A Solution to the School Crisis in Wake County

The Wake County Commissioners, working together with local governments, can make a major step in addressing the crisis that faces the Wake's Public Schools (WCPSS). An Adequate Public Facilities (APF) ordinance for schools could generate $50 million annually. That would put the burden on growth for almost 50% of the cost of added school capacity. It would reduce the amount of the anticipated tax increase - although an increase still would be needed to cope with past under-funding of construction budgets by the County Commissioners.

An APF does not require additional authority from the NC General Assembly (NC GA). Four counties in N.C. already use APF's. Leadership and the willingness to confront the powerful development lobby are required. And cooperation between County and municipal governments is a must.

WCPSS's crisis is real. The lowest estimate for construction and maintenance of our public schools over the next decade is $4.5 billion. It is questionable that the public will support the necessary bonds. Wake's high growth rate, and past under-funding, has bent the school board into contortions: mandating huge and disruptive reassignments, year round schools, high-cost modular schools and trailers everywhere.

The Commissioners have formed a blue-ribbon committee to define means of paying for new schools and other infrastructure. But NC counties have few independent means of creating added sources of revenue - other than raising the property tax. Revenue sources widely used nationally in hundreds of other jurisdictions, e.g. impact fees and property transfer taxes, cannot be employed without the approval of the NC GA. Nine NC counties have received such powers. But under pressure from developers, the NC GA has repeatedly refused to extend similar authority elsewhere. The developers' clout results from their huge war chest, used to fund the campaigns of those who support them - or defeat those who do not toe the line.

Can half-measures solve Wake's problems? Wake is growing by 68 residents per day. Twelve thousand new residences were built in 2005. Six thousand new students per year require over $100 million per year in new facilities - plus the increasing renovation bills for 50-60 older schools.

The last blue-ribbon committee, formed in 2000, was called the Growth Management Task Force. They did nothing to control the rate of growth. Their consultant's first recommendation was an APF ordinance. An APF can apply to any public infrastructure, e.g. roads, utilities or schools. Under an APF a building permit is denied if there are not adequate facilities, e.g. permanent school seats, to service the new development. A "phasing" variation rations permits to match planned infrastructure.

Since the County has no authority regarding building permits outside the unincorporated areas, the municipalities must also employ them. Several years ago Cary passed a school APF. Cary allowed development if a fee was paid, in a roundabout way, an impact fee.

But neither the County nor the other municipalities would follow Cary's lead. Developers could circumvent Cary's APF by "moving across the street" into a neighboring town. Many did so and Cary's growth dropped sharply. Despite that, several million dollars was collected for schools. After a more development friendly town council was elected, Cary recently repealed its schools APF. Orange, Cabarrus, Stanly and Currituck Counties have APF's. Other counties are considering same. If a $4,000 fee was collected in Wake it would have provided $50 million in 2005, enough to finance almost 50% of the cost of growth.

Developers may claim that a Wake APF faces the same fate as Cary's. But where would developers move? The surrounding counties have growth problems of their own and have employed impact fees or APF's in various forms. Among the major counties in the Triangle region, Wake has made the feeblest effort to manage the growth rate. Wake is growing because of jobs and demographics. Only the fast-buck artists among the developers would leave Wake. Those that recognized that the health of the community was essential to their welfare would stay and prosper. They might even find that less draconian impact fees are not that bad after all.

Due to their previous denial of APF's, the Commissioners would have to take the lead. Without bold leadership and organized public support, the odds are against an APF. But sooner or later the public will demand a solution. Other high growth states and counties have found a solution in APF's. Why not Wake?