Cabarrus Cheap Seats

Liar is a pretty hefty label. It’s not one that I throw around. So, to say that I caught Harold Smith in a lie would be a little strong for me. Let’s just say that I just detected a “deceptive factual inaccuracy in a statement intended to mislead”. Here goes:

August 10, 2005: Harold Smith Challenges Mr. Bessent and Mr. Hinnant as He Speaks to Chamber of Commerce, Kannapolis Business Council
“Hello, My name is Harold Smith. For the past two years I have been fighting for hard working families, senior citizens and small businesses. I have attended most of the City Council meetings. I have spoken to the council opposing wasteful spending, higher taxes, higher water and sewer rates and annexation into Western Cabarrus County beyond Lake Howell.
I have fought for open and public discussions of the issues. I have challenged bureaucratic and foolish decisions by the City Council. I have exposed the excessive debt in the water and sewer fund. And I have informed the public with periodic newsletters.
I need to inform you that Mr. Bessent and Mr Hinnant voted against a tax decrease for the year 2004 - 05 budget year. Don’t let them fool you. They want to get into your pockets and increase your taxes! I was at the City Council meeting. Below is an excerpt from the City Council meeting:
‘After further debate, the budget ordinance passed in a four to three vote with Bob Misenheimer, Randy Cauthen, Mayor Moss, and Richard Anderson voting for and Darrell Hinnant, Paul Bessent and Ken Geathers voting against.’
Mr. Hinnant and Mr. Bessent voted against a tax decrease!
I am running for the City Council because I believe I can be more effective for the citizens if I am on the City Council and have access to all the information. If elected, I promise to remain independent, represent the citizens and keep the citizens informed on what is going on in the City of Kannapolis. We need some “common sense ” on the City Council.
I appreciate your support and your vote.”
Harold Smith for Kannapolis City Council

And in case you didn’t get that the first time, here’s his follow-up.

August 11, 2005: Response to Mr. Bessent and Mr. Hinnant
Some of you have requested me to explain my previous comments concerning Mr. Bessent and Mr. Hinnant. Here goes.
Mr. Bessent and Mr. Hinnant were bragging to a group at the Chamber’s Kannapolis Business Council on Wednesday about keeping Kannapolis property taxes lower when in reality both voted against lower taxes. Their comments were both repulsive and nauseating to this taxpayer. I have attended Kannapolis City Council meetings where they have requested higher taxes. Ken Geathers stated in one meeting that he had never seen a tax increase that Mr. Hinnant didn’t like.
Mr. Hinnant also bragged about his membership on the Water and Sewer Authority of Cabarrus County. He should be ashamed. Kannapolis has had to increase the water and sewer rate for the last several years and will continue for the next several years. Kannapolis has twice the water and sewer bills than Charlotte. The Kannapolis water and sewer funds has about $42 million in debt. About half of your water and sewer bill goes to pay this debt off. This is nothing to brag about. The citizens need to hold Mr. Bessent and Mr. Hinnant accountable for the poor management of the water and sewer fund.
The are both up for election on November 8th. Please vote them out!!!!
Below is a summary of the June 27th meeting of Kannapolis City Council published on Kannapolis City website.
“FY2005 Budget Ordinance City Manager Mike Mahaney presented the FY2005 Budget Ordinance. The FY2005 budget will be in effect from July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2005. The budget includes a property tax rate of $0.497 per $100 of home value, a reduction of 3.3 cents. The total budget equals $32 million (?). The General Fund totals $21,146.040 and the Water and Sewer fund totals $11,220,729. Remaining funds such as the Separation Pay Fund and the Public Transit System Fund make up the remainder. “City Councilman Darrell Hinnant requested that City Council rethink the tax rate reduction because of the revenue shortfall that could be created in future years. Hinnant reminded Council members that a shortfall will require either a property tax rate hike, the continued use of fund balance to balance the budget or the sale of more land to meet demands next year. Although economic growth is increasing at a reasonable rate, Hinnant said, a large increase in revenue occurs gradually over a number of years. “Councilman Geathers agreed with Councilman Hinnant. “We have to do what is right for Kannapolis. I ask you to not pass this ordinance or we’re going to put ourselves in a hole and keep struggling. When a businessman comes to us with a great project, we need to be able to participate. Economic development involves incentives and building roads and water and sewer lines.”"We can sell the land and hold onto the money for projects,” said City Councilman Bob Misenheimer. “Many in the community are hard pressed. We need to tighten our belts this year and go onto bigger and better things next year.”"The closing of Pillowtex didn’t happen anywhere else,” said Mayor Moss. “Over 1,000 people in Kannapolis lost their jobs. I want to remind everyone that there was a reevaluation and that’s a tax increase. This isn’t a budget for next year. This is a budget for this year. We’ll readjust next year.”"After further debate, the budget ordinance passed in a four to three vote with Bob Misenheimer, Randy Cauthen, Mayor Moss, and Richard Anderson voting for and Darrell Hinnant, Paul Bessent and Ken Geathers voting against.

