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Connect NC Bond referendum

Heels09

Posted 2:51 pm, 03/20/2016

The only reason I bring it in is the fact Wilkes County is so one-sided and has been for years. It's not an indictment of the Republican party, but rather an indictment of the lack of vision of the people.

It's exactly like you said, voting for a person because that's the way my family votes.

aFicIoNadoS

Posted 2:26 pm, 03/20/2016

Heels, bringing party into the topic of running Wilkes isn't really fair. I hardly think any Wilkes democrats would do any better either. They didn't pick their party affiliation based on platform or ideology. They picked what their daddy and his daddy before him always were. IMO, your first sentence summed it up perfectly and needed no expansion.

Heels09

Posted 1:30 pm, 03/20/2016

I'm pretty sure Wilkes County is a perfect example of how not to run a county. The Republican leadership has destroyed more jobs over the past 40 years than probably any county in the state.

CooperFarms

Posted 12:24 pm, 03/20/2016

......and in the end, the people voted, the bond passed and those against it will have to get over it.

countyline

Posted 9:01 am, 03/20/2016

I am one of those "shortsighted" citizens who opposed the Lowes bond. That particular bond had very little to do with education and much more to do with promoting the omnipotence of Lowes.
When the real intention and plans were revealed, argued, uncovered brought to light......citizens determined that it was more realistic to improve the current school alignment than fund the "Keep Lowes" here campaign.
Most of Lowes was already leaving Wilkes. This bond was "supposed" to keep them here.

The "centrally" located new high school in reality would have been a "just outside North Wilkesboro" high school to serve students in the extreme North (Alleghany,Surry line) and extreme East (Yadkin,Iredell,Surry) line. A 40 mile trip round trip to school was not in the best interest of students and parents.
If history repeated itself, the money would not have found its way to the East and North districts as promised.
Recently elected, new board members insured equal distribution of assets to Wilkes County Schools.

This Connect NC crap will only connect fat cat politicians to bigger bank accounts. Hopefully there will be watchdog groups keeping an eye on the politicians to make sure the money is allocated as promised.

Admiral Piett

Posted 8:17 am, 03/20/2016

My Dad had a chance to go to the Stone Center republican dinner on Friday, and was able to speak with Steve Troxler, NC Commissioner of Agriculture. Mr. Troxler laid out how this bill will hurt NC. It is a loan, not free money, that taxpayers and recipients of the bond will have to pay back with interest. He said since it is allocated money, the money will probably not go to any of the state parks as promised. I spoke with a worker from Stone Mountain who was not going to be voting for the bond because of the "strings attached." They said they have been asking for money for years and never receive it, and they don't expect to see a dime of that money for the park. It appears that money will go to the lawmakers projects and pockets. And the taxpayers will pay the price. I say we hold our representatives directly ACCOUNTABLE for how this money is spent.

onlyinashe

Posted 7:23 am, 03/20/2016

I see the Tea is continuing to be brewed on this subject.

smalltownman

Posted 8:35 pm, 03/19/2016

Those who voted against the bond should tell your children I was too cheap to borrow 2 billion dollars for education, roads and security

Cooper Farms, evidently you didn't read the final draft, Infrastructure and K-12 education were not in there.

springtime123

Posted 4:37 pm, 03/19/2016

Mtnpirate (view profile)

Posted 3:54 pm, 03/19/2016

Not long ago, short-sighted Wilkes citizens voted down the education referendum that proposed increased funding for education within our county and a new consolidated high school for East/North. The defeat of that particular proposal was a huge component and "final nail" leading to Lowe's exit from our community. If Wilkes is going to have any chance to escape it's apparent path to oblivion, mindsets need to expand greatly.

I don't think adding money to our school system is the answer. I do agree with the idea that we need to expand out mindset greatly. I say we raise a billion dollars and rebuild the infrastructure of Wilkes.

Crypt

Posted 4:30 pm, 03/19/2016

Honey I didn't realize a billion was a thousand million or that you might want to decide if you are going to little more than a slave. You are going to be a republican just like me .. aren't you?

Mtnpirate

Posted 3:54 pm, 03/19/2016

Not long ago, short-sighted Wilkes citizens voted down the education referendum that proposed increased funding for education within our county and a new consolidated high school for East/North. The defeat of that particular proposal was a huge component and "final nail" leading to Lowe's exit from our community. If Wilkes is going to have any chance to escape it's apparent path to oblivion, mindsets need to expand greatly.

