PENDER COUNTY — Jimmy Tate, Republican, is running for Pender County Commissioner, District 1. Tate served two terms as Pender County Commissioner in the past and is a life-long professional educator.
Port City Daily has sent a questionnaire to every candidate running in local elections in the tri-county region. The paywall is dropped on profiles to help voters make informed decisions ahead of casting their ballots.
As a reminder, the early voting period runs from Apr. 28 to May 14. The voter registration deadline is Apr. 22. Voters may partake in same-day registration throughout the two-week early voting period (check if your registration is active at your current address).
Primary Election Day is May 17. Voters will choose which candidates from their registered party they want to move forward in the formal election. Those who are registered as unaffiliated can choose which party’s primary they want to vote in.
Tate’s stances on issues are discussed below. All answers are included in full and the candidate’s opinions and statements are not a reflection of Port City Daily. Responses are edited only for grammar, spelling and clarity.
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Port City Daily: What are the greatest issues the county is facing? How would you work to address it?
Jimmy Tate: The biggest issues facing Pender County are infrastructure and growth, development and education.
In regards to infrastructure, growth and development, I would first meet with the planning department and see our long-term growth plan. Every 10 years our planning department develops a strategy for the county that is wide in scope and lays out how and where we and the citizens want the county to grow. It is a detailed plan that encompasses zoning, development guidelines, etc. There are several public showings of the plans and input is taken from citizens before the planning department ever takes it before the planning board and eventually to the commissioners, who again have public hearings to get input.
In regards to our schools, we need to ensure and maintain parental input. Our county does not need to do what other counties in North Carolina and across the state and country have done where they circumvent the parents to push agendas. Parents must be and are a vital part of any child’s education.
As commissioners we are limited to what we can actually do, but we do control a good deal of the money they receive each year, so an open and honest communication between the two boards is vital.
PCD: In what ways does Pender County need to manage population growth?
JT: Pender County is one of the fastest growing counties in North Carolina and has been for decades. When I was a commissioner, we took growth seriously, as I believe the sitting commissioners do now.
Growth is coming, and we have to be prepared and make sure it is smart growth, which includes the business and residential sectors. I have dealt successfully with these issues in the past and will do so again.
There is a real possibility there could be four new commissioners with no experience on the board after this election. If that would happen, the people would not have experienced representation on the board in dealing with this issue and should that happen, real problems can occur.
PCD: How well do you think the county balances development with “livability” (i.e. moderated traffic, preserved green space, etc.)?
JT: I think this is always a struggle with any county. Finding a good balance can be tricky at times, as we are a predominantly residential county with low industry. Our funding is primarily derived from property tax, but we can’t just allow development to go up anywhere and everywhere. We have to be mindful of the people living here; you can’t just let unfettered growth occur to help keep taxes down, but you can’t stop growth and let taxes rise.
In eastern Pender traffic is a problem along Highway 17. This has been a problem for decades. Former commissioner and state representative Carolyn Justice championed this cause in the early 2000s by getting the Hampstead Bypass on the NCDOT transportation plan and fully funded at the time.
Since that time, Pender County and the country has been through a large recession and the Covid shutdown. This obviously affects timing and money for that project, but it needs to be fast-tracked once again.
I can hit the ground running on this. I know many legislatures in the state, and I know how to talk to them to try and get this project finished as quickly as possible. It’s a project that needs to be addressed immediately. There is no other fix as Highway 17 is trapped between the Holly Shelter Game lands on the west and the ocean on the east.
PCD: How concerned are you about Pender County’s environmental quality?
JT: Environmental quality is always a concern for any county. That’s why when I was a commissioner, we stressed maximum green space on all new developments. We partnered with groups to create good clean use of our land such as the Hampstead Kiwanis Park.
We are a tourist destination with the ocean, waterways and canals. In the western part of the county we have been and are currently pushing eco-tourism. No one wants to live, visit and vacation somewhere where environmental quality is poor.
PCD: How appropriate is the county’s supplemental funding to the school district?
JT: I haven’t been a commissioner for several years, so I have not been in the budgeting process between the school board and the county commissioners, so it’s hard to definitively say if the funding is at the right levels.
But I will say as an educator myself, education is very important to me and I will fight to ensure our schools have what they need to get the job done. When I was a commissioner, I will say the schools were funded very well. In fact, at one point the school board commissioned a group that was spearheaded by educators to see if Pender schools were adequately funded by the commissioners. As it turned out, the study showed that for its size and ability to pay, Pender County was funding its school system well beyond its recommended median.
PCD: What do you think of the current tax rates? How will you balance taxes with identifying funding for top-of-mind issues?
JT: I think the tax rates need to be looked at every year. It would be easy and I would be really popular if I said they were too high and they needed to be cut immediately, but it’s not that simple.
To calculate the proper tax rate you really have to be in the budget process and see the money coming in and where it is going out. We know there are needs that need to be addressed such as the sheriff’s office, but where can you cut to find the money.
When I was a commissioner there was very little fat in the budget and I suspect it’s the same now. The current board has five conservative republicans serving, and if elected, I will continue the value of fiscal conservatism that this county needs.
PCD: How would you rate the current board’s fiscal responsibility? Were there any recent expenditures you would have voted differently on?
JT: I think the board has done a good job at being fiscally conservative. I don’t see a lot of pork.
The one expenditure I would have voted differently on would have been the current county manager having two assistant county managers. I do not understand the logic in that decision. If a manager for a county the size of Pender needs two assistant managers to help him in his duties, it makes me think we have the wrong managers.
In my time as a commissioner, I worked with several managers and none of them, good and bad, never asked for two assistant managers. I think that is wasteful and needs to be looked at.
PCD: With the growing population, how do you think the county should maintain or upgrade its infrastructure?
JT: If you are going to have growth you have to have infrastructure. As a former commissioner, I was on the board when we created county water in Rocky Point and stretched it to eastern Pender County. That was not an easy task and was met with some skepticism at the time. Although salt intrusion into private wells continues to be prominent, I suspect some of those that criticized the program at the time are grateful for it now.
But that and any infrastructure plan is difficult. It’s timely and costly. It requires constant attention and vigilance.
The most glaring infrastructure needs in the county are in the eastern part and that is the Hwy 17 bypass. Some may suggest slowing or halting development until the bypass is completed. That is not an option and if it were, you introduce a different set of problems to an already problematic situation.
The experience I gained from working on the Hwy 17 bypass when I was a commissioner gives me and the county a step up in getting this completed as quickly as possible. I know and have good working relationships with the people that can get the bypass moving quickly. There will be no down time for me to get up to speed on the project. I’m already up to speed having worked on it previously.
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