Yesterday’s N&O included this editorial written to give advice to the new Wake County Board of Commissioners. To nobody’s surprise, the advice includes more central planning and tax hikes.
And the Democrats rightly could interpret their wins, all substantial, as evidence that the election was a referendum on the performance of the Republican majority. That majority had held hostage a vote on a transit tax that would let Wake cooperate with with Orange and Durham counties on light rail and expanded bus service along with commuter rail. Durham and Orange passed the tax a while back.
….
And what about development? Most of it seems to have been concentrated in the western part of the county. Commissioners need to find ways to steer new businesses to Eastern Wake, whose less-dense population is more spread out.
….
Also under consideration as a new commissioners’ board takes over is the ever-present need for affordable housing. This board seems inclined to be more proactive in such areas, and let’s hope it will be.
Translation: more tax hikes for transit boondoggles that enrich politically-connected developers while doing nothing to mitigate traffic problems, more central planning of county business investment through handouts of taxpayer dollars or targeted tax breaks, and centrally-planned housing development using still more tax dollars. This is a blueprint to further shift power out of the hands of citizens and into the hands of the political elite.
The new Wake Board members couldn’t even wait 24 hours after being elected to voice their support for tax hikes, and now the N&O is egging them on. Hold on to your wallets.
Leave a Comment