I still laugh at this one.  We may be a railroad-centric town, but this is ridiculous.  I don’t care if the town is seeking funding from some grant.  If the grant comes from any governmental source, it is tax money.  If it is from a private institution, that is another thing.  Either way, the town has to pay $2500 just to have a company process the grant application.  Then it is recommended that the town commit to at least a $5000 sum of public tax dollars to help attract the grant.  So the town wants to spend at least $7500 to hope to get a $75,000 platform.

I am making an offer right now to the Town of Selma.  I will gladly save them all of the money mentioned, go to Lowe’s or Big Lots and buy a couple of park style benches out of my own pocket.  I won’t even ask to have my name on a plaque attached to them.  We don’t need a train watching platform in town.  We already have a nice train station with a sizable concrete pad.  People already come here with lawn chairs and sometimes even radios to hear the train radio traffic.  When the come, however, they come with their own coolers, drinks, and lunches.  I doubt that they purchase much, if anything, in town.

Again, I ask, “To what end?”  If the desired end is to attract more people to town, will we ever attract sufficient people to little old Selma to watch trains to justify the public expenditure of $75,000?  That is doubtful, regardless of from where that money comes.  How about the $7500 that the town will be staking for the project?  I doubt highly we will make that back in tax revenue, ever.  How about just the $2500 the town will spend for someone to process a grant application to pursue the money?  Yeah, right.  I doubt even that would be recovered.

People who come here to watch trains are not going to be interested in purchasing antiques.  And if they do venture into town to find a restaurant, their choices will be limited.  Creech’s Drug can’t sell enough homemade orange-ade to gain sufficient sales tax to cover the town’s expenses on this project.  Just because it is a nice idea, it doesn’t mean that the town should spend money on it.

I like the Selma Development Partnership’s idea of having a town museum as one example of how to do a project without tax dollars involved.  Granted, the small building may end up falling off the property tax rolls now that it is owned by a non-profit group, but at least we are not spending tax dollars.  It is ironic that one of the smallest business buildings in town will be the Selma museum.  Basically it can showcase a jar of Vick’s Vaporub and a model train and that about covers the town.  At least my tax dollars won’t be paying for it, though I will be willing to buy the jar of Vaporub at Creech’s Drugstore to donate to the museum.

Column for June 23, 2011

I have had some interesting discussions lately on the purpose of government, the origins of government, and the rule of law. In this country, we are thankfully guaranteed a republican form of government as opposed to a democracy. That federal guarantee flows down to the states, counties, and municipalities, since we have representatives that we engage on our behalf from within the public (res publica, meaning roughly “public matter”, the root of the word, republic).

It is a public matter what happens in our government, and we should take note of things that are contrary to the public good. It has been said that “you get what you pay for”. That is not always axiomatic. It is a surety, however, that we pay for what we get. Keeping an eye on what we pay for is indeed a public matter.

Occasionally we contend with sheer hubris on the part of our hirelings in government. Here is a case in point. You may have read about the Town of Smithfield’s dismissal of their town manager. The town manager serves at the pleasure of the town council and when it is right to do so, they should indeed remove their hireling from his job. Ostensibly, the removal was for unapproved hefty pay raises for a number of Smithfield town employees. The town council did not give the assent to these pay raises; the town manager agreed to give them without seeking their approval. To be sure the town manager did not act solely on his own and he was not the only one who knew that unauthorized pay raises were being given. Not only has the town manager been fired but the town clerk has left her position in disgrace. The Smithfield town attorney has put in many hours of legal work and advice, and that has cost the town many more thousands of dollars.

In a down economy where every level of government has to cut spending (a lesson that North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue had to learn the hard way), it was a travesty to see a town have a scandal like that, the public trust betrayed, and needless cost incurred in hard financial times. The government does not exist to provide employment for people. Rather it exists to serve and protect the people of the town. It is the creation of the townsfolk. The townsfolk of Smithfield did not get what they were paying for but they sure are paying for what they got.

The other day I interacted with a public educator who complained about last week’s vote by the North Carolina General Assembly to override the governor’s veto of the budget. The budget made necessary cuts to education spending. Since it is the biggest budget item, it has to be on the chopping block like everything else on which the state spends our money. We were spending far too much money in many areas, including education. We had a lot of extra staff that were not necessary and were funded by temporary revenue sources. Cutting the extra is not wrong, it is the responsible thing to do. We the taxpayers, via our elected representatives, demanded that our schools be run more efficiently and responsibly.

