Commission candidates: Wayne Aycock, Republican, at-large
By Steve Herring
Published in News on October 21, 2012 1:50 AM
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Wayne Aycock
The News-Argus posed three questions to candidates for the Wayne County Board of Commissioners. Following are the responses of Republican Wayne Aycock of Pikeville who is seeking the at-large seat.
1. The budget is perhaps the biggest duty a commissioner has. What is your assessment of the current budget and tax rate? What are your budget goals and ideas?
"There is a lot of information that I do not have access to. As far as a tax rate, I know we had revaluation last year, which is mandated by the state. The county officials have nothing to do with it other than it has to be done. I do have a problem, we were told the tax rate would be revenue neutral. When I do the math on it, it was not exactly revenue neutral. I did pay more taxes than I did the year before.
"I feel like with the increase with the valuation and some of the spending that has been done, maybe instead of revenue neutral I think the county could have gotten by actually decreasing the tax rate by a couple of pennies.
"As far as the budget, I think there were probably some items included in the budget that possibly could have been eliminated from the information that I have.
"I am a very conservative person. I feel like if elected that the citizens of Wayne County expect me to manage their assets and money the way I do my own."
2. The county has been able to pay cash for recent facilities projects. What are the remaining facilities needs, including schools, and how would you pay for them?
"We are blessed that county is in position that it can pay cash for a lot of facilities. But we are probably looking in the near future that we are going to have to have some other school facilities. We have money that is set aside for different things, but when you start building schools, and probably with the population growth it is understandable that we have got to build other facilities for schools and other departments in the county ... I just don't see where you can dig into the surplus and pay for them.
"We have had bond issues mentioned. I am not familiar enough with the bond process to say whether that is the way to go or not. ... It may come down to that we may need to have bond referendum (for school construction)."
3. What would be your goals and objectives as commissioner?
"I feel like our No. 1 priority is our children. Also job growth in Wayne County is a must. It would be great if a large company would come in and employ several hundred people, but the chances of that are probably slim to none. We have to look after our small businesses.
"Another priority is our farming industry. Farming is our No. 1 source of income in Wayne County. We are rapidly losing a lot of our farm production land.
"We have got to ensure that we have top quality people working for the county. We have to make sure our pay standards are up to surrounding counties in eastern North Carolina.
"I feel like with some of the present officials and administration, I just feel like there is a conflict of interest in some of the positions that are being held right now.
"I am available to serve the citizens of Wayne County. I am retired. I have plenty to keep me busy, but I have had quite a few people encourage me to run for this office. I am not in position to promise anything other than if I don't make or have an impact on future of Wayne County, that in four years we get someone else to run to do it."