Agree with him or not - Milton Friedman is one of the most influential thinkers of our time, and the most famous living economist. He’s only one of three economists I could name off the top of my head: (Adam Smith and J.M. Keynes being the other two) He’s credited for quotes like “There’s no such thing as a free lunch”, “Hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned”, and “There is no more dramatic way in which people can vote than with their feet.
It would be wise for Harold Smith to think about that last quote of Mr. Friedman’s given the sentiment of Harold’s last e-mail alert - sent Wednesday:
Kannapolis City Annexing!
Why is Kannapolis City Annexating Land in Odell Community?
“Why does Kannapolis City want to provide water and sewer into Odell Community? The Water and Sewer Fund is already $42 million in Debt. Last year a special report to Kannapolis City Council reported over $13 million needed to repair old water and sewer lines in Kannapolis.”
After that, he quotes this article from the Kannapolis Citizen. It’s important to read the article, go ahead, click on it. It’ll bring up a new window.
The gist of the article is this. Two separate property owners, Food Lion and Shiloh Farms, have requested voluntary annexation into Kannapolis. Here’s the catch, these two entities are smack in the middle of the “Odell Community” - which wishes to incorporate to avoid - according to one Odell resident - being part of the “undesirable address” that is Kannapolis, NC. The Kannapolis City Council voted 6-1 to approve a resolution of intent to grant the property owners request. The dissenting vote was Richard Anderson. What was the reason for his dissent? According to the article, he wanted to wait until the General Assembly gives their answer on whether or not Odell can incorporate. He “doesn’t understand what the hurry is” and wonders “what the devil are we [The City of Kannapolis] are going to do with them [the two properties]“
I would like this post to be a little more interactive than usual. Consider these questions.
- If Kannapolis is so undesirable and awfully run with a crushing tax burden, why would two commercial properties (which pay much more than their fair share of taxes) want to rush to be part of such a fiasco?
- If there were a city which were run as badly as Harold Smith claims Kannapolis is, why would you endanger the opportunity to be governed by the enlightened leadership of the soon-to-be-incorporated Odell, NC?
- Why would Richard Anderson be going out of his way to deny two property owners who will be paying rather healthy tax bills and paying large water and sewer rates?
The City of Kannapolis isn’t annexing for their own sake, they are being asked by property owners to do it. The answer is quite obvious when you look at it on its face - Food Lion and Shiloh Farms are, in a sense, “voting against” Odell, NC.
This is quite interesting. Because Harold has posted numerous articles about how annexation will cost the City of Kannapolis so much. The Odell Community has rallied around the banner of “Don’t Tread On Me”. Harold even made a divine declaration, that God would keep the Kannapolis City Council from “encroaching” on the community.
People usually don’t want to get annexed because their taxes go up. Instead of paying County taxes only, you get the opportunity to pay City and County taxes. Of course, cities are designed to offer services to a higher-density population than counties are, which justifies, in theory, the need for the higher taxes.
The explanation is simple. The land owners realized that they weren’t going to be just paying county taxes anymore. Odell would incorporate and start levying their city taxes or Kannapolis would continue their annexation pattern and the land owners would get to pay taxes to Oak Ave. What is funny in all of this is that the land owners are going out of their way to state they want to be in Kannapolis - even though the rate that would be levied is higher. There’s only one explanation for that decision - these business owners don’t trust the potential government of Odell, NC to be as efficient as Kannapolis, NC.
This brings up something that Harold Smith and the local media haven’t considered - maybe the people making the push to incorporate to Odell, NC do not represent the majority of that community. It’s obvious from this example that the incorporation group doesn’t represent “all” of the community.
At the end of the day, people should be able to decide how they are governed. People should be able to freely develop and enhance their property. Government should work for the people - not the other way around. People who claim to adhere to this philosophy should not claim divine guidance; but deal with the facts - or at least the writing on the wall.
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