If any teachers or staff members will lose their jobs, I sympathize. My wife has been out of work for over two years and I have been unemployed before, too. Our household budget is tighter than it has been in years. But I also understand the public good versus the individual good. As I told this one educator for the record, I have worked for the federal government, the state, and a municipality in my career, so yes, I understand government work and public sector employment. It is both because of this and being a taxpayer that I have little tolerance for whining by public employees. Instead of decrying having to pay more for health care benefits and perhaps a slight pay cut, their attitude has to be one of gratitude that they still have jobs. I personally know too many people out of work who wish they had such employment.

Again, it is not the job of government to supply employment, it is to serve the public. As is the case with our public schools and for the taxpayers in the Town of Smithfield, the public did not get what they paid for, but are certainly paying for what they got from government.

Column for April 28, 2011

For a long time, I have heard of Selma wanting to come up with some sort of method of business district enhancement. I thought it a worthy matter, so I joined the Selma Development Partnership several years ago. I gave it a couple of years of investment of my time and effort and quite frankly found the organization to be lackluster and ineffective. There was a lot of myopia on the part of the leadership at the time, I believe, and that caused the organization to flounder and dwindle. Since then, the leadership has changed and I hope that the organization goes in a different direction. From what I could see by the common sense changes made to the recent antiques and car show efforts, the group may be correcting its course.

In Smithfield, there is an effective organization, the Downtown Smithfield Development Corporation. The DSDC markets available properties and works to develop the downtown business district. They also put on such successful events as the upcoming Ham & Yam Festival. The corporation is funded by a special tax district that levies additional property taxes on local business properties. For some time, I have heard rumblings from Selma merchants that they would like the town to do more to promote downtown business. Is the implementation of a special tax district and the formation of a development corporation for the town the proper method? Quite honestly, I am not sure either way. Though it works in Smithfield, I am not sure it will work here or not.

There are several differences between the two towns. Smithfield has a much more diverse downtown than does Selma. For years, I have disagreed with the focus on antique shops in Selma as a way to “re-invent itself”. I have always maintained that diversity is the key to a better business climate for the town. We've had several restaurants fail, primarily because of poor management or implementation. I do patronize the local antique shops when I am searching for something in particular. Other than that, I only go to downtown to pay my electricity bill, pick up a prescription, mail a package, or dine at one of the only restaurants left in downtown.

Basic economics dictates that business patrons will ultimately be the ones who pay the tax, regardless of in which form it is levied. A property tax will jack up the taxation of the retail properties, which will end up in increased prices to consumers. Even if a business leases the property, the property owner will pass along the increased cost to the tenant, who will in turn increase prices to compensate for the increased cost of doing business. For that reason, perhaps a special district consumption tax would be more appropriate, but I suspect that there are state government approvals that are necessary for that to happen.

I will say this, though. I have been told that the business district is taxed at a lower rate than my residential property. I don't know that validity of that claim, but if it is true, I have no problem with evening up the two rates and putting the revenue from the rate differential into a development fund.

I am not sure how the town would administrate the funding nor the personnel. I do know that the news articles I have read indicate that Selma or a non-profit corporation would hire a part-time person for the development efforts. That seems appropriate considering the size of the town. However, I still wonder about the concept of whether or not someone could devote sufficient time and energy to be effective in a part-time position. If not, then the extra taxation would be in vain.

I can only hope that Selma will arise to the occasion should the town's leadership and the merchants agree to move forward with this concept. Since we have a successful example for guidance in the next town over, perhaps if the idea moves forward, it may work out. Personally, I am rarely supportive of increased taxation, but I also see the need of better downtown development and planning in Selma, so I am torn on this issue. Selma has a lot to overcome in terms of its image and in location with respect to the rest of the area's business districts. I would have to learn more in order to be persuaded either way, but I do tend to lean towards the cynical side when it comes to governmental efforts.

Column for Feb. 17, 2011

I hope that your experience with income taxes will be more pleasant than mine this year. If you are one of those people who don't pay income taxes or gets back more than you pay into the system, just stop reading now. For those who work their tails off all year long, follow the rules, and pay more than their fair share of taxes, continue to paragraph two.

If you itemize your deductions as we do, the federal government would not even accept tax returns until Monday because of the need to retool their software. This was caused by lame duck session, end of the year tax legislation changes. The Internal Revenue Service could not keep up with the tax code changes in order to start accepting tax returns.

