Steve Mensing, Editor
♦This morning in Raleigh the Rowan County Airport De-annexation Bill 260 was passed on by the Government Committee and will now go to the Finance Committee, chaired by Rep. Julia Howard, which will likely hear the bill next Tuesday morning at 8:30 am. Introduced by Rep. Carl Ford, HB-260 was the first bill heard this morning at 10 am by the Government Committee chaired by State Representative Harry Warren District 77. The four local delegates were in full support of this Airport De-annexation bill: Representative Harry Warren, Representative Carl Ford, State Senator Andrew Brock, and State Senator Gene McLaurin. In attendance were Chairman Jim Sides and vice-chairman Craig Pierce of the Rowan County Commissioners as well as Mayor Paul Woodson of Salisbury, ex city councilman of Salisbury Bill Burgin, and city manager Doug Paris. Former Rowan County Republican Chairman Greg Edds and Fred Steen a former state legislator were also in the audience.
County commissioners maintained Salisbury offered no benefit to the airport since the 2004 annexation. The airport could better compete for tenants without the city’s involvement and additional city property taxes.
County Commissioner Jim Sides said: “I’ve very happy at the results of what happened this morning in the Government Committee. We had all the commissioners’ support, the local delegates’ support, and the overwhelming support of the public.”
County commissioner Craig Pierce summed it up when he said: “Salisbury took 1.2 million dollars out of the airport and invested nothing.” Craig Pierce did much to rebut the city’s claims about its water lines to the airport and supplying it’s fire department, noting the airport has a National Guard unit stationed on site providing fire protection. “What better fire service protection can you have than an on-site protection?”
Rep. Ford called HB-260 a “jobs bill and a “jobs creator”, saying it would boost the economy for all the municipalities in Rowan County, not just Salisbury.
In trying to stave off this popular bill the City of Salisbury re-hired lobbyist Tom Fetzer, a former Republican chair, at $5,000 a month. The lobbyist previously managed to get problematic Fibrant an exemption to keep it alive. The fiber optic network failed to meet subscriber projections, ran up a 73 million dollar debt, and removed several million dollars from the city’s reserve funds, alarming local tax and utility payers.
Earlier this morning Representative Harry Warren described the process that the Rowan County Airport De-annexation would have to pass through: “Anyone in the audience who wishes to address the committee on either side of the issue will have two minutes to do so. Following questions from the committee to the bill sponsor and /or any speakers, the question will be put to the committee and a voice vote will be taken. The Chair will call the results of the vote and upon a favorable report, the bill, HB 260, will advance to the Finance Committee, where it most likely will go into the newly formed sub-committee on annexations and a voice vote will be taken. Once the bill has been vetted by the sub-committee, it will go before the full Finance Committee for a presentation and a vote and upon a favorable report, it will go to the House Floor. The bill must pass on the floor and move to the Senate before May 17th, the “Cross-Over” deadline, in order to have any action taken in the “long” session.”
