Gaston County goals for 2018: Economic development, school funding, public safety

The chairman of the Gaston County Board of Commissioners says attracting new businesses and investment should be a key priority for the county’s elected officials in 2018.

“Economic development is going to be the biggest piece of the puzzle,” Commission Chairman Chad Brown said this week.

In its final regular meeting of the year, the seven-member board voted unanimously to keep Brown as chairman and to appoint Commissioner Tom Keigher as vice chairman.

“It’s an honor, to say the least, when your peers think that much of you, especially for a second year,” said Brown, who represents Riverbend Township on the board.

Keigher, a longtime member of the board, replaces first-term Commissioner Ronnie Worley of South Point Township as vice chairman. Worley joined the other six commissioners in supporting Keigher, who represents Gastonia Township, to the role.

“It’s nothing I asked for,” Keigher said. “I was nominated, and I accepted, and we moved on.”

Worley said he was not concerned that he was not nominated for a second round as vice chairman. He agreed with Brown’s stance that economic development is a chief priority for commissioners.

“The No. 1 priority is continuing to grow the tax base with mainly commercial and industrial properties,” Worley said. “I think that’s the only way that we can get to the point of being able to relieve our homeowners and property owners in Gaston County of the tax burden that we have.”

Commissioners have recently approved grant applications that would offer breaks to three unnamed businesses if they decide to expand into Gaston County. In November, commissioners voted to authorize an application for Project Roo, which would invest $8.9 million in a facility at the Gastonia Technology Park and bring 54 jobs paying an average of $39,667 per year. This month, they moved forward with grant applications to help lure two more companies, which have been dubbed Projects Wonder Woman and Karma.

Wonder Woman would invest roughly $30 million over about a four-year period to get set up and plans to create 150-200 jobs paying an average annual wage of $46,100. Karma would invest up to $18 million in the county and employ 150-200 people with jobs paying an average of $41,000, according to the Gaston County Economic Development Commission.

The commission reports that the average annual wage in Gaston County for 2017 is $38,483.

Brown says other key issues for commissioners in 2018 will be updating the radio communication system for the county’s first responders, beginning to expand the jail and bringing a vote on school bonds to residents.

At its Dec. 12 meeting, the board approved a calendar that would set a referendum for May, pending adoption of a resolution by the school board and the commission early next year a public hearing. The county and school system have identified more than $200 million in capital needs for local schools. Commissioners intend to call referendums on school bonds and a quarter-cent sales tax to help pay for the projects.

“We may be able to reduce property taxes if something like that were to pass,” Brown said, adding that more than 40 percent of the county’s tax burden geos toward paying school debt. “That would be a big help to us to alleviate some other needs that we have, such as the jail expansion and radio communications.”

During the meeting commissioners voted 6-7 to apply for a FEMA grant for fire departments that could help pay for a new radio system, the N.C. Highway Patrol’s Voice Interoperability Plan for Emergency Responders, or VIPER.

Currently, county agencies are on a 540-megahertz system that Brown called “antiquated.” The motion to apply for a grant was tabled by commissioners during their November meeting to further investigate whether VIPER, which is used by Cherryville and several agencies across the state, was a better investment than a similar 800-MHz system, the Charlotte Urban Area Security Initiative, which is used by Gastonia and Mount Holly.

Worley, the only commissioner to vote against applying for a grant for VIPER, said he thought the two systems should have been vetted more thoroughly.

“I feel like we would have a seat at the table on a regional system that was more local for our community needs,” Worley said.

The Gazette previously reported that upgrading to an 800-MHz system could run the county about $11 million. The grant that the fire department will apply for could cover up to $2 million with the county matching a maximum of $200,000. Actually upgrading the system could be a process that is a year or more away.

You can reach Dashiell Coleman at 704-869-1819 or on Twitter @DashiellColeman.