{"id":8982,"date":"2011-10-07T16:42:58","date_gmt":"2011-10-07T20:42:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raleighpublicrecord.org\/?p=8982"},"modified":"2011-10-13T10:46:14","modified_gmt":"2011-10-13T14:46:14","slug":"group-sues-wants-debt-referendum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/news\/2011\/10\/07\/group-sues-wants-debt-referendum\/","title":{"rendered":"Group Sues, Wants Debt Referendum"},"content":{"rendered":"

With two bonds on the ballot for next week\u2019s election, the Wake County Taxpayers Association wants voters to have a say in any future debt the city wants to take on. The group sued the City of Raleigh recently for rejecting a petition to ask voters to amend the city charter.<\/p>\n

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Sign urging voters to approve the transportation and housing bonds<\/p><\/div>\n

The city rejected the Taxpayers Association\u2019s petition earlier this year, claiming that the group does not have enough signatures and that there is no provision in the state\u2019s general statute to change the city\u2019s charter in regards to debt.<\/p>\n

Taxpayers Association President Russell Capps said his group decided to file a lawsuit to \u201cget the judge to declare who\u2019s right \u2013 the city or us.\u201d<\/p>\n

As stated on their website, the Wake County Taxpayers Assocation is \u201ca non-partisan, non-profit, all-volunteer organization whose purpose is to monitor the use of taxes, initiate action to reduce excessive taxation, eliminate wasteful government spending, and encourage the wise and common sense use of taxes at all levels of government.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the lawsuit, filed in Wake County Superior Court last month, the Taxpayers Association\u2019s petition seeks to change the city\u2019s charter by proposing that any debt the city wants to take on must go to voters in an election, except to \u201cfund or refund a valid existing debt originally approved by the voters.\u201d<\/p>\n

As stated in the lawsuit, the City of Raleigh is currently about $1.2 billion in debt \u2013 with about $420 million not approved by voters.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit contends that the city is contemplating borrowing $458 million more without voter approval for projects, such as the highly-contested Lightner Center, and that the 2010 general fund budget siphoned off 29 percent for covering the debt service.<\/p>\n

In order to make such a change to the city\u2019s charter, the Taxpayers Association circulated a petition, as required by both North Carolina\u2019s General Statute and the city\u2019s charter.<\/p>\n

But, the number of signatures that are needed for consideration is a matter of debate in the case.<\/p>\n

According to North Carolina General Statute, a petition would need 10 percent \u201cof the whole number of voters who are registered to vote in city elections according to the most recent figures certified by the State Board of Elections or 5,000, whichever is less.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raleigh\u2019s City Charter states that it must be signed by \u201cat least ten per centum of the registered voters at the last regular municipal election.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the lawsuit, the Taxpayers Association collected 6,500 signatures, which they say is more than what is required by both the state\u2019s general statute and the city\u2019s charter.<\/p>\n

The Taxpayers Association\u2019s argument is that since 55,121 voters voted in the last Wake County municipal election in 2009, and 10 percent of that is 5,513, their total exceeds the city\u2019s charter and the state\u2019s general statute requirements.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe contend that state statute prevails over the city charter,\u201d Capps said, in regards to the case.<\/p>\n

But, City Clerk and Treasurer Gail Smith\u2019s argument, as stated in the city\u2019s rejection letter, is that per the city\u2019s charter the petition needs about 25,000 signatures, or 10 percent of all registered voters at the last municipal election, which the city states was a total of more than 250,000.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit states that Smith also denied the petition because general statutes do not include provisions for amending a city\u2019s charter so voters can approve municipal debt.<\/p>\n

Both Smith and City Attorney Thomas McCormick declined to comment on the pending litigation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Wake County Taxpayers Association filed a lawsuit against the City of Raleigh after it rejected a petition to add a debt referendum to the city\u2019s charter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24038,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8982"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24038"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8982\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}