Tuesday's election holds key to future taxes

Posted: 9:10 PM EST Friday April 28, 2006

Tuesday's primary election isn't expected to bring out hoards of voters. Many often ignore primary elections but this one will have a huge effect on the pocketbook of every city and county property owner.

It's a mystery why the school board decided to make its bond request at a time when voters are thinking more about upcoming graduations, weddings and vacations than the condition of schools. And it's another mystery why referendum backers have not been more forthcoming with information. An all-out promotion blitz could have excited voters and spurred them to the polls. If early voting is any indication, reaction to this election is lukewarm at best.

Perhaps voters, who sometimes have innate sensibility, detect something amiss in the proposal to spend $69.7 million to rectify so many of the board's past errors. It's clear from the school district's own information that it has violated the public's trust to care for its property. Many of the problems are the direct result of ignoring small problems that have become major ones.

The cry that the average age of buildings is 58 years doesn't hold water. Kinston has many buildings - and houses - much older and still in good condition. Age need not equate to decrepitude in buildings, or in people, if normal care is extended to both.

Lottery ticket sales are continuing to decline since the first week. We have no guarantee that funds will be available to augment the building plan or to pay interest on the bond. The district admits that if the anticipated lottery funds fail to materialize, voters will be forced to pick up the difference.

The claim that good schools attract businesses is a valid one. But it is not buildings that catch the eye of companies. It's the school system's success in educating children. Rightly or not, that success is gauged on test results, not missing ceiling tiles. If our schools can turn out students who can read, calculate and speak well, they have succeeded and that is the information businesses consider.

Asking a community surviving mostly on low-paying jobs to spend almost $70 million on unnecessary building plans borders on the obscene. Voters also need to call to task school, county and city officials who endorsed such a plan.

w And while the school bond proposal should be enough to arouse voters, another important issue is also on Tuesday's ballot -- the Republican primary to choose a candidate for state representative in District 10.

The choice is between incumbent Stephen LaRoque and challenger Willie Ray Starling, from Wayne County.

LaRoque is the hometown boy and that alone might be enough for some voters. He would be the only true Lenoir County Republican candidate for state government, if he wins the primary.

But that is not reason enough to vote for LaRoque. Voters need to look at his record and what he has accomplished for his district. LaRoque could be labeled as a maverick for his refusal to back down in his stand against forced annexation, his support for residents dissatisfied with ElectriCities and his strong stand against state gas tax increases, among other issues.

Effectiveness in the state Legislature comes from experience. LaRoque is accumulating experience as well as knowledge. He has learned to give a little to get a lot, while continuing to maintain his commitment to his constituents. He is a firm supporter of local businesses, and has won state and national acknowledgement for his economic development efforts.

Starling, who is becoming the perennial candidate, has none of LaRoque's experience and that will render him far less effective in Raleigh. He is known as a man who insists on having his own way and that is not a successful strategy for gathering support in the Legislature.

Thoughtful voters will say "No" to the school bond referendum Tuesday and endorse LaRoque in the Republican primary.