NC Republicans are abandoning cities and towns like Chapel Hill. So we step up. | Opinion

Theo Nollert is a Chapel Hill City Council member.

We all know what it’s like to go out with that friend who never picks up the tab. That’s basically the relationship North Carolina’s towns have with Raleigh Republicans. Every year our cities foot more of the bill, and the GOP dominated legislature won’t even cover the tip.

Republicans have mismanaged our state’s finances since taking over in 2011. We used to tax corporations and the wealthy more than the poor and the middle class. Now, Republicans make poor and middle class North Carolinians pay more than their fair share while the rich get a discount and corporations are on track for a 0% state tax rate.

The result? Our state is weaker, our people are poorer and we’re headed toward an $823 million state budget deficit anyway. Our Republican leaders won’t raise the money we need to protect our hospitals and schools. They won’t invest in affordable housing. They won’t let cities enact rent stabilization or protect tenants from unjust evictions. They won’t fund the bike and pedestrian projects our communities want, and they prioritize extra interstate lanes over local streets and public transit.

Consider our schools. As the buildings crumble or grow mold and teachers struggle with low pay, Republicans have shifted money away from the public schools our kids all have a right to and into school vouchers that make it a little cheaper for the wealthy to send their kids to private schools. That forces our counties to spend more local dollars on school infrastructure and employees, and that makes it harder for towns to initiate bonds or raise taxes for other critical local projects.

Now, under President Donald Trump, national Republicans are coming after Medicaid and Social Security. They have restricted vital investments in green energy and disaster recovery funds that would reduce costs for ratepayers, mitigate the frequency and severity of natural disasters and get people’s lives back on track when disasters do hit. They’re attacking the research institutes and universities that drive local economies across North Carolina.

As Republicans abandon us, our towns have to plug the gaps.

I ran for a seat on the Chapel Hill Town Council because I thought housing was too expensive. Our towns and our cities need to build more housing, and I push for Chapel Hill to do that. But we need help to make housing affordable. I am proud that Chapel Hill does what it can on that front. We recently approved a $15 million affordable housing bond and partnered with UNC Health and Self Help Ventures Fund to launch a $20 million revolving loan fund to build affordable housing. We operate a public housing portfolio in partnership with HUD, help community partners preserve existing affordable housing, and proudly support the operations of organizations like the Interfaith Council and the Orange County Partnership to End Homelessness that provide food and shelter to those who need it most.

The citizens of Chapel Hill have supported our council’s efforts to do what we can. But without sufficient state support, we’ve had to accept difficult trade-offs that shouldn’t have been necessary. We’ve done less than we wanted for parks and recreation, sidewalks and greenways, streets and facilities, arts and culture, public transit and affordable housing.

We can’t do it all. But there are resources Republican leaders are refusing to use that would help us do more. We won’t let them force us to choose austerity. We’re going to keep our town operational and support those in our community who have the least.

Chapel Hill is a wonderful place. It’s a town full of interesting people: students and teachers, researchers and retirees. Everyone here has a Carolina story. Part of that story is the courage and generosity we show in the face of cowardly selfishness.

I hope that our community’s resolve can serve as a beacon in these dark times. I’m proud of my neighbors, and I’m proud of our efforts to close these yawning gaps. I hope for a day when the Republicans who control our state will meet us halfway.

Until then, we will lead while they hang back.