Yadkin Bridge 07:04:2020 With Text.jpg

Benefits Of Consolidation

Here are some specifics that each citizen should consider on how a consolidation of Wilkesboro and North Wilkesboro might potentially benefit the towns, and in turn the lives of citizens:

1. BETTER STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE - One stronger, unified town would give us better vision and allow us to better plan for the future and help our community better deal with issues that we are facing. It would allow our community to better allocate its resources to help put us in a better position to do things that could create more jobs and stimulate our economy. It also would allow better planning when it comes to zoning, and eliminate divisive and detrimental rivalry between the towns.

2. MORE COST EFFECTIVE AND EFFICIENT SERVICES - If you look at recent trends in our area, rising costs of doing government are outpacing our growth. Our populations are not growing. We are not having any significant residential or commercial development like many other communities are having.

What this means is that, moving forward, the local governments are likely going to have to either raise taxes or make cuts to service levels to keep government solvent. This is happening in many communities across our state and country. The third option is to remove duplication between the towns, that in our opinion, is plain and simply a waste of money. We believe that our towns can no longer waste money on duplication like having to pay two elected boards, two town managers, two police chiefs, etc., etc.. This sort of duplication costs a lot of extra money, and doesn’t leave the tax payers any better off. We believe we are wasting significant money.

One stronger police department, one stronger fire department, one public works department, and one administration, etc., could potentially mean more efficient services, cost savings, possibly better fire insurance ratings, and better emergency response times. With cost savings, there is real potential to lower taxes or, at least slow their rise in the long run. It would also prevent government overlap, and because of economies of scale, might possibly reduce the cost of some town purchase expenses.

Ask yourself, “Do we really need two elected boards to govern one community of less than 8,000 people?”. Mt. Airy, NC, which is known as Andy Griffith’s storied town of Mayberry, has a population of 10,000 people. This is larger than both of our towns population combined! Neighboring town, Lenoir, NC, has a population of 18,000, which is over twice our combined population, yet it is still a small town.

Our point is this, even if you consolidated both of the WIlkesboros into one larger town, we would still be considered a very small town.

3. BETTER POSITION TO MARKET OUR COMMUNITY – It would be much easier to strategically market one larger town to the outside world than it is to market two smaller towns.

Most people outside of our community don’t know that Wilkesboro and North Wilkesboro are actually two different towns, much less the differences between the two. They don’t know where one town stops and another begins. They don’t know whether they are on Main Street Wilkesboro or Main Street North Wilkesboro. When the situation is explained to them, they often don’t understand why there are two towns instead of one.

For example, at the most recent Merlefest, two separate headlining artists playing on stage, both made statements about being in “North Wilkesboro”, on the same night! They didn’t know the difference between the towns, and it didn’t matter. We know of multiple other examples of this.

Businesses, industries, and others looking at our area most likely would find one larger town of nearly 8,000 people more appealing than to smaller towns of 3,600 and 4,400 people. This could help us be more competitive in regards to bringing more employment, retail, and amennities to our area.

4. BETTER POSITION FOR GRANT MONEY – One town of nearly 8,000 could potentially garner more attention for state and other funding than two smaller towns whose close location and similar names can be confusing to people who live outside of Wilkes County. The voice of our community would be stronger when dealing with other entities if we were one town.

5. SMALLER GOVERNMENT - Having one governing board with less elected officials and no duplicate staff positions would reduce politics, bureaucracy, and the overall government footprint in our community.

6. REVIVE THE SPIRIT OF OUR COMMUNITY – Both towns have historically had strong spirits of civic pride and a project like this could bring excitement about our towns, from both inside and outside of our community, that has not been seen in our lifetimes.

A Consolidation Study Would Need To Demonstrate These Specifics To Be Worthy Moving Forward:

  • Savings at fairly equal levels for both towns. No town should benefit more than the other.

  • Government responsiveness should get better, not worse.

  • Better services, not worse, and at the same or less cost.

  • Greater sense of community.

  • Each town would maintain equal/fair representation.

  • Identify clear benefits to citizens of both towns.

  • Have a transparent consolidation commission.

  • Define a clear transition cost, and how long it would take to pay for it.

  • Define a clear savings benefit, and how long it would take to acquire it.