Ifs, ands, buts fill report

Growth in Wake proves tough topic

After more than 40 hours of meetings and $150,000 in expenses, a Wake County task force on growth came up with some innovative solutions.

But it also watered down the proposals with exceptions and qualifications:

Cut costs first, but also consider new taxes. Reduce the price of new schools, but not if it hurts students. Use toll roads to ease congestion, but only if the state also spends more.

That led the head of a recently formed activist group to give it a poor grade.

Commissioners appointed the 65-member task force last year to look at ways to handle Wake's booming growth. The county population is expected to nearly double to 1.4 million by 2030.

On Monday, the task force presented the final report to commissioners.

Karen Rindge, chairwoman of WakeUp! Wake County, said that the report did not go far enough. She said it should have included impact fees, plans for mass transit and other growth management tools.

"We must ask ourselves what kind of quality of life we will have here if we fail to take such steps to manage growth," she told commissioners.

The task force struggled with a number of political issues during six months of meetings.

Some members said that the county could meet its needs by cutting costs. Others argued that more taxes would be needed to pay for an estimated $18.4 billion in new schools, jails and other needs by 2030.

Shortly before the final meeting, 13 dissenters signed a letter that said the report should be rewritten to reduce its dependence on taxes.

The final report seemed to split the difference, calling for cutting costs on one page, and saying that would probably not be enough on the next.

When presenting the report to commissioners Monday, Fred Day IV, chairman of the task force and president of Progress Energy, stressed the need for new taxes more, however.

"While cost containment is a high priority of this committee, cost controls alone will not meet the pressing demands of growth, nor will it do so in a timely manner," he said.

The report calls for some new taxes:

* Reassess real estate values every four years, instead of every eight, and hold the property tax rate steady.

* Seek a 1-cent sales tax increase, with half of the money paying for new schools and half for transportation needs.

* Consider using toll roads to build much-needed highways, but only if the state also spends more on local roads.

Many of the ideas mentioned by Rindge were considered by the task force.

A finance committee rejected impact fees on new homes after deciding the money they would raise -- estimated from $35 million to $50 million a year -- would not be enough to make a difference.

In a close vote, it approved a tax on real estate sales that would raise an estimated $90 million a year.

The task force spent about $148,000 on consultants, printing and meeting space. The county will pick up the bulk of the cost, with the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce paying for about $10,000.

County commissioners unanimously accepted the report from the growth task force at their Monday meeting.