Transportation and Land Use - Wake County and the Triangle are developing plans for a regional transit system of enhances bus service and light rail. WakeUP sees a regional transit system as critical to guiding the population growth that is expected to swell our roads in the coming two decades.
- Transit legislation - WakeUP endorses HB 148 and SB 151, the Congestion Relief/Intermodal Transport Fund bill. Passing this legislation will be a top priority for WakeUP. House bill sponsors: Rep. Becky Carney (D-Mecklenberg), Rep. Deborah Ross (D-Wake), Rep. Lucy Allen (D-Franklin), Rep. McGee (D-Forsyth). Senate bill sponsor: Richard Stevens (R-Wake). Other Wake legislators cosponsoring include: Reps. Ty Harrell, Dan Blue, Grier Martin and Sen. Josh Stein. The bill will enable counties to hold local referendum to approve a new funding source to pay for local transit projects, including a ½ sales tax in metropolitan counties. The bill would also establish a special fund for transit projects, though no funds are currently dedicated to the fund.
Water - WakeUP is a member of the Watershed Alliance, a coalition of organizations supporting water conservation and water quality. WakeUP and the Watershed Alliance will be following and advocating around different legislative efforts to protect North Carolina’s drinking water, including:
- Water Allocation – WakeUP supports legislation that would require permitting of any entity that withdraws 100,000 gallons of water per day from a water source – like Falls Lake or Jordan Lake (the source of Wake County’s drinking water). A recent UNCCH/Duke report on water allocation for North Carolina, commissioned by the General Assembly, examined the issue of whether water should be allocated in North Carolina. Given expected population growth over next two decades of 4 million people, combined with limited water resources, the report recommends this kind of permitting to manage water use in NC.
- Jordan Lake Drinking Water Protection - Jordan Lake’s water is seriously impaired, hence, new rules requiring stronger wastewater controls upstream of Jordan have been developed. These rules have developed opposition from both developers and municipalities that fear the costs of retrofitting existing wastewater treatment. WakeUP opposes HB 3, a bill that would disapprove these important rules. HB 3 is sponsored by Rep. Cary Allred (R-Alamance) and Rep. Darrell G. McCormick (R-Iredell, Surry, and Yadkin). WakeUP has joined the Clean Jordan Lake coalition of organizations that also oppose this bill.
Paying for Growth – WakeUP believes that growth and development should help pay its fair share of the costs of growth – such as helping pay for schools and water supply infrastructure. As people move to Wake and developers build new homes, revenue should be provided to help pay for needed infrastructure to accommodate this growth. The alternative choice is for everyone’s property taxes to increase significantly. WakeUP doesn’t think that’s fair.
- Real Estate Transfer Tax - WakeUP Wake County supports a transfer tax as a way to pay for needed schools to keep up with growth. In 2007, the NC General Assembly passed legislation signed into law enabling counties to hold referendum for a 0.4 % transfer tax that would pay for needed infrastructure. In 2008, legislation was introduced in the NC Senate to repeal this law. WakeUP opposed that effort and will continue to monitor the General Assembly in case other similar legislation is introduced in the 2009 session.
- Revamping NC’s Tax Structure - Given the current economic crisis, many organizations believe now is the time to re-examine and re-vamp North Carolina’s tax system. Studies have been done by a legislative commission to look at tax alternatives that would fundamentally change income tax and sales tax to provide greater revenue while decreasing the tax burden on middle and low income families. Together NC is a coalition, spearheaded by the NC Budget and Tax Center, which is calling upon the NC General Assembly to hold off on cuts to human services and infrastructure and instead overhaul NC’s tax structure.
