Letter: No more bonds, please!

Posted on by Letters
Graphic by Lori Deaton

Vote against the two Buncombe County bonds on the back of your ballot. Here’s why.

We all love open space, including the Blue Ridge Parkway, half a million acres of Pisgah National Forest and numerous state forests surrounding us!

Fortunately, there are several existing and highly experienced nonprofits with many years of conserving local property without costing the taxpayer a penny. Why let inexperienced power-grabbing officials control it and force taxpayers to foot the bill for decades?

This is how much control your current leaders want! According to its website: Buncombe County has a “goal of conserving 20% of the county’s land by 2030.” Do they mean an elite, inexperienced group wants to control one-fifth of land now in private ownership? Wow!

And what guarantee is there that local government will live up to its word? Remember when Brownie Newman and the Democratic county commissioners reneged on the money that we voted to give specifically to A-B Tech?

Our county already owes at least $400 million in bond debt! As of mid-October, we owe $46.6 million in interest on this debt. Now liberals want to approve $70 million more debt? And they say issuing more debt will “save us money”?

Taxes will increase according to the value of not only your house but also your personal property (car, boat, RV, etc.). Examples provided by your government elitists are misleading at best and do not explain the long-term consequences for taxpayers or what this bond will actually cost us for decades.

In this economy, it takes a lot of nerve to even mention increasing taxes. If our elite leaders really want to help with affordable housing, instead of having taxpayers foot the bills, they should allow people to rent out rooms, lower taxes and find other ways for locals to afford to live here. Putting us all deeper in debt is no solution.

Please help stop this nonsense. Vote for responsible new leadership on the county Board of Commissioners! Vote for Anthony Penland, Don Yelton and Robert Pressley. It’s time.

— Janet Burhoe-Jones
Swannanoa

 

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One thought on “Letter: No more bonds, please!”

  1. Enlightened Enigma

    YASS !!! hope the smarter people voted NO !!!

    Brownie Newman is one sketchy ass dude…slimy.

    1

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