Jul 11

Jul 11 BJ Murphy: If not you, who?

I am more concerned about the next four years for Kinston today than I was four years ago.

The impasses we face with the City of Kinston pose significant challenges for our community’s future, and we need leaders to step up at a time such as this. The mayor’s seat and two councilmembers’ seats are up for grabs, and the $10 filing fee period ends on Friday, July 16th at 12:00 pm.

Now is not the time to complain. Now is not the time to critique. Instead, if you feel led to run or compelled to serve your community greater than your role today, here is your opportunity to influence or shape the change you desire.

The best indicator of future success is reviewing the past and including a snapshot of your current situation. Two major impasses the City of Kinston faces are organizational and financial.

Organizational Impasse

In less than three months, the City Manager, Police Chief, and Planning Director have announced they’re leaving the organization. Their combined professional knowledge of our community equates to over 40 years.

Most telling about their departure is that all three employees have more active years of service remaining in local government.

Scanning the current department heads, I would not be surprised if the new City Manager will have the task of finding replacements for three more department heads within the next four years. The vacuum of knowledge and leadership leaving our 370 employee operation cannot be understated.

Financial Impasse

When I took office in 2009, our General Fund Balance, essentially our “in case of an emergency fund” based on property tax revenues, was 16%. Without increasing the property tax rate, we grew the balance to 42% by my seventh year in office.

As I left office in 2017, I penned these words, “Our fund balances, which are our savings accounts for emergency use like hurricane expenses and one-time expenditures like the Queen Street rehab, across all our accounts have gone from a disturbing $13,059,467 to a healthy $35,275,632.”

What has happened to fiscal responsibility over the last four years? Being fiscally responsible affects every citizen because as property taxes go up, the trickle-down effect impacts everyone, from landowners to renters. Typically a property tax rate increase is tied to something of value. For example, several years ago, the Lenoir County Commissioners tied a property tax rate increase to the new school construction bonds.

Not the City of Kinston. Not to give employees a raise. Not to fix more roads. No.

This year’s four-cent tax rate increase plugs a $700,000 deficit into the budget. By doing so, the City of Kinston avoids alarming the Local Government Commission for having a lackluster fund balance. There’s no value to the hard-working employees, businesses, or citizens.

The financial impasse we face requires stewardship beyond our current station.

If not you, who? If not now, when?

Public service comes with public scrutiny. Serving your community also comes at a sacrifice. Yet if not you, who? And these two impasses foreshadow lackluster morale and policy decisions that require almost immediate correction. So if not now, when?

The mayor and council officially meet 22 times a year yet invest a considerable amount of time in phone calls, meetings, and more. The job is demanding. The rewards are slim.

Yet, our beloved community is deserving of leaders who value the work.

We deserve servant leaders who understand the people’s needs and place them above their own.

We need you to step up at a time such as this.

Then, we’ll see you at the polls.