Approval of the Minutes

OK, this is really subtle; but pay close attention. Harold Smith is giving the perception that those three councilmen are just dying to raise some taxes; and given the chance - they’ll fight for a tax increase. This is malarkey. Let me demonstrate.

This June, (June 13, 2005 to be exact) the Kannapolis City Council unanimously approved a budget for Fiscal Year 2006 with the 0.497 per $100 valuation property tax rate. This from the June 13, 2005 meeting minutes: “Mayor Pro-Tem Bessent made a motion that the Council adopt the budget ordinance as presented and keep the tax rate as it is currently…”. Well, Mr. Bessent and Mr. Hinnant had a chance to get constituents’ pockets just a little more than a month ago, and passed.

Here’s where his subtle deception comes in. He stated that his meeting excerpts were from the “June 27″ meeting..that gives the impression to the uninitiated reader that he was referring to the June 27, 2005 meeting. There was no budget on the agenda on the June 27, 2005 meeting, just some routine budget items. If you read the excerpts that he has posted from the minutes, you will notice that they are discussing last year’s budget. That meeting was held on June 28, 2004, as the June 27, 2004 was a Sunday. The meeting minutes are rather revealing.

First, which one of the Kannapolis City Council members made this statement during the budget discussion:

…a reduction is the way to go at this time. The future of the City is not vested in this year’s budget. As projects build out more revenue will be produced. He stated that the City has only spent 83% of its current budget to date. The amount have beenavebeen closer to 92% by this point. Revenues are approximately $17 million, but should be approximately $21 million. The revenues are about $4 million under and the expenditures are approximately 10% below what they should be at this point.

Was it the Mayor? Was it tax-crusader Richard Anderson? Certainly it wasn’t the tax and spend Mayor Pro-Tem. Wait, let’s look again:

Mayor Pro-Tem Paul Bessent stated a reduction is the way to go at this time. The future of the City is not vested in this year’s budget. As projects build out more revenue will be produced. He stated that the City has only spent 83% of its current budget to date. The amount should have been closer to 92% by this point. Revenues are approximately $17 million, but should be approximately $21 million. The revenues are about $4 million under and the expenditures are approximately 10% below what they should be at this point.

I’m sure you’re confused. “I thought he couldn’t wait to tax and spend”, you’re thinking in disbelief. Your unwavering faith in the veracity of the Harold Smith website has been challenged - it’s OK…it happens to all of us.

Here’s what happened that didn’t make it to the meeting minutes. Some changes were made to the budget that he didn’t agree with and he voted against the budget. In their statements, Darrell Hinnant and Ken Geathers thought the tax decrease was too steep; and Councilman Hinnant’s comments reflected a desire to avoid future tax increases caused by disappearing fund balances.

While this behavior would strike some as a John Kerry-like flip-flop (”I voted for x, before I voted against it”), keep in mind that budgets are more than just the tax rate. Some local politicians would have you believe that they only vote on the tax rate and it’s up to the staff to draw up the budget. That isn’t necessarily the case. The budget process is a little more complex than that.

Bottom Line

OK, so is the following true?

“They [Bessent and Hinnant] want to get into your pockets and increase your taxes!”

No, obviously, they were given the opportunity to increase taxes with the 2005-2006 new budget and they held the rate steady. In 2004, Kannapolis reduced the tax rate by $0.033 or 6.3%, that cut was greater than Concord (0.02 or 4.5%) and Cabarrus County (0.03 or 5.4%) in the same year. Actually, it was the greatest cut (both in rate and percentage) in the entire county that year.

In 2005, Cabarrus County increased the rate by 0.10 or 18.9% and Mt. Pleasant posted an increase of 0.02 or 4.8%. Kannapolis held their taxes at the 2004 rate. So, the statement made by both Darrell Hinnant and Paul Bessent that they kept taxes lower was true, in spite of Harold Smith saying that it wasn’t.

It’s this simple. Harold Smith is running for office and he’ll get votes by stating that he’ll cut taxes; and he’ll avoid losing them by not stating how he’ll balance the budget. It’s high time the voters find out how our local lower-taxes crusaders plan to accomplish their ends.