Connect NC bonds would invest in state's future
Published June 8, 2015
by Bill Daughtridge, Secretary of Administration, published in Rocky Mount Telegram, June 3, 2015.
Back home in Rocky Mount, I am often asked about my role as secretary of the N.C. Department of Administration.
It’s best to think of me as the business manager for the state of North Carolina. As business manager, I have helped Gov. Pat McCrory restore North Carolina’s positive credit rating by getting rid of bad debt and by cutting up North Carolina’s credit cards. Now, we have the opportunity with Connect NC to invest in North Carolina’s universities in the same way a prospective homeowner buys a house and invests in their future.
Connect NC contains two $1.4 billion bonds, a transportation bond and an infrastructure bond that contain $534 million dedicated to strengthening North Carolina’s public universities. By taking advantage of historically low interest rates, Connect NC will enable North Carolina to attract and support a rapidly-growing population with a top-tier university system.
Projects through Connect NC touch 10 universities that span from Western Carolina University in mountainous Jackson County, to Elizabeth City State University in beautiful Pasquotank County near the coast. These projects are related to restoration and growing academic fields like engineering, STEM programs and health sciences. Half of the proposed projects are for North Carolina’s HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities). Our universities represent the future of North Carolina and their ability to equip the next generation of North Carolinians with innovative job skills cannot be overvalued. Without investment through Connect NC, their ability to compete may be hamstrung by crumbling infrastructure and antiquated academic facilities.
This opportunity could not be timed any better. Right now Connect NC is able to strengthen North Carolina’s universities by building 50-year assets using 20-year money. Just as most homeowners pay for a house as they use it over time, not the day they move in, North Carolina is able to take advantage of low-interest rates to operate in a similar way.
As a graduate of our university system and former member of the UNC Board of Governors, I know firsthand the value of these projects to improve our university system. As the business manager for the state of North Carolina, I know the value of making sound business decisions. It’s the right decision to keep our universities competitive, it’s the right time to make this investment and Connect NC is the right choice to invest our future.
More information can be found at www.connect.nc.gov.
Bill Daughtridge is a former North Carolina representative from Rocky Mount.
June 8, 2015 at 10:41 am
Doug says:
Let's see....stop stealing $300 million of highway money every year to spread around in the general fund and you have just over four years to get to the same $1.4 billion. Maybe we need to prove we are fiscally responsible with the huge investments we already have at our disposal before we borrow and spend one more time. Heck, if we just stop that practice I might be more prone to actually vote for a bond referendum.
June 8, 2015 at 10:48 am
Richard L Bunce says:
IF at all these bonds should just pay for maintaining existing roads, not building new ones, and not for creating additional temples to worship nonsense on UNC campuses. The bill should also have a new dedicated broadly based and road user centered revenue source to pay of the bonds.
