Being Brutally Honest

Being Brutally Honest

Gary A. House

Vice Chairman Harnett County Board of Commissioners

I realize that this blog will upset both Democrats and Republicans but sometimes you have to be brutally honest.  It is not meant to offensive.  It is meant to be constructive.

I have listened to many people from both parties in Harnett County express their opinions over the years.  Some I agree with.  Some I disagree with.  Some I think are grossly exaggerated.

I have heard Republicans state that the Democratic leaders “dumb down” their constituents.  By this, I believe they mean that the Democratic leaders, in order to stay in power, keep accurate information from their constituents.  They want to hold them down so they will blindly follow.  They do not teach them the ways to better themselves.  They teach them that they are owed entitlements. 

I have heard Democrats say that Republicans are the wealthy in our society and they should subsidize the poor.  I have heard Democrats say that Republicans are given economic advantages that others are not given and they should be taxed more to redistribute the wealth.

Do I believe what I have heard Republicans and Democrats say about each other?  No, I do not.  I think those opinions are exaggerated on both sides.  The truth lies somewhere in the middle.

I know wealthy Democrats and I know wealthy Republicans.  I know poor Democrats and I know poor Republicans.

The circumstances in which we are born often determine our lot in life, if we let it.  I believe people can overcome anything if they have the desire to succeed.

The great equalizer is education.  A good education is the foundation for the growth of a person and exponentially increases the chance for having a better life.  That foundation must be laid at a young age.

We, as residents of Harnett County and North Carolina, should demand that our educational standards be raised.  This is not a Democrat or Republican issue.  This is a people issue.  We are a village and we have a responsibility to give our children a realistic chance of being good productive citizens with a good quality of life.

Yes, it does start at home.  Children need strong guidance from both mothers and fathers.  They also need a strong spiritual foundation.  Unfortunately, a lot of children are not fortunate enough to have this foundation laid for them.

Schools play a vital role in the formation of our future leaders.  Our schools are an integral part of our village.  We need to give our children the resources and environment that are conducive to learning.

No, I do not believe throwing a bunch of money at problems such as overcrowded schools is necessarily the right and whole answer.  But I do know that not supplying the Harnett County School system with the funds and buildings it needs to educate our children is not the answer either.  Whatever funds are given to the school system should be used wisely and monitored closely.  It is imperative that we, the village, help the schools much more than we currently do.

We need more teachers, teacher assistants, books, greater supplements, and more buildings.  We have to give the resources to the teachers that they need in order for them to do their jobs effectively and efficiently.  The school system and teachers need help in fostering the growth and development of our students. 

I have heard many Republicans say that education is mandatory for a successful life.  The time has come for Republicans to honor what they say.  The tea party movement has brainwashed many Republicans.  I do not like taxes any more than any of you.  But being fiscally responsible should make Republicans and Democrats alike in Harnett County realize that our schools are suffering.  Our teachers are suffering and our children our suffering.

We are NOT going to receive help from the Federal or State government.  We, the village, have to stand up to the plate----All of us.

No matter whether you are Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, or Unaffiliated, we need to put our hardcore political philosophies aside and do what is in the best interest of Harnett County. 

We must invest in our schools and the education of our children.

I Will Take The Heat

I Will Take The Heat

Gary A. House

Vice Chairman Harnett County Board of Commissioners

The Harnett County Board of Commissioners raised our property tax rate by 2 ½ cents last night.

I have fought against property tax increases for seven years.  Other than the property tax revaluation several years ago, your tax bills have remained the same.  Even in the revaluation year, I fought to reduce the tax rate to make the revaluation revenue neutral.

Last year, the residents of Harnett County passed a ¼ cent sales tax increase.  I introduced a resolution that said that all of these increased sales taxes would go into a capital reserve fund for school construction, repair and renovation.  I remember holding this resolution up at a joint meeting of the Harnett County Board of Commissioners and Harnett County Board of Education and stating that if this addition to sales tax were passed by the voters, it would only be a drop in the bucket to fund our school needs.  I also stated at this meeting that we could not go around saying that if the residents voted for the ¼ cent sales tax increase, the property tax rates would not increase.  It was reported to me the very next week that two commissioners were in public claiming that if the sales tax passed, property taxes would remain the same.

Due to the massive influx of children into our school system from the Base Realignment and Closure Act, our school infrastructure is beyond maxed out in Western Harnett.  Harnett Central is also busting at the seams.  There is so much overcrowding at some of the schools that I worry about the safety of our children not to mention the quality of education that they receive in those conditions.

Fact is Harnett County has needed a tax increase for a few years to adequately address our school needs. I could not vote to give the county more money under the previous administration because I could not trust the stewardship of the funds.  Last year we had two commissioners recognizing we needed a tax increase and two who were adamantly opposed to an increase.  That left me as the voice of compromise.  I tried to build unity on the board by coming up with a solution to not raise taxes but to begin saving for our school construction needs. 

