CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article and an earlier headline incorrectly reported that the council had not approved funding for affordable housing.
BY STACIE LETT CAIN
Although the Statesville City Council agreed to a 3-cent reduction in the city’s property tax rate for 2023-2024, Wednesday evening’s budget workshop included more than numbers crunching.
Following a lengthy discussion, council members decided to earmark $100,000 in the $41 million budget for affordable housing, but a proposal to provide funding for early childhood education did not receive enough support to be included in the spending plan.
Councilwoman Doris Allison proposed earmarking $100,000 as seed money for an affordable housing initiative.
“We are seeing over 7,000 families waiting for a safe, affordable place to live,” Allison explained. “Setting aside this money would be the first time we have taken any positive steps to move forward toward a solution to this problem. We cannot just ignore this anymore.”
This sentiment was also shared by Councilwoman Kim Wasson, who voiced concern that the new residential development in the city continues to be beyond the reach for most Statesville residents.
“The average income for the City of Statesville is $45,000, but the houses we are seeing built in these proposed developments are $300,000 homes,” she explained. “How can we keep our employees, our teachers and city employees living in the city which they serve when they can’t afford to live here on what we pay them? We have a duty to the people we represent to actually represent them. Making sure that there is affordable housing is part of that.”
“The Housing Authority can’t be the only player in this game,” Mayor Costi Kutteh said. “We need to have a partnership and although this set-aside is a good start to finding a solution, there is no way we alone can fix this.”
Wasson suggested that the council hold its own workshop about the issue after the June 29 forum organized by the Statesville Housing Authority.
Council members declined to invest city tax dollars to fund an educational program aimed at helping pre-kindergarten children get a head start on literacy.
The program, which would have served 18 children, would focus on establishing reading skills to allow those children a better chance of success when they start kindergarten. There was universal agreement among council members that some children need extra support.
The disagreement centered over who should foot the bill for it.
“We got out of the business of funding schools in 1991 when the Iredell-Statesville districts merged,” explained Mayor Kutteh. “I just don’t know about stepping back into that arena and being able to establish boundaries for when it is appropriate to do so.”
But Wasson was less concerned with the bill and more concerned about the fate of the 18 children in the balance.
“There are three schools within our city that are failing — they are failing to meet minimum standards — and those are our children,” she warned. “These are our schools, and they are failing. When we have new people moving to this area and new developers looking to build here, do you not think that those failing schools will have an impact on their decision? N.B. Mills is failing. Third Creek is failing. Our high school is failing. We have the opportunity to make a change that could affect this problem and we need to do it.”
Not all council members viewed the problem the same way.
“I am in the schools every day,” Councilwoman Amy Lawton countered. “I am in my children’s school every day, and they are succeeding. I just don’t see this as a problem we need to insert ourselves in.”
Allison agreed with Wasson, insisting that the problem for some students and schools was real.
“I’m happy for you that your children are succeeding and their school is succeeding, but that isn’t the case for all students and all schools,” Allison said. “We are responsible for all students and all schools, not just a few. I was in Third Creek Elementary just today and those teachers are asking for help. I think we need to give it to them.”
Councilman David Jones, although sympathetic, said the proposal raised policy concerns.
“I think we would muddy the waters if we fund this program when we don’t have a real relationship here with the school board,” he explained. “I think a better funding source would be the county commissioners, and I think we should draft a letter to them, as a council, asking for them to fund this.”
In the end, the council declined to fund the program, with only Wasson, Allison and Councilman Frederick Foster supporting the proposal.
City Manager Ron Smith will draft the budget ordinance reflecting the reduction and cuts made to accommodate it for the council to consider adopting at its June 19 meeting.