The State of North Carolina took our return on time, no problem. Or so I thought, anyway. I saw a reminder about how I can check the status of my return on the State Department of Revenue web site. I figured I would make use of that service this morning, since no refund had made its way to my checking account yet. Upon entering my identifying information, I got a message that said, "Please call [their phone number] about your refund amount." My first thought was that there was some attachment to my refund for some unknown past bill with the state. That has happened to myself and to others before.

I called the state IRS and spent some twenty minutes on hold only to be told that my return was still being processed and that I should expect it to take 45 days to process my return. OK, let me get this straight. The State of North Carolina is so technologically retarded that they can not put up a simple web page message that my return is still being processed, even though I know it was received. Then I wasted all that time on hold just to find out that information that could have been told to me in an instant over the internet.

What floored me was that the state is telling me that it will take a month and a half to process my tax return. I prepared my returns on my computer. I paid for the software and state e-filing fee so that the process could be faster and smoother. I even signed up for direct deposit so that the process could go even faster still. If it is going to take 45 days to process an electronic form that can be done instantly by their computer system, then why did we bother with the extra expense of filing electronically? We could have printed out the forms and mailed them for the cost of a postage stamp if it was going to take six weeks to process.

I am none too impressed with electronic transactions lately. When I send a payment through PayPal or other electronic service, the transaction is handled relatively instantaneously. When I pay bills through my bank's web site, sometimes it is rapid, sometimes not so much. Obviously the state Department of Revenue is in the "not so much" category.

The real slap in the face is that my refund is going to be somewhere around $1800 or more. That means that I am going to have to pay tax on that money yet again next year. The State of North Carolina hoses anyone who gets a tax refund by making us claim that refund as income the following year. This is money that was already taxed once. The money is a refund of an overpayment of taxes, not income. When that overpayment is returned to me, I am forced to count it as income yet again. That is just plain unethical.

I have more money withdrawn from my paycheck than needs to be. This is not so much so I will get a refund, since I don't enjoy lending the government my money, interest free. Rather I do that so that I don't have any surprises once a year and have to pay them. It is a personal choice. Still, that should not be counted as income twice. The state is not going to repay my money with interest. However, if I am late with a payment to them, they will charge not only interest but late penalties as well.

The government that can't process a computer transaction in a timely fashion is the same state government that is several billion dollars behind in its budget, has billions of dollars in fraud and waste, and double charges us on either tax over payments or underpayments. The state government wants to trust them with more projects, education, and our hard earned money WHY?

Column for Dec. 30, 2010

“This would have doubled our tax base overnight.” We have heard that sort of claim before, and I am dubious. We heard that sort of claim when Sysco was looking to relocated to Selma. We heard figures about how many jobs this would bring to the town and how many homes would be built to accommodate the influx of laborers. That didn’t happen with the construction and operation of the Sysco facility. Even the executive in charge of the Selma facility bought a house in Clayton, not Selma. When large companies want to come to a town with promises of an increased tax base, jobs, and more residents, towns tend to get excited. They tend to make tax concessions, agreements to provide infrastructure, and other tax payer funded incentives. Basically, it amounts to providing corporate welfare. I don’t blame a business for going with the location that is to its greatest economic benefit.

As you may have read, Electrolux was looking at Selma as a possible location to build a new manufacturing plant. Electrolux used to be known in America only for its vacuum cleaners. I remember when my parents bought an Electrolux with the 1976 Olympics sponsorship logo decal on it. The woman who sold the vacuum was doing door to door, in home demonstrations. But the Swedish manufacturer makes a lot more than just vacuum cleaners. They also make a lot of appliances that have been showing up more and more in stores here in North America.

I am all for wooing a large business like Electrolux to build its factory in town. Though I did not necessarily want an ethanol plant in Selma a few years ago, I was all for their freedom to build one. If an area has the ability to provide the water, streets, natural gas, labor force, and real estate necessary to sustain a company, then I am all for it.

I do get concerned, however, when promises are made and plants like the Dell facility in Winston-Salem end up closing shortly after opening. I also get concerned when promises are made to be able to provide the 500 acres necessary for development. I have to be honest and say that if I was a property owner in the way of construction, I may very well take the offer to sell my property and leave. Money talks. But not everyone is willing to abandon land that may have been in the family for generations or is making money for their family, such as farm or timber land. You are only going to find 500 acre parcels in what was or is farm land around here.

