Buncombe lobbyists to advocate for NC employee raises, McCormick Field funding, broadband

ASHEVILLE – As the 2024 legislative session in Raleigh approaches in April, elected officials will soon prepare to descend on the state capitol to deliberate over the business of government. Some of these officials will have discussions with lobbyists, who have Buncombe County on their mind.

The county’s lobbying firm, Ward and Smith, presented to the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners during a Feb. 6 briefing. During the presentation, government relations attorneys Whitney Campbell Christensen and Trafton Dinwiddie discussed Buncombe’s 2023 legislative victories, and their plans for advocacy in the upcoming session.

Ward and Smith has offices in Asheville, Greenville, New Bern, Beaufort, Raleigh and Wilmington. Buncombe hired the firm in May 2022 for $72,000 per year, according to past Citizen Times reporting.

Buncombe County lobbyists secured $2.83 million in funding to alleviate flooding that plagued part of Barnardsville, including an elementary school, small business and post office in the area, Dinwiddie said.

The lobbyists also secured $2 million dedicated to a pilot program that allows farmers to move their operations away from the French Broad River to improve water quality. Dinwiddie said he hoped the pilot would lead to expanding the program throughout the state.

Dinwiddie said that Ward and Smith worked to give Buncombe County access to a $59.4 million statewide fund created with federal dollars for teacher pay. He said that around 90 state school districts are eligible for the money.

Christensen said that the firm took the county’s direction on raises for school employees, which became a point of contention in Buncombe County.

“We took that message back to Raleigh and joined a choir of other groups,” she said.

The General Assembly approved a 7% raise in teacher’s base pay over two years, with an additional 2% for bus drivers. County Commissioners did not think the state’s raise was enough and approved a 1-cent per $100 property tax increase to supplement local school employee pay. The board also allocated $1 million in budget revisions for education. Advocates were not satisfied with the decision, wanting commissioners to approve a larger increase.

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Christensen also touted raises for state employees, the UNC System and community college employees. She mentioned a $70 million allocation for the state’s Housing Finance Agency, dedicated to a loan program for low- and moderate-income affordable housing. She noted that the affordable housing crisis may be more pronounced in Buncombe than in the rest of the state. Christensen also mentioned $30 million for grants to local governments for transportation and infrastructure.

In the next legislative session, the lobbying firm will focus on additional raises for state employee salaries, increasing funding for waivers for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and monies for local governments to use on stadiums, like McCormick Field. Dinwiddie said they will also advocate for increased state funding to support early childhood education and pre-K programs, opposing proposals to limit local government authority to regulate short-term rentals.

“Half of our job is the legislative agenda, but the other half is (playing) defense on items that we don’t necessarily anticipate,” Dinwiddie said.

He also added that the firm will look into expansion of the homestead exemption, which provides tax relief for senior and disabled residents. Broadband expansion will also be on the county’s legislative agenda.

Christensen that she expects the 2024 legislative session to be far shorter than the 2023 session, which dragged on for months, passing in September without Gov. Roy Cooper's signature.

“They are so tired and so ready to get back to their campaign and their districts,” she said.

She predicted that the county would play less “defense” than they normally would because the session will be streamlined and less controversial.

Commissioner Terri Wells, who is running for reelection, asked the lobbyists about a state conservation tax credit. Wells lives in Sandy Mush and has made conservation a large focus of her governance.

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Dinwiddie said that a version of the tax credit was part of the budget the North Carolina House passed in April 2023, but it did not make it into the final budget. He said that he remains hopeful that the legislation could pass this year, considering that a large coalition supported it.

Wells asked about funding a sewer extension in Candler. Christensen called that a “fantastic project” and said that its location in the county would allow it to win legislator support.

Commissioner Parker Sloan asked whether the state could help fund some of the county’s capital improvements. Dinwiddie said that receiving state funding for these initiatives would depend on the project. Board Chair Brownie Newman wondered if the state would help fund the county’s Ferry Road development.

The lobbying team and the staff will present to the board again with potential additions to the legislative strategy.

Mitchell Black covers Buncombe County and health care for the Citizen Times. Email him at mblack@citizentimes.com or follow him on Twitter @MitchABlack. Please help support local journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Asheville baseball, pay raises, sewer funding Buncombe lobbyists plan