Cabarrus Cheap Seats

I read the news today and you should, too: [READ CABARRUS NEIGHBORS ARTICLE ON SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION] 

Over the course of the next year and a half, people running for office will act shocked that we’re so far behind on school construction and that it costs so much.  They’ll act like this is all one, big suprise.

Don’t believe them.

Construction costs have been rising, the County has approved thousands of new homes, and - since the 90s - the County has never been on pace with school construction.  During my high school years, I had classes in trailers.  The same went for most everyone else.  We were told that after the bond was passed in 1996, the trailers would go away.  Take a guess how that worked out.  This amount is what the County would need to get ahead of residential growth.  But, we shouldn’t dive into another bond without thinking first.

The fact of the matter is buildings are not going to get cheaper to build, this County is set for tremendous growth, and $460 million will seem like less in the future than it does now.  The longer we put off addressing this need, the more it costs me.  At 29, I’ve got roughly 50 years of taxpaying left.  Deferring and borrowing probably helps those of Boomer age (43-61); but it costs me more.  It’s time that government - at all levels - faces fiscal reality and leaves behind more than a Visa bill for the generations that follow.

As someone who worked on the 2004 bond campaign and has supported candidates that are pro-public education - I think we should approach this aggressively.  However, I don’t believe there is a single solution.  Here are a few things I would like to see before I support a bond in the 2008 election to deal with this problem.

1. Increase the Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance fee - Currently, it’s around $4,000 and change per house.  That amount pays for a good bit of the construction costs of new schools; but it’s still not enough.  This needs to be doubled
2. The County should adopt the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) - Every city in Cabarrus County has accepted the UDO (with the exception of Midland that was incorporated after the UDO); but the County hasn’t (more of that history here).  The County should work with the cities to accept the UDO.  This will cause all new residential development to meet certain standards and provide for a more stable tax base in new developments.
3. The County needs to pay a visit to Raleigh.  Not just to ask for more capital money (which will be a drop in the bucket); but to look for more options like tighter controls on residential development, district-based taxation, etc.  The cities need to get behind it, too.

If greater controls on residential growth aren’t enacted - we’ll be talking bonds in again in 2012.  And I’m not sure I’m up to campaigning for the 2008 one yet.