Any action by the Moore County Board of Commissioners between now and December requires the vote of four of the five members, under the bill introduced by state Rep. Richard Morgan and passed by both houses.
Both Sen. Howard Lee and Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, who represent Moore County, voted in favor of the bill.
The law expires in December, when the oath of office is administered to the three individuals elected in the Sept. 10 primary.
The measure could prevent the commissioners from imposing an additional half-cent sales tax to balance the county budget and from granting a request from the town of Carthage for extension of its extraterritorial jurisdiction.
“Clearly this is an expression of my confidence in Michael Holden,” Morgan told the Pilot. “I just thought, first and foremost, that it seemed the right thing to do. I told the House members that this is an effort, in an abundance of caution, to prevent any last minute shenanigans from happening.”
Holden, former chairman of the county commissioners, and Commissioner Colin McKenzie met with Morgan late Monday to ask if such legislation could be introduced.
In recent months, the commissioners have been locked in 3-2 split votes on a number of controversial issues, ranging from sale of the Pinehurst water system to responsibility for operation of the Moore County Airport.
Holden and McKenzie are usually in the minority, with board chairman Paul Helms, Bob Ewing and David Cummings making up the majority.
Helms, who is chairman of the board, lost his re-election bid in the Sept. 10 Republican primary election to Virginia Saunders, whose views are closely aligned with those of Holden and McKenzie.
Holden also won his primary. A third incumbent, Commissioner David Cummings, had no opposition in the primary. The Democrats fielded no candidates for county commissioner, making Saunders, Holden and Cummings certain winners in the November general election.
“We had an election Sept. 10, and the people spoke. I support the people,” Morgan said.
Morgan recalled action by the commissioners about 10 years ago when they voted to create a new position with Moore Water and Sewer Authority one day, after which the chairman of the board resigned in order to accept that position. (He is referring to David Harris, who stepped down as a commissioner to become the new president of MOWASA.)
After meeting with Holden and McKenzie, Morgan said he understood their concerns and agreed with their position.
“I trust them implicitly,” Morgan said.
Morgan, a Republican, added that the recent “fiasco over the airport didn’t run my confidence meter up.”
Morgan said that the issue was debated on the House floor and representatives from both political parties expressed agreement. He said some Democrats and Republicans admitted that they wished the idea had been their own and cited examples from their counties.
The Pilot was unable to reach Helms or Ewing for comment.
However, Cummings said he was somewhat bewildered by the whole uproar.
“I am disappointed that our representative didn’t contact some of us before this happened,” Cummings said. Cummings, Ewing and Helms were apparently not consulted before the bill was introduced and quickly enacted into law.
Cummings said he is especially unhappy with the treatment of Helms, who has served 16 years on the board of commissioners.
“I hate this for Paul,” Cummings said. “This is the wrong way for him to finish his last two months in office. He has worked hard for Moore County, and I know he would never do anything to hurt the people of the county or damage the Board of Commissioners.”
‘Quick and Decisive’
But Holden said he appreciates the way Morgan expedited the request he and McKenzie made.
“He took quick and decisive action to protect the people of Moore County,” Holden said.
Holden said he and McKenzie became concerned after the commissioners recently voted 3-2 to extend the extraterritorial jurisdiction requested by the town of Southern Pines.
As a result of the Southern Pines action, Carthage has renewed its request for extension of its jurisdiction. The Pilot has since learned that the town has withdrawn its request.
McKenzie voiced the same concerns.
“If we allow Southern Pines to do what they want, what’s to prevent this happening again?” McKenzie said.
McKenzie, who lives in Pinehurst, cited actions taken by the commissioners last spring, when the board turned down the Southern Pines request on the grounds that the people owning property in the affected areas had not been notified about the proposed change.
Referring to the minutes of that meeting, McKenzie said that Helms, as chairman, called for the staff to schedule a public hearing to receive comments from residents of the two areas covered by the Southern Pines extension request.
However, McKenzie said no such hearing was called or held, but the commissioners went ahead, on a 3-2 vote, and approved the town’s request at the Sept. 16 meeting.
“The chairman said we would call a hearing, and then we did not call one. That upsets me,” McKenzie said. “I think it’s really wrong to treat those people that way.”
McKenzie said residents of the two extraterritorial areas are not residents of Southern Pines and thus do not get to vote for members of the Town Council. Instead, they can vote for the county commissioners.
The areas covered extend along Camp Easter Road and to the Nicks Creek area bounded by McCaskill Road.
McKenzie said he is also upset because the Southern Pines jurisdiction may further encroach on the East Moore Water District boundaries. The county has a contract with the town to buy water to supplement service to Pinehurst, but the town has a water service district that extends into the East Moore Water District.
“If it affects the East Moore Water District, I oppose it because the people there deserve water,” McKenzie said.
He said water users living outside town limits pay much higher user fees to Southern Pines than do residents of the town.
If the town cuts off large numbers of potential customers from the water district, McKenzie expressed fear that the East Moore system will not be able to maintain the financial obligations incurred through a loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Rural Development. Work on the first phase of the district.
Tax Vote Feared
A repeat of the Southern Pines ETJ controversy is not the only concern expressed by the two commissioners.
Holden said he has already made it clear that he does not intend to vote for new taxes and that includes the half-cent sales tax measure passed by the legislature.
That bill allows local governments to impose an additional half-cent sales tax, effective Dec. 1, as partial compensation for the loss of state reimbursements for previously repealed taxes, such as the inventory and intangibles taxes.
Moore County stands to lose about $3 million in reimbursements not provided in the budget bill that the General Assembly adopted last week.
“Nothing has happened to change my views on taxes,” Holden said. “This is an issue we’ve got to deal with.”
Holden said that the commissioners adopted a budget that was out of balance by $3 million and now sharp cuts will be needed before the fiscal year ends June 30.
Referring to actions taken by former President Clinton in the final days of his administration, Holden said he did not want the same type of thing to happen in Moore County.
“We have a lame duck chairman, and we don’t want new issues to be opened during this lame duck period,” Holden said.
As for the zoning controversy, Holden agrees with McKenzie that the extraterritorial lines and the water district boundaries may be in conflict. He also agreed that the people in the extraterritorial areas were not given an opportunity to express their views.
‘Protecting My Constituency’
Morgan told The Pilot that it took a little bit of Rules Committee know-how to design his bill and engineer it through the legislature. He determined that the bill, previously introduced to cover local legislation needed back home but left blank, was “eligible and alive” and had passed the necessary crossover from the Senate. Morgan then asked that it be moved from the Senate Local Government Committee to the Rules Committee as a Senate Committee substitute to his bill.
Although this type of bill is relatively new to the North Carolina legislature as it applies to local governments, Morgan said he sponsored a “super-majority” bill to apply to the legislature a few years ago. That bill would have required a four-fifths majority vote on any bill to raise taxes. It did not pass, falling short of the number of votes required for a constitutional amendment.
“If it doesn’t raise taxes, it’s good,” Morgan said. “I’m protecting my constituency.”
Morgan said he conferred with legislative attorneys and staff before introducing the Moore County bill.
The bill passed the House 100-11 with three absences. In addition to Morgan, Reps. Leslie Cox and Doug Yongue, both Democrats, voted for the bill. Cox, who lives in Sanford, will be representing 3½ Moore County precincts in the new year. Yongue, a Laurinburg resident, represents a district that includes Little River Precinct.