What disturbs me is the possibility of eminent domain by a municipality to take land from one private property owner and give it to another private entity such as a developer or corporation on the promise of higher tax revenue for the municipality. In one of the greatest travesties of American juris prudence, that very thing was the result of Kelo vs. the City of New London, Connecticut just five years ago. The Supreme Court upheld New London’s decision to take land from a private citizen and give it to a developer for the sole purpose of potential greater revenue from land usage. The irony is that the financials never panned out for the developer and the taken land sits empty. That is, to me, one of the biggest abuses of eminent domain and unethical decisions to ever come along. Then again, that sort of dilemma may never have been an issue had Electrolux determined to build in Selma. I am, however, always vigilant in looking at such potential government abuse.

The bottom line is that though I support industrial development, feel that it is overall a good thing for the area, and would like to have seen the factory come to our little town, I would want to see all things done honestly and ethically. I would want to see development that would not cause us to give away all of our potential revenue increases as tax incentives to lure a company here and would not want to see private lands taken forcibly and given to private business in the name of the public good. Hopefully, that is how things would have gone.

It is good to see that industry is taking notice of our little gem of a location. We have railroads, easy interstate access, land, and an available labor force. Selma has now been through this drill a few times over the years. Sometimes the effort has worked, other times not. Perhaps with this unsuccessful bid, Selma will be ready for future endeavors here and other businesses will take note of the consideration of Selma for the Electrolux plant and also give us a look. I also hope that the puffery of promises of benefits to the town do not fail to deliver, as in times past.

Column for Dec. 9, 2010

I have known for a couple of months now about the impending property re-evaluation for all of Johnston County. I know that every eight years, the county has to re-evaluate property values. If you are a property owner and have not received your new property value statement, you will. I got mine about a week ago. I bought my house in Selma just over eight years ago. Shortly after the purchase, I got my first re-evaluation. The tax value went up significantly, but it was not unreasonable at the time. Not this time.

I doubt very seriously that my property value has increased $26,530 in just eight years, especially in a down economy. Here in Selma, I see plenty of houses for sale, many of which have been able to sell for a long time. I have done some property value comparison just within the last six months because I was looking at refinancing my mortgage to a lower rate. I used two different services to look at my estimated property value, and both did not have my property value as high as Johnston County claims. I don’t know on which planet the value estimator was working, but it sure wasn’t in my neighborhood.

I understand the reason for a property re-evaluation. When you assess taxes based upon property value, only a re-evaluation of the property’s retail value will raise the taxation revenue per property. That means a property tax increase. In my case, this means an annual increase of $347.54 in my property taxes. That also translates to an increase in my mortgage payment of about $57.92 to make up for the shortage in my escrow account plus the tax increase itself. Needless to say, I have documents refuting that much of an increase in value and will be appealing that newly assessed value. If I am going to pay property taxes, then I want it to be fair.

Speaking of property taxes and my home, I have been contemplating what I wrote two weeks ago about the almost $22,500 that the Town of Selma wants to spend in taxpayer money (assuming that it will come from some public funding source) just for a consultant to make the application for a historic district designation for parts of Selma’s residential neighborhoods. The more I think about it, the more I find better uses for that $22,500.

Anyone who has walked along Selma’s old residential neighborhoods knows how horribly the sidewalks have held up. For years I have been squawking about how decrepit some sidewalks are. Not only are they not pleasant to see, they are a great safety hazard. I can not tell you how many times I have tripped over the uneven concrete pads just in front of my own home and on my block. That is a huge liability for the town. I used to get paid to help eliminate safety hazards, and I cringe every time I walk along my street.

I have not, nor will I formally petition for the horrendous sidewalk to be improved in front of my house. Why? Because the town ordinance states that “One hundred (100) percent of the cost of the improvements shall be assessed” (Chapter 14, Article III, Sec. 14-47 of the Selma Town Code) to me. Why should I have to pay to fix a sidewalk that the town has neglected for a half century? I don’t want to have the cost for the town’s negligence assessed against me and “the assessments shall be a lien on the property assessed...for collection in the same manner as property taxes”. (Chapter 14, Article III, Sec. 14-55) I don’t own that sidewalk, but I would be taxed for its improvement just because it is in front of my house. If I have to pay for it, I should own it. If I own it, I should be able to put up a toll gate on it and require pedestrians pay me a quarter to walk on my sidewalk.