I made a motion to leave the tax rate as is but that any excess of revenues over expenditures in the General Fund for 2012-2013 be placed in a capital reserve fund for school construction, repair and renovation.  This proposal passed 3-2.  When it came time to fund the capital reserve fund, Commissioners Jim Burgin and Gordon Springle would not honor their commitment on the budget to place the excess into the fund. 

When we secured QSCB financing for the new Highland Middle School now under construction, Commissioner Jim Burgin made a motion to adopt a resolution that told the Local Government Commission that we would raise the property tax rate by 5.5 cent per $100 (September 4, 2012 minutes) in order to meet our obligations.

The County is also in the process of selling some land for $600,000.  When we voted to sell this land, the proceeds, I thought, were to be placed into the capital reserve fund.  Under the budget for 2014-2015, these funds will not go into the fund as I understood when I voted for the sale.  This was one of the cuts in the budget.

The time is long past due that we begin to seriously address the school funding issues that we have in our county.

How did we get to this point?

When I took office almost 8 years ago, I was being told that the military was going to provide $70 to $80 million dollars to help us build schools to assist in handling the infrastructure needs caused by the influx of military students.  Fort Bragg and Washington have let us down.  Nothing has been provided to the county other than a minimal amount per student to assist in educating the militarily connected students.

Even the State of North Carolina has not remitted and never will remit over $8 million in NC State Education Lottery money that we should have received for our school system.  Evidently the lottery money is used balance the State’s budget.

With Fort Bragg’s, Washington’s and North Carolina’s unwillingness to help Harnett County with school infrastructure needs, they have, in effect, dumped the burden on the taxpayers of Harnett County.

Whether we build new schools, renovate old schools, go to year-round schools, buy more huts, or move students to commercial buildings, more revenue must be generated.  I firmly believe that Harnett County Manager Tommy Burns and our finance officer have looked at every cut feasible.  I did not have that confidence in our prior administration. 

I know most of our departments are running on a shoe string budget.  Fact is we are running so tight that we are losing good employees, morale is at an all-time low, and more employees are looking other employment/working second jobs.

We need to find an agreeable line where the county is pro-taxpayer and pro-employee.  I really took offense to some of the comments at our budget hearing last night when a few people insinuated that our employees do not work hard.  We have some great employees who are doing more work with no more pay. 

We also need to rid the county of this anti-school attitude.  Contrary to what Commissioner Burgin claimed last night, industries do look at our educational system when choosing to locate here.  If they do not, the Harnett Forward Together Committee, our economic development department, the Harnett County Business Education Partnership, Central Carolina Community College, and the School of Government’s instructors have been not telling us the truth during my eight years on the Board.  Commonsense leads you to believe that big business looks at many things—educational system, tax rate, quality of life, workforce, demographics, roads, etc.  Anyone claiming otherwise is only making a poor attempt to manipulate residents.

I recognize the needs of our school system and they are massive.  I cannot attest to how the school system spends its money.  That monitoring needs to come from school board and residents of Harnett County.  But I do know Harnett County has an obligation to provide an education to every child that lives in its borders. 

I will stand up for our children and the education that they deserve. 

I have always said that I would not come to the taxpayers for money unless I deemed that it was absolutely necessary.  That time is here.  We have the administration in place in which I have full faith that they use the County’s money wisely.  We need to be fiscally responsible to the needs of Harnett County. 

I will take the heat for the 2 ½ property tax increase because I know it is in the best interest of Harnett County.  I have grown accustomed to being in the oven.

Will Byerly Slay Goliath?

Will Byerly Slay Goliath?

Gary A. House

Representative David Lewis has become, at least in his own eyes, a Goliath in the State Legislature.  He has outgrown his britches.

Representative Lewis has become greater than the people who have supported him, the people who have believed in him, and the people who have voted him into office.

He has made many trips to Harnett County’s planning department on behalf of one developer.  He has made many calls to the planning department for the same reason.  There is a stack of emails to the planning department attempting to get the rules changed for this developer.  Representative Lewis even went as far to try re-write the County’s ordinance to benefit this developer. 

If Representative Lewis worked as hard for the benefit of the residents of North Carolina and Harnett County as he does for this one developer, we would see much progress in our great state and county.

While Representative Lewis is meddling in the affairs of the Harnett County Board of Commissioners and the Harnett County School Board, while he is too concerned about passing a bill where a child can shoot a BB gun unsupervised, while the General Assembly is passing a bill so Clay County can drop a live opossum on New Year’s Eve (which by the way is cruelty to animals), our teachers, students and school system are getting a raw deal.

