cabarrus county board of commissioners regular meeting november ...

October 17, 2011 (Regular Meeting)Pageand labors to benefit those who are less fortunate than we maybe.This board has exemplified a new attitude of cooperationand understanding. Many of us in the private sector see that youare beginning to hear our cries for relief from the burdens ofgovernment and are taking positive actions to change the way thiscounty does business. For that we are extremely grateful. Youhave begun a journey in a new direction with a new attitude andbuilding on those brave, positive steps and actions which youtook last month We The People NC are asking you to continue thatsame kind of bravery and leadership as you take even more stepstoward governing the way Cabarrus County Citizens are telling youthey want the business of our County handled. We would like tothank you for acknowledging the fact that the business ofgoverning belongs to the citizens and that many of us haveawakened from our slumber and are now taking our rightful placebeside you as together we go about the people’s business.With that in mind We The People NC feel the need to speakin opposition to three items of new business on tonight’s Boardof Commission agenda. They are the proposed Carolina ThreadTrail, the School Board’s request to use QSCB Contractor SalesTax and the Adoption of 2012 Schedule of Values.We are opposed to the spending of over $17 Million on agreenway through Cabarrus County because of threemajor reasons.Spending borrowed money, future maintenance nce cost, conversion ofprivate land ownership to public.We are opposed to the conversion of money intendedto helppay down the more than $500 Million lion SchoolBond Debt to newspending projects thus putting the Citizens even deeper in debt.We are opposed to the acceptance ofthe 2012 Schedule ofValues as it relates to the increase in property tax from 63cents per hundred now to a projected 70.5 cents per hundredstarting in 2013. We were promised by the County commissionersthat if we voted to accept theone quarter cent sales taxincrease this would not happen.Walter Smiley, resident of 4720 Hendrix Court in Concord and member of“We The People”, read the following statement:I speak in oppositionto the proposed Carolina ThreadTrail. After hearing the proposal by the Parks Department –Resolution of support for the Carolina Thread Trail DOT TigerGrant application atthe Board of Commissioners work session inOctober 2011, in researching this matter, We The People muststand up and speak out in opposition to this expense of over $17million for this specific project. We oppose this request for 3reasons. First, the project does not pass our basic needs test.Is there a need by the general public of Cabarrus County for theexpansion of the additional of the greenway system that currentlyexists? The short answer is no. Especially now at thisparticular time due to the cost as it relates to our currentlocal state and national economic situation. Second, thisproject proposes the use of a Federal grant and is erroneouslybeing promoted as not costing the citizens of Cabarrus Countyanything. This is not completely true on at least 2 fronts.First, Federal grant money does not magically appear. It comesout of the pockets of tax payers like me, you and those peoplebehind me. The Federal Government is currently borrowing atleast 43 cents of each dollar it spends, therefore it is spendingmoney it simply does not have which makes no common sense.Second, the future cost to our citizens for ongoing maintenanceand upkeep has not been identified nor has the source other thantax payer money been identified to pay these expenses. Third,this project is part of a much larger plan to convert land fromprivate ownership to government owned and control land asoutlined in a document entitled United Nations SustainableDevelopment, United Nations Conference on Environment andDevelopment held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil June 3-14, 1992subtitle Agenda 21. As reported by the World Net Daily postedOctober 7, 2011, The New World Disorder, by Henry Lamb warns ofDRAFTA-1Page 16