With a great deal of interest, I read the article titled "I-SS: New schools not on horizon." I have to applaud Superintendent Terry Holliday, his staff and our county commissioners for the efforts over the past eight to 10 years in planning for the growth of the student population.
However, I am a little confused. One of our county commissioners, Ken Robertson, has had an agenda for some time to stop or significantly slow the growth of Iredell County. One of the facts he cites is the growth of the student population as a result of new home construction, which he says has put a strain on our outstanding school system.
I have been in meetings where Mr. Robertson has requested the county planning staff to look into moratoriums on building, building permit caps, Adequate Public Facility Ordinances and/or other revenue-generating means of hindering the building community. Mr. Robertson believes that every new home built in Iredell County adds more than two new students to the school system.
The numbers Dr. Holliday quotes — growth by 600 to 800 students per year — do not support Mr. Robertson's claims. A closer look at new home permits for Iredell County (averaging 1,500 per year over the last 5 years) shows us that there are actually 0.5 students entering our school system for each new home built. I also do not believe that new home buyers are the only people in the county who have children entering Iredell-Statesville Schools each year.
For Mr. Robertson to continue this agenda is not in the best interest of the economic well-being of Iredell County. A recent study completed specifically for Iredell County by Elliot Eisenberg, senior economist for the National Association of Home Builders, stated, "In Iredell County 1,266 single family new homes in the first year bring a return of $244.1 million in local income tax, $51 million in taxes and other revenue for local governments and creates 4,944 local jobs. The annual recurring impact of housing contributes an additional $55 million in local income tax, $19 million in taxes and other revenue for the local governments and additional 1,210 local jobs."
It is also interesting that in Dr. Holliday's blog he recently noted, "as many of you know, the housing market has really been hit by the financial crisis. People who want to move here are unable to sell homes in cities they are moving from and people who want to buy homes are having difficulty getting credit due to the tightening of the credit market. What that means to ISS is that we did not grow our normal 2-4 % this year and that negatively impacts the budget." Likewise, if Iredell County does not grow, there is a negative impact on revenues the county collects.
So, as Mr. Robertson and the other county commissioners, Scott Keadle, Marvin Norman, Godfrey Williams and Steve Johnson, meet this weekend for their winter planning session to discuss the future of Iredell County, they have some difficult decisions to make.
I would encourage the others not to take the direction of Mr. Robertson but to work toward providing a strong economic future for Iredell County by encouraging growth rather than trying to prevent it.
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