Where Wake County Commissioner primary candidates stand on taxes, schools and more
Two seats on the seven-person Wake County Board of Commissioners have primaries March 3, and they’re both in the Democratic Party.
Two Democrats each want to fill the District 1 and District 3 seats. Incumbent Sig Hutchinson is running against Jeremiah Pierce in District 1. Maria Cervania is running against Audra Killingsworth in District 3. The winner of each will face a Republican opponent in the November general election.
Candidates must live in the district they hope to represent but all Wake County residents can vote for the district candidates.
Three candidates for commissioner – incumbents Matt Calabria, Susan Evans and James West — face no challengers from any political party.
Democratic incumbents Greg Ford and Vickie Adamson will both face Republican challengers — Karen Weathers and Faruk Okcetin, respectively — this fall.
Early voting for the primary has already begun.
Here’s a quick look at the two contested primary races. The interviews were done by phone, and some answers have been edited for length and clarity.
District 1:
Sig Hutchinson, 67, www.Sig4Wake.com, is president of Sig Hutchinson Communications and has served on the Wake County Board of Commissioners for six years.
Jeremiah Pierce, 34, www.ThePierceCampaign.com, owns a landscaping business.
The two also faced off in the 2018 primary when Hutchinson won 62.5% of the votes. The winner of the Democratic primary will face Republican Greg Jones in November.
District 3:
Maria Cervania, 53, www.MariaForWake.com, is a consultant who works in public health research and statistics.
Audra Killingsworth, 36, www.FriendsOfAudra.com, is an occupational therapist who has served on the Apex Town Council since 2017.
The winner will face Republican Steve Hale in November.
Incumbent Jessica Holmes is not seeking re-election and is running for N.C. Secretary of Labor.
Question 1: What are three biggest challenges facing Wake County?
Hutchinson, District 1: No. 1: Transportation and transit. No. 2: growth, sustainability and affordability. No. 3: Public education funding.
Pierce, District 1: Affordable housing, public education and balanced approach to growth and environmental protection.
Cervania, District 3: Public education, affordable housing and public transportation and traffic.
Killingsworth, District 3: Funding of public education, affordable housing and transit needs.
Question 2: Pick one of the three biggest challenges facing Wake County to solve and address?
Hutchinson: Transportation and transit. I am chair of CAMPO (the N.C. Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization) and vice chair of GoTriangle. And I ran on getting the $2.3 billion transit referendum on the ballot. I got it on the ballot and got it approved. I am intimately involved in transportation and transit issues.
Pierce: I grew up in Southeast Raleigh. I had to start working at the age of 12. I know what it’s like to have financial vulnerability. We are being gentrified at a level that is not good at all. We need to have affordable housing. We need to make sure we have public transit and density that includes housing affordability. We need to go into the communities and make sure they are being listened to.
Cervania: I think there is an umbrella issue that encompasses all of them. We’ve been trying to solve these issues separately, and I think the most important thing we can do is come together in more concrete ways, create a master plan. For instance when it comes to affordable housing the county has a goal of 50,000 units, but municipalities are the ones working with developers deciding what is going to be built. It could be incongruent with the goal. We need a comprehensive community plan for all Wake County that encompasses the cities.
Killingsworth: I think just about everybody discusses public education, and that’s just a matter of funding. However affordable housing is something that we have just started to tiptoe into as a county. And we need to address it in a much bigger way, but it needs to be a much more collaborative approach with the municipalities, the General Assembly and the counties to address it. I think having a more regional or county plan to address affordable housing needs is going to be the way to solve it.
Question 3: Is Wake County doing enough to fund the Wake County Public School System?
Hutchinson: The real issue is the General Assembly isn’t doing enough. By Constitution, it’s the responsibility of the General Assembly to fully fund public education. Our part is the supplement. And we have done very well with our supplement. It is now 57% of our budget. We had the highest teacher supplement in North Carolina, which means we are getting the highest quality teachers. We had the highest per-pupil spending in the county. So we are doing well. Can we do more? Sure we can do more, and we need to over time.
Pierce: I think we can do more. We need to step up and work with our teachers more often. We need to be a better partner with the Wake County school board. We have the N.C. Association of Educators who can teach us things, as politicians, that we do not know. The greatest weapon alive is education, and we can use it to change the world.
Cervania: They are doing all that they can with the budget’s majority going to public education. I think that for the constraints, the board of commissioners is doing all it can to fully fund the school system. There needs to be more accountability with the NCGA. If we get people into the General Assembly who believe in fully funding public education that would change the scope and responsibility of Wake County, and that would free up budget money for the other needs we have.
Killingsworth: We are providing the highest teacher supplement of any of the counties. Is it enough? I don’t think our teachers are being paid enough. I think everyone who works in our public schools should be paid a livable wage. The only way we are going to get there is with more funding from the General Assembly. That will take the burden off of the county. So are we doing enough? No, but I also think that is the fault of the General Assembly.
Question 4: Is the property tax rate in Wake County too high?
Hutchinson: It is what it is. I am working as hard as I can to keep our quality of life and education the best in the state and our tax rate reasonable.
Pierce: If you look at metropolitan cities across the country, we are actually in the bottom third. All these counties around us are higher. I am not for increasing taxes just to increase taxes. I want to make sure we are protecting our vulnerable communities. If we want to pay for things, like fixing infrastructure and implementing our transit plan, this is something we may have to look at.