LearnToFly

Posted 3:41 pm, 03/19/2016

This is where Dave Ramsey comes into play. Whether you agree with all he says or not, knowing the ins and outs of money and having a plan is something a lot of people don't have now days.

A 30 year mortgage is sickening to me. So is a 5 year car loan, but we had to do that or else there'd be no car to go to work and back. Currently, we are saving to pay for a home 100%. It may take a while, but not no 30 years and we won't have to worry about the effects of the economy in taking our home away, just pay the glorious taxes so at least the gub-ment won't. Did you know if you pay even a little 3.5% rate mortgage for 30 years you'll be paying the house twice over! Assuming a 3.5% down payment. Think of what you could do with all that interest saved! That'd put 2 kids through college, maybe a nice and big and memorable family vacation, invest a lot of it for retirement...I mean, it's whatever. Apply the saved interest towards different facets of your life instead of lining those fat pockets of evil banks!

CooperFarms

Posted 3:22 pm, 03/19/2016

Those who voted for the bond should tell your children I wrote 2 billion dollar IOU which you'll pay interest on forever, and signed your name on it. No it wasn't a matter of life and death and we had surplus money. Honey you're not mad are you?

LOL

Those who voted against the bond should tell your children I was too cheap to borrow 2 billion dollars for education, roads and security - even given the fact that I personally owed on a 30 year note for our house, a five year loan for the car and a three year loan for the four wheeler.

You'll have to work the rest of your life flipping burgers because you didn't get a community college degree.

Honey you're not mad are you?

aFicIoNadoS

Posted 1:50 pm, 03/19/2016

And we really had no plan on where to even spend it. We will probably just blow it on nicer offices for government employees in Raleigh.

Crypt

Posted 1:30 pm, 03/19/2016

Those who voted for the bond should tell your children I wrote 2 billion dollar IOU which you'll pay interest on forever, and signed your name on it. No it wasn't a matter of life and death and we had surplus money. Honey you're not mad are you?

Countyline

Posted 12:01 pm, 03/19/2016

This bond is nothing more than a way for the super wealthy people (who are quickly taking over NC and the US), to put their money in a tax shelter.
The "not for education" lottery has been misused dramatically so this bond should be no different.

Oogie

Posted 11:49 am, 03/19/2016

The money will but lots of new stuff-- buildings especially. From the moment of completion these will require heating, cooling, lighting, water, trash removal, cleaning, repairs. All of this costs money- which the taxpayers will provide.
So taxes will increase.

Heels09

Posted 9:16 am, 03/17/2016

"The problem with the bond was that the money proposed was just ideas of where the money might go. The provision to let them change it at will is the problem."


At least if you are going to continue to cry about it make true claims. The provision allows them to shift money from one project to another yes but the projects listed are not just "ideas", they are projects already waiting for funding. You can demonize the provision all you want but it is there to give flexibility.

jrscott295

Posted 12:32 am, 03/17/2016

I would of liked to have seen more funding for Mt Jefferson Natural Area, New River State Park and Elk Knob State Park in the bill. However I did vote for it as I believe overall it's good for the state. We need more investment in our state.

antithesis

Posted 11:02 pm, 03/16/2016

http://connect.nc.gov/

I'm in SC so of course I don't get a vote, but I did look over the plan.

Money for schools, parks, infrastructure which will in turn create jobs. I looked at the financing and that seems sound, so I'm not sure where the real downside may be.

As I said, I'm not in NC so I didn't hear much about it.

The problem with the bond was that the money proposed was just ideas of where the money might go. The provision to let them change it at will is the problem.

When the bill first came out it was supposed to be a transportation bill, primarily to upgrade roads (which is why it was called Connect NC). By time the last version came out, there wasn't a single provision in it for roads.

And now that it has passed, there's no guarantee that any of it will go towards the ideas listed.

The question I have is, if the state had a budget surplus for the last 2 years worth almost $1 billion, why do they need to borrow another $2 billion? We certainly didn't get refunded for that surplus, and our taxes just continued to go up. Where did the $1 billion go to justify borrowing another $2 billion that will accumulate interest for 20 years?

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