That $22,500 would begin to pay for a whole lot of concrete that would eliminate a whole lot of potential liability for the town. Just one trip and fall could cost the town a whole lot more than that $22,500. I am baffled about priorities in some municipalities. I have said for years, “take care of what you have” before tackling new facilities or “things that would be nice to have”. Take care of infrastructure such as sidewalks, streets, water and sewer lines, and the like before worrying about things like historical neighborhood designations. After all, Selma is about to get an increase in property tax because of the re-evaluation done by Johnston County. I aim to give up as little as possible on that front, however.

Column for Nov. 4, 2010

“Y’all are going to vote November 2nd, aren’t you?” we were asked while waiting in line at Wal-Mart. “Oh, yeah,” replied my lovely bride.

One of the frustrating things about writing this column is that I have a deadline for publication prior to knowing what Tuesday’s election results were. As I am writing this, we finally put one seven-year-old to bed and my wife is sitting in my living room trying to rock the baby to sleep so we can have the evening to ourselves. I just finished watching the New England Patriots win another football game and my wife finished handing out big handfuls of candy to the little beggars that come to our door every year.

I don’t mind giving out candy to children on Halloween, but I personally am not into participating in its celebration. Giving out candy at least gives me the opportunity to show good will and if I am so inclined, to slip in literature such as gospel tracts, campaign literature, fliers, etc. This year we did not give out an sort of literature, but we did give out the most candy we ever have previously. What October 31st really means to me personally is that it is the anniversary of the day on which I closed on my modest home here in the booming metropolis of Selma.

Each year we give handouts. Some people I know hate Halloween, some do not mind. Some have religious issues against the observance, some don’t care. Personally, I often liken it to government handouts. If your porch light is on during Trick or Treat time, you are in effect advertising that you have something to give away free. All one has to do is knock on the door to get free candy. We as a nation do that same thing each and every day of the year.

So what does that have to do with my opening paragraph? On the way home from our regular Christian religious observance gathering today, we stopped by the Wal-Mart in Clayton. We filled our shopping cart with groceries, a few low priced DVDs, and a few other desired items. We then proceeded to find the best open check out lane we could. We got in line behind a middle aged lady who did not have too many items on the conveyor belt. Ahead of her was a woman of questionable legal status who had a child with her who was about kindergarten age and what appeared to be twins in a double baby carriage.

This woman tied up the check out lane for quite some time. She had four different transactions. Her first three transactions were all paid for with WIC (Women’s, Infants, and Children’s federal assistance program) vouchers. Contrary to the WIC official web page, WIC is essentially an entitlement program. If free money is being given to people who did not earn it, then it is, as far as I am concerned, an entitlement program. Immigrants are especially considered for WIC because (reading from the WIC web site), “migrancy is considered a nutritional risk factor”.

We waited a good ten minutes just for this one woman’s purchases to be processed. Just when it looked like the order was complete, another was transacted with another voucher. Finally, she payed for the last bit of groceries with cash. She already had toys that were paid for in the shopping cart. She pulled out a cell phone while were were all waiting for her to be checked out, and the baby stroller was certainly not an inexpensive one.

The woman in front of us looked at us, and we looked at her. All of us were a growing a wee bit impatient. I said to the woman in front of us, “At least we are paying for hers in addition to our own groceries.” She assented to the sentiment and a moment or two later, after she grew increasingly frustrated, she asked us if we were going to vote. We knew exactly why she asked that question. Like us, she is tired of the handouts.

We grew even more impatient when we watched our check out girl leave the register in between WIC transactions and run into the bathroom. When she returned, she resumed checking out the English as a Second Language Class candidate. When the woman finally “paid” for all of her groceries, she attempted to apologize for taking up so much time. I wanted to tell her, “When you start paying for your own groceries, then you can truly apologize. Until then, I don’t buy that concept.” Of course I chose to remain silent, instead, and not cause a scene. It would not have accomplished anything at the time.

I believe in Christian charity. I do not believe in government forcibly taking money away from people who will work and giving it to people who do not or may be lower on the income scale. That is what family, charities, and the Church are for. I have never failed to help people who truly have been in need or were hungry.

I don’t know what the November 2nd election results will be as of this writing, but I do hope that we can turn the proverbial porch light out. We, as a nation, have run out of candy a long time ago and can not afford to keep giving it away.

Column for Sept. 9, 2010

You are not going to find someone who supports the local fire service more than I do. I consider it an essential service to the town and surrounding area. I actually support the levying of a fire tax for people who live outside of the town yet receive fire services from a town or country volunteer department. I have a degree in fire protection and I spent nine years in the fire service. I have a folder full of certifications and certificates and notebooks full of educational materials from classes I have taken over the years. I volunteer my time to serve on the county's Local Emergency Management Planning Committee.