Cervania: I think it is on par, and some of our surrounding counties have a higher tax rate. I am not in support of keeping increasing taxes. That should not be our first approach. We do have to maintain a certain level of funding when it comes to providing a high quality of education and providing a strong economic stability when it comes to our future.
Killingsworth: I do not think it is too high, but I do know people with fixed incomes are struggling so I would love to consider a tax deferment or using an expansion of the state services that address people with disabilities, fixed incomes or people over the age of 65 who need tax relief.
Question 5: Is Wake County doing enough to create or support affordable housing?
Hutchinson: We are doing a great job on affordable housing. We are putting $14 million a year (aside) with the goal of creating 500 units, which we are achieving that goal this last year. Which means 5,000 units over 10 years. But today we have a need for 50,000 affordable housing units in Wake County. And that is going to grow to 120,000 in 20 years. The reality of the situation is that the government or the public sector cannot solve the affordable housing problem in Wake County. We have to reach out to the private sector to get them to help us with affordable housing.
Pierce: I think we have started and have a good base of $15 million. It is a good start, but it is not enough for what we have going on. People are not going to be able to afford their homes unless we start doing something about it at a much faster pace. We have builders who want to work with us.
Cervania: I think there are incremental steps that are being made. but our residents are seeking action. I know it takes time, but a lot of this movement will be coming from the municipalities as well. And we can’t just lean on Raleigh. We need to do more.
Killingsworth: They have just started. They need to do more — we as a county need to be do more. (Commissioner) Jessica Holmes has started pushing the issue to be addressed and we have hired a housing director to address this issue. But it’s just being started to be addressed. We can do a lot more.
Question 6: Is the county doing enough to protect its natural resources like parks, open space and water?
Hutchinson: We could also do more. We’ve protected 7,000 acres of open space but we have a goal of protecting 30% of the county. That is a lot of land. We have got an amazing and growing greenway system of over 250 miles, but I am working with our county partners to make that a 15-county greenway network for the region. We have an amazing park system along with our municipal partners. I have a goal of having a 10-minute walk for every citizen of a park. We are a long way from that goal.
Pierce: I think the biggest thing right now is we have a quarry that is trying to take over land next to Umstead State Park. And that is something that is detrimental not just for the land, but Lake Crabtree is a river basin for the Neuse River. So this can cause deposits to go into it and cause water problems for people down at the coast. I am against the quarry.
Cervania: I think there have been good efforts to protect our environment, but there have been hard decisions when it comes to the budget. In the past few years we have had to put most of our budget into public education and not as much in terms of land banking, open spaces and other things to protect our environment.
Killingsworth: We could always do better. We are losing open space. And. we are losing our tree canopy as development continues. Mainly because the areas don’t require, and quite frankly, can’t require tree replacement in a one-for-one ratio. That is part of the General Assembly not allowing us to do things as municipalities or the county. The other thing is protecting our waterway. We are not able to require developers to have much larger buffers with our streams for our drinking water. We are basically handcuffed by the General Assembly on that matter.
Question 7: What’s another issue you care about?
Hutchinson: We need to be doing more around behavioral health and continue to address the opioid crisis in Wake County.
Pierce: I had to start working when I was 12. My wife is a public school teacher. I know the struggles she has to go through each day and the hours she puts in. I am a small business owner who pays a living wage. I want to be a leader for all people, someone who is in the community.
Cervania: I am a public health professional, and we need that experience on the board. Behavioral health, mental health, addressing disabilities. We need a person of that background on the board.
Killingsworth: Transportation. In much of the county, we don’t have much access to mass transit that is reasonable for people to use on a regular basis. If people want to use a bus to go to work or a grocery store, it is not convenient. It’s not going in the right direction. It’s not coming at all or often enough. We need to reassess and make that as useful as possible. We need to keep looking at commuter rail because we can’t keep adding lanes to the roads.
Question 8: Why should voters pick you over your opponent?
Hutchinson: I have a track record of getting things done. I have taken a leadership role in organizations such as CAMPO, GoTriangle, the Upper Neuse River Basin Association and Wake County’s Growth and Sustainability Committee. And I love doing this work, which is making the lives of our citizens better every day.
Pierce: I am me. When I come to the stage you get me. I am a person who is wholeheartedly here. This is my home. I’ve been here my entire life. Everyone around me is family. I don’t have friends. Everyone is family.
Cervania: I have the most relevant experience. My undergraduate degree was in biology and physical education. Although I have never been a full-time teacher in Wake County, I have worked in the classroom and have experienced the challenges when it comes to public education. I have worked in child protective, adult protective, disability (fields) so we need to have someone on the commission who has experienced with that.
Killingsworth: I already have experience in government through the town council. It is not at the same level as the county, but when you step into elected office you are drinking from a fire hose. You are provided a lot of information and you need to learn it quickly and how to direct people who are doing things for you, like the manager. I already have that experience. I’ve been talking to voters about what the biggest challenges are and I have my finger on the pulse.
This story was originally published February 24, 2020 at 6:10 AM with the headline "Where Wake County Commissioner primary candidates stand on taxes, schools and more."