Teachers have been neglected for years.  Teaching assistants have been thrown out on the street.  Students do not have enough textbooks.  Our school system is suffering.

New teachers are receiving increased pay which is a good thing but it is also a slap in the face to our veteran teachers.  Our seasoned teachers were promised their tenure and they earned their tenure.  They have earned their longevity pay.  They have earned the right to have regularly increases in pay or, at least, cost of living adjustments.

Our teachers have become discontented with the lack of respect they have been shown.  There is no excuse for it.

I have seen my daughter’s class not have textbooks.  I have seen her not be able to bring a textbook home because there were not enough for all students.

Perhaps if Representative Lewis would spend more time addressing serious issues like fighting for the $8 million dollars in lottery funds that were supposed to come to the Harnett County school system over the last few years but were diverted to other State uses, our school system would not be so stressed.  Our teachers would we happier, the students would be learning more, and the overcrowding would be on its way to being reduced.

There is no justified reason that our veteran teachers should give up their tenure to receive an 11% pay increase.  And to use expected increases in lottery sales to pay for the raises is absurd.  What is next?---having casino on every corner so we can fund the needs of our school system?

A true Giant would be fighting for our teachers, our children, and our school system instead of wasting valuable time on such petty things as BB guns and opossum dropping.

When it comes to education, I know Susan Byerly, who is a retired educator and principal, will be a Giant in fighting these battles and standing up for the people of Harnett County.

So I guess the question remains.  Will the Giant Byerly slay the Goliath Lewis with all of his political action committee money and special interest money or will dollars win out over common sense again?

Susan Byerly vs. David Lewis

Susan Byerly vs. David Lewis

Vice Chairman Gary A. House

Harnett County Board of Commissioners

The general election coming up in November for our Representative for NC House intrigues me.

Political newcomer Democrat Susan Byerly is challenging Republican incumbent David Lewis for this seat.

I have known David Lewis for several years.  Our sons are the same age.  They played travel baseball together a few years ago.  David and I both coached our sons' basketball team a couple of years ago too.  Our kids have had sleepovers at our houses.

I have sought advice from Lewis on several occasions.

I have always like Lewis.  I have supported him in every election except one.  I could not bring myself to vote for him one time because of a mailer he sent out that I did not think was truthful.

I have known Byerly for several years as well.  Byerly and I attend the same church.  I know that she is a good, Christian lady.  I became particularly fond of her youngest son when he was in high school for two reasons---he was a great kid and he was so kind to my much younger son.

Byerly is a Democrat and I am a Republican.  There are obviously some political differences between us.

I have had an internal debate about who to support in this election---Byerly or Lewis.  I have examined the pros and cons of who will get my vote.

Being a Conservative Republican, I lean strongly to the right in most cases.  

Recent developments in Lewis' behavior has cast some doubt in my mind.  Based on my observations, in my opinion, Lewis has become drunk with power.  He has brought the country club mentality to the Republican Party in Harnett County.  I do not believe that he serves the hard-working people of Harnett County like he once did.  He has become enamored with the glitz and glitter of being an elected official who dares not to deviate from the Tillis party directives.

Last week, Lewis attempted to usurp the authority of the Harnett County Board of Commissioners and the Harnett County Board of Education by attaching language to a local bill from Duplin County.  He attempted to sneak it through the General Assembly without either Board knowing.  However, both Boards found out AFTER the NC House passed it but before the NC Senate heard it.  Both the County Board and the County School Board passed resolutions today opposing having Harnett County included in  House Bill 1108.

If  NC Senator Ron Rabin is the honorable man I think he is, he will strike Harnett County from House Bill 1108 like the Harnett County Board of Commissioners and the Harnett County Board of Education have asked him to do.

Usual protocol would have the County Boards to pass resolutions asking the State Representatives to introduce bills on the Boards behalf.  Neither Board was notified that Harnett County was being added to House Bill 1108. Even though I have trouble believing it, no commissioner admitted asking Lewis to add Harnett County.  Lewis apparently acted on his own without any prompting.  

Lewis attempted to take voting power away from duly elected Harnett County officials, which is not ethically correct.

Even though a political newcomer, Byerly has shown me the passion and desire to serve the hard-working people of Harnett County.  I know Byerly well enough to know that she would not try to sneak anything past the people of Harnett County while they are not looking.  

From being a former educator and principal, Byerly is well versed on the needs of our educational system.  I have deep concerns about the education of our children in Harnett County.  I believe Byerly and I see eye to eye on this issue.  Byerly will fight for our children, our teachers, and our school system.

Even though Byerly is a Democrat, I believe that she shares Conservative values with me.

After weighing many factors, Lewis' behavior has made this election for NC House a Non-Partisan race in my eyes.

The Lewis for NC House sign will remain in my garage this year.  A Byerly for NC House sign will be planted in my front yard.