I wrote in favor of the reorganization that the Town of Selma did several years ago when the Town Council decided to hire a full time chief. I believe that Chief McDaniel has done a great job so far. I do not doubt his capable leadership at all.

Yes, you knew that there was a big "but" coming. It has been said that I always have a big "but". But I read with dismay last week's edition of The Selma News. Right on the front page was the story, "Fire Dept. seeks Council approval to charge for auto wrecks".

I realize that every time the fire department is dispatched to a call for service, whether it is the proverbial cat in a tree (not that it really happens), a car wreck, or a full blown house fire, it costs money. There are always going to be costs associated with manpower, equipment, supplies, wear and tear on vehicles, vehicle maintenance, fuel, and the list goes on. I comprehend the concept of wanting to recuperate costs.

However, the fire department, like any other municipal department, has a budget for which they receive tax dollar funding. I expect a municipal government, or any other government for that matter, to spend tax money in order to supply the services they do. To then charge for the services for which we are already taxed amounts to double taxation.

I read the reasoning that the fire department or town could bill the insurance companies of the accident victims. If insurance companies start paying bills associated with emergency response, we all pay for those costs. Insurance companies are not just going to absorb those costs. They are going to pass on those costs to the insured, meaning us taxpaying citizens who already pay for emergency response in the first place. Again, that amounts to double taxation.

It is for this reason that I really despise local government grants and loans from the federal government, since we are taxed on both ends to pay for those, especially loans.

Just this week, my lovely bride and I filled out our passport applications, got our photographs taken, and went to go get them submitted. We are planning a trip or two next year, so we will need passports. We took all of our paperwork to the US Post Office. Would you believe that we were turned away, being told that we had to make an appointment first? At the USPS? I guess I will need an appointment to rent a PO Box or get a money order next.

We already pay taxes to fund the US State Department. On top of that, we just paid $110 a piece for a passport application fee for each of us. Not wanting to have to make an appointment, we went to the Clerk of Court's office the next day to make the application process quicker. There we were charged a $25 fee for each application just for them to process them and send our paperwork to Washington, DC.

On top of that, even if we presented the requisite certified copies of our birth certificates at the time of application at an accepting agency, we still had to send the original certified copies along with the applications. There is a $10 charge each should we need to replace them. The required photographs were $10 per set. All total, we paid $290 for two passports. Now watch me be on some "no travel" list, be stopped at the border by Customs agents, and denied entry into or re-entry from Canada and Mexico.

I view both of these scenarios as double taxation. We pay the government once via our tax dollars to provide services. Then when we utilize the services, we have to pay for them again. The response of fire trucks and emergency response personnel who have dedicated their lives to serving others should not be something for which we pay twice.

Column for August 5, 2010

My family and I just returned from a wonderful two-week vacation in New England. It probably went better than most any vacation I have taken to date. There were still so many things left on my list of possible activities that we still have plenty of activities left for our next vacation.

The only bad part of the trip was the trip itself. In my 23 years of driving from North Carolina to New Hampshire and back, this was possibly the worst travel I have experienced. I continuously kept thinking to myself "I hope that North Carolina does not end up like this".

I know that each trip up or down the eastern seaboard, I am going to be hit with frequent tolls. I figured from experience that I will have to pay between $20 and $30 in tolls each way if I was going to take what is usually the most expedient route. The total was somewhere down the middle, at about $25 or so.

Some tolls were only a dollar or two. Some were $5 or over $9, depending upon where it was. The most expensive stretch of highway in the United States has to be through Delaware. In all, Interstate 95 goes through Delaware for about thirteen miles. Delaware is a small state, after all. I paid $4 on one end and $3 on the other end. That makes the toll rate about 54 cents per mile to travel through that tiny state.

Let's face the fact about highway tolls. Tolls are nothing but another form of taxation. Some may call them user fees, but they are taxes nonetheless. Ostensibly, tolls are enacted to help with highway maintenance and construction. Of course we all know how that concept works. North Carolina has raided the highway trust fund for use in the general fund. The Social Security trust fund was raided long ago to add to the US Treasury's general fund. I have no doubt that the North Carolina lottery trust fund will eventually end up as part of the NC general fund.

I can not remember in my 23 years of traveling up to New England a trip without some sort of construction going on in Connecticut along the interstate. This trip it took one hour to move four miles. On one of the busiest sections of American highway, I-95 coming out of New York City and through Connecticut, evening construction brought three lanes down to only one. Planning lane closures like that should be a capital offense.

