Despite Auditor Les Merritt’s best efforts, the Local Government Commission gave their final approval to tax increment financed bonds (TIFs) in Kannapolis and Woodfin.
The comment that floored me was when the Commission’s deputy chief of staff paraphrased Ellis Hankins and, in response to Merritt’s statement that the city and county would be left holding the bag, asked, “How paternalistic do we want to get?” The city and county are pushing the bonds, so we should let them take the brunt.
It’s not the government’s money at risk, it’s the taxpayers’. They don’t get a vote to approve the TIF. They face a higher burden because of the expense of TIFs. And it is their money that the government’s would use to handle any negative outcome. Close scrutiny by the LGC is not paternalism, it is restoring some accountability to local governments that try to avoid their voters.
