Meeting costs now beats delay


Henderson County has just raised property taxes by 4 cents. Transylvania boosted the rate by 6 cents.

Yet those counties looked like pikers compared to Polk County, where elected leaders bit an anvil-sized bullet and raised the rate by 91/4 cents.

In Transylvania County, the new revenue will pay for new school resource officers and pay to replace a high school stadium fieldhouse that inspectors say is a firetrap.

In Polk County, the extra money will pay for a couple of new positions and also cover $3.2 million in debt service for the construction of a new library, recreation complex, waste transfer station and middle school and renovation of other five schools.

In Henderson County, the new budget pays for 15 new sheriff's deputies, drug detectives and jailers, six elementary school teachers, two social workers and debt service on the growing backlog of capital projects including the Historic Courthouse renovation, the new animal shelter, the new human services building and school construction.

All three counties face spiraling Medicaid costs placed on them by the federal and state governments.

One more factor is common among all three counties. Commissioners agreed to the unpleasant and politically risky alternative of raising taxes because their counties have failed to keep up with growth and neglected projects long in need of attention.

"We had not only to catch up with growth but with things that have not been adequately addressed in the past," said Bill Moyer, chairman of the Henderson County Commission.

Schools and law enforcement rank high if taxpayers are asked what they're willing to pay for.

"I personally believe now is the time to step up to the plate and make some tough decisions," Transylvania County Commissioner David Guice said. "I hear all the time that we have to take care of education and public safety. I think it's better to plan ahead and not have a credit card mentality for these projects."

On that score, Transylvania, Henderson and Polk counties are infinitely more conservative than the Republican leaders of Congress and the current occupant of the White House, who have maxed out the country's credit card for decades hence. And for that matter, more responsible than lots of homeowners piling debt onto plastic.

The name-calling was surprisingly low-key despite the large tax increases.

In Polk County, two commissioners who voted against the 91/4-cent tax increase actually protested that the new budget failed to fund three new positions they thought important, for the library, tax assessor's office and emergency medical service. The budget would have been $88,000 bigger with the new jobs.

One can be sure that we have not heard the last of the tax debate. Challengers and the no voters will make their case that taxes are too high and the incumbents are spend-thrifts. When they do, those who cast the tough vote for painful tax increases should ask the challengers exactly what they would cut from the existing budgets and how they would keep neighborhoods safe and pay for health care required by state and federal law and whether they aspired to quality education.

There's no disputing that the property tax increases are hefty, even burdensome to some fixed-income seniors and small businesses. But they will not move Henderson and Polk counties into the top tier in terms of tax burden.

In 2003 Henderson County ranked 76th out of 100 N.C. counties in property tax burden as a percentage of personal income. Polk County ranked 81st.

Transylvania County, which has an enormous amount of untaxed public land, ranked 20th in combined local property tax burden, at $702 per capita. (Brevard ranked eighth among cities 5,000 to 25,000.)

The only thing more painful than raising taxes to catch up with neglected infrastructure, keep pace with school enrollment growth and ensure the public safety is to postpone the day of reckoning until the cost is even higher. The latter approach is the better soundbite and the poorer example of leadership.


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