The sad thing about it is that there are signs posted about how my tax dollars are helping fund that construction through the so-called stimulus spending under the Obama administration. Not only did I get to pay for tolls and taxed that way, I got to be taxed through federal income tax to help pay for inconvenient, incessant construction. In fact, federal dollars go into just about every stretch of major highway, so tolls are double taxation, even for non-residents of the state in question.

I saw more stimulus signage for paving projects in Massachusetts on roads that were already in excellent condition. I was wondering why they were in the middle of paving a perfectly good stretch of interstate.

While stuck in southern Connecticut, all I could think about is how every doggone trip that direction I run across construction in that state and how it reminds me of I-40 through Research Triangle Park. The construction there seems to have been going on for twenty years.

While sitting in lines at various tollbooths, especially without an E-Z Pass account since I don't normally encounter tolls in NC, all I could think of is that North Carolina wants to put toll booths on I-95 at our northern and southern borders. I-95 is indeed one of the most traveled corridors in all of America. Putting tollbooths along the interstate would certainly bring in revenue and soon recover booth construction costs. However, it is not a matter of finding more revenue, it is a matter of spending more than we take in as a state.

Tollbooths being nothing more than another form of taxation, I am just glad that I don't frequently travel either north or south of the NC border should we get them. But wait! North Carolina is also talking about putting tollbooths on the new outer loop of I-540 in Raleigh. If we give an inch for a tollbooth, we are going to end up having many miles taken from us, as well as dollar bills. And the insult to us taxpayers is that we will be taxed for the implementation and construction of the new taxation system and its maintenance.

Column for April 8, 2010

"If you can find it in the Yellow Pages, government should not be doing it." I have heard that saying many times and I am very much in agreement with that sentiment. Whether it is landscaping, trash pick up, water supply, or electricity delivery, if I can find it in the Yellow Pages, then perhaps it is worth investigating termination of government services and leaving such services to the private sector. That is unless our own governmental bodies can perform such services more efficiently and cheaply than private industry can.

For instance, if Selma wants flowers planted around our downtown (oops, perhaps I should call it "Uptown", but the "rose by any other name" principle applies) and town employees can do so efficiently and cost effectively as opposed to hiring a landscape crew, then I am all for it.

However, I am not as concerned about pansies in downtown as I am about our electricity bills. Last November, one mayoral candidate ran on a platform that included lowering electricity rates in town. Though I agree with that sentiment, short of selling off the town's electricity system, laying off employees, and letting Progress Energy sell us our electricity, it ain't gonna happen. But I am all for that very idea.

I have absolutely nothing against town employees working a job they are paid to perform. This is not personal; it is a matter of efficient government and personal finance. The town electrical workers do a good job at what they do. I remember when the last hurricane hit this area several years ago and I sat under my carport when a transformer blew out just a couple of houses over. We got to watch some town electrical workers quickly and efficiently replace the dead equipment during the eye of the storm, restoring electricity within a few hours.

My wife and I stared in amazement at our latest town electricity bill. It was the highest we have ever had in over seven years of living here in the booming metropolis we call Selma. For a fairly mild month and only a 29-day billing cycle, we were stunned. So I did a little research to see if things would have been cheaper if we got our electricity directly from Progress Energy instead of the town.
I have heard for several years that our electricity rates were not appreciably higher than those of Progress Energy were. In effect, the town is a wholesale customer through Electricities. State law allows municipalities to purchase power wholesale and retail to its constituents. The town buys low and sells high. I have no problem with a business making a profit, but when a town gouges its citizens, I tend to get irate.

I went to the Progress Energy web site and downloaded the current electricity rate. They currently charge $6.75 per month base rate plus 9.557 cents per kilowatt-hour. Selma customers pay $7.50 base rate plus about 13 cents per kilowatt-hour. I did the math and that equates to approximately $100 on my bill this month. Therefore, I paid an extra $100 in TAXES this month to the Town of Selma. Yes, I said taxes, not electricity bill payments. If it is above the normal cost that I can purchase through the local power provider and the town gets the revenue, then this is a tax, not a payment for product or service.

The good thing I can say is that the town has finally dropped the line item for a fuel recovery surcharge. Basically we had an extra charge for a long time that was called a fee when it was really a rate hike without formally calling for a rate hike or having to publicize a rate hike. Whether that surcharge was dropped or the rate was changed to accommodate the increase, I don't care, as long as the bill is more honest in presentation. We do, however, continue to have a sales tax. So we pay extra on our electricity rates and then get taxed on that overage, making it even more insulting. It is a tax on a tax.

