Winston Salem Journal

COPYRIGHT 2007 Winston-Salem Journal

Byline: Wesley Young

Nov. 1–KERNERSVILLE

Questions about taxes and city services swirled during last week’s forum for candidates for the Kernersville Board of Aldermen.

Alex McLanahan was the only contender whose schedule didn’t allow him to come to the forum. But five incumbents and five challengers spent 1 1/2 hours fielding questions and making statements.

Aldermen Brooke Cashion, Inez Davis, Dana Jones, Jim Memory and Dawn Morgan participated in the forum. The challengers were Kevin Bugg, Kenny Crews, Calvin O’Briant, Bob Prescott and Harvey Pulliam.

McLanahan had a written statement read to the audience. He called for term limits and said that aldermen should serve without pay.

McLanahan has proposed that an alderman be allowed to serve only two two-year terms in a row before leaving the board.

Cashion said that the town needed to find a better way to allow employees to communicate with the aldermen, and that the next town manager should go through professional testing to determine his leadership style.

Cashion said that she wouldn’t vote to raise property taxes to meet the cost of building projects the town might undertake.

Bugg said that the property-tax rate is not the most important factor and that people come to Kernersville for its quality of life and location. The town’s property-tax rate is 55 cents for every $100 of value.

Bugg called for business recruitment to ease the tax burden on homeA-owners, and said that building a loop road should be the town’s top road priority.

He said he liked the idea of turning Cherry and Main streets into one-way streets to help move traffic. The town should consider a bond referendum for roads.

Morgan said she had voted to raise property taxes for better police protection and that she would continue to work to make public-safety improvements. She said property taxes are too high, but that the town had to balance taxes and the need to provide services. Morgan advocated for several road-widening projects and economic incentives to help companies pay for infrastructure.

Pulliam said that economic incentives would “prostitute Kernersville,” and opposed hiring a director of economic development.

He criticized recreation spending and said that the town should find out why other towns are able to have much lower tax rates. Pulliam said that lots of traffic is an asset and that the town should “nourish” assets such as Korner’s Folly.

Davis emphasized her experience. She said she has voted for economic-development incentives but believes in weighing the cost and benefit in each case.

She said that she had voted to improve sidewalks and that the town needed greenways and bike trails. Davis said that partnerships and land trades with the private sector could create more open spaces.

Crews called for tax cuts and said that the quality of life has nothing to do with spending on parks and recreation. He said that other services could be improved by cutting wasteful spending, and that some town services could be done by private businesses.

Crews said that zoning isn’t done fairly in the town and that everybody should be treated the same way.

Memory said that he is very conservative on taxes but that he would back an increase approved by the voters in a bond referendum.

He said that economic development — such as that brought by the planned Triad Business Park and a new Kernersville hospital — is the only way to lower taxes.

He said he supported the building of a new building for public works.

Prescott said that he favored meetings so that the town can “decide what it wants to be when it grows up.” He called himself a listener.

He said that a committee should do background checks to pick a new town manager, and that the town’s biggest road need is a loop road. Prescott said that the town and citizens should decide whether to make Main and Cherry streets one-way streets.

Jones said she had worked to keep the tax rate down and on economic development and roads. Jones said that the town should consider using housing density as a way to provide more open spaces.

She said that the town should look to developers to provide open spaces as much as possible. She said that a new public-works building is needed, but should be done without a tax increase.

O’Briant said that economic-development incentives are good, and that the town should even consider constructing a building as a recruitment tool.

He said that transportation is the town’s biggest need and that dead-end streets should be eliminated. O’Briant said that greenways and parks as well as housing-density requirements can create more open spaces.

– Wesley Young can be reached at 992-0067 or at wyoung@wsjournal.com.

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Copyright (c) 2007, Winston-Salem Journal, N.C.

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