Whenever Progress Energy proposes a rate hike for residential customers, they have to get that hike approved through the state utilities regulation authorities. When they decide to hike rates on wholesale customers, such as the Town of Selma and every other Electricities member municipality, I am told that no such approval is necessary. I got that straight from a former Selma Town Manager. That means that we are subject to much more capricious energy prices than retail customers are.

I have long questioned the value of owning our own public utility. When I lived in Smithfield prior to buying my house in Selma, I was outside of their town's municipal grid and fortunately could pay lower electricity rates. Since I now live smack in the middle of Selma, I am captive to higher rates.

I firmly believe that we as a town should investigate the savings we could have by eliminating personnel costs, operations, vehicles, facilities, and the like by not owning our own public utility. I am willing to wager that we could operate the town for a year on the proceeds of a sale of the town's power grid to Progress Energy. I am all for it and my tax bill will go down $100 a month. Of course that $100 differential is not deductible on my income tax return as local taxation, but it should be.

Column for June 25, 2009

K.I.S.S. No, I am not referring to a great rock band. Remember that saying? Keep It Simple, Stupid! How hard is that? Keep things as simple as possible. Often, the old ways can be the best. Perhaps old ways have become old for a reason; they work.

Simple things can go a long way. A little simple affection from a spouse or child can go a long way. A little simple maintenance on a car can also go a long way. Simple things in town can go a long way. I want to share some simple things with you that have been of great benefit and something not so simple that is a bane to all North Carolina citizens.

Here in Selma, there are some things being done for the very purpose of simplification. If you have been reading this newspaper, you have seen advertising for public hearings on proposed changes to town ordinances. Many of them are for the better. A few, not so much, and I have pointed those out in past articles.

Some of the simplification for the better include the town's Planning Department attempting to get rid of the complex charts and tables in the town code for zoning regulation. Since I have been on the Planning Board for a while, I have had the privilege of seeing some of the work being done to that end. It is good to see some common sense and simplification. Keeping things simple and comprehensible will make code compliance and enforcement much easier.

Tangential to that is the performance of some simple things that go a long way to enhance the town's image. As you may have read, the town has worked to put a little more bite into its enforcement of the ordinance prohibiting tall grass growth in town. That is a simple thing that helps neighborhoods to look better and preserve property values.

One of the worst offending properties of this ordinance is right next door to me. The house used to be nice but is abandoned and in a state of disrepair. Every summer, I have to contact the town several times to complain. A $50 dollar fine is not going to get an absentee property owner to cut their grass. The town added hourly fees for labor to mow properties that are out of compliance. Perhaps that will help get action by property owners. If not, at least the town can continue to mow the lawns when they are out of compliance and keep the town looking better, all the while billing neglectful property owners.

I had conversations with property owners in times past about this concept. I am all for private property rights. I believe my record on this is clear. However, the rights of a property owner end where my property rights begin. Tall grass up to my chest is unsightly, is a breeding ground for insects, mice, and snakes, and affects the property values of neighboring tracts. I did not by a house next to the Muster's haunted mansion. I bought a house next to a house that at one time was fairly nice. Because of total neglect by absentee owners, that property and its lot have become a barren wasteland. That affects me. I have more problems now with fleas than ever before because of the jungle next door. If I choose to relocate, I will have a harder time than normal selling my house if tumbleweeds and prairie grass are blowing in the wind next door.

To the town council of Selma, I give thanks for their action on that issue. There are plenty of other simple, inexpensive things we can do as a town to improve. I only wish the State of North Carolina had the same view.

I read that Governor Perdue is calling for higher taxes "to save" education. If money was the solution, then we would have the best educated students in the entire world. We spend a tremendous amount of money on education in North Carolina and across America. Yet we get comparatively low results for those dollars. Obviously, the answer is much simpler than throwing money at the problem.

Instead of K.I.S.S. principles, we hire more principals. Instead of returning to rudimentary, time tested methods of teaching, we return sometimes untested and unqualified educators to the classroom and demand more money for their retention. Instead of operating on minimum staffing, we acquiesce to teachers' unions and settle for minimum results with maximum staffing. We obviously need to simply K.I.S.S. the current education system goodbye and stop robbing both taxpayers of their money and students of their education. Simplicity goes a long way.