BY MIKE FUHRMAN

Rep. Jeff McNeely choked up on Monday night as he made his final plea to voters at the Iredell County Farm Bureau Candidates Forum for their support in the upcoming GOP primary election.

McNeely, who is facing a serious challenge from Purple Heart Homes co-founder John Gallina in the March 5 primary, became emotional in his closing statement.

“Folks, it’s been one of the greatest honors of my life to serve y’all for the last 24 years — no matter what position but especially in the North Carolina House,” McNeely told the large crowd at the Iredell County Ag Center in Statesville.

“I’ve worked hard,” he added. “I’m not the smartest person in the room. I ain’t the good-lookingest person in the room. But you won’t outwork me.”

McNeely said his hard work has paid off for the county in the form of $143 million in state allocations during the last two budgets. Touting his conservative voting record, he said his experience as a county planning board member, county commissioner and in the N.C. House make him the best choice in the Republican primary.

“I’ve made 4,000 recorded votes. You know who I am,” McNeely added. “This is not about promises. It’s about facts.”

During the Q&A portion of the forum, the incumbent said he has worked to secure $57 million in state funding for farmland preservation and supported increased education funding and school vouchers to give parents a choice. 

“This is not a popularity contest. This is about representing 88,000 people who need you, who have problems that the government’s brought about,” McNeely said. “I’m there for you. I’ve been there for you. I’ll always be there for you.”

Gallina, a combat-wounded veteran making his first run for public office, told the crowd he was running to give voters a choice. If elected, he said he would continue doing what he has done for the past two decades.

“It’s about other people and serving other people, serving our community,” Gallina said, “from my time in the North Carolina National Guard and my time running a national public charity and really being able to solve problems that exist that nobody is discussing or looking at.”

As a member of the local legislative delegation, Gallina said he would work for all of his constituents.

“Ultimately, I believe we have a way of life that we want to protect. We have needs in our families. We have needs and concerns for our children, for the next generation.

“I never claimed to have all the answers,” he added. “But leadership’s taught me that I can’t do it all. I certainly can’t do it alone, but that I need to surround myself with good people.”

During the Q&A, Gallina said he would work to lower taxes — including the transfer or death tax, which he called a threat to American sovereignty.

“We’re overtaxed,” he said. “This is a grave concern for us.”

He also vowed to help protect family farms, support legislation to assist micro-farmers, deregulate public education and empower local educators and parents “to determine what our community needs.”

The job of a state legislator, Gallina said in his closing, is to listen to the community, understand residents’ needs, devise a plan “and then pulling together a team that can go fight for them,” he added.

Chris Gilbert, a Democrat who will face the winner of the McNeely-Gallina race in the November election, also participated in Monday’s forum.

He told the crowd he supported legislation to preserve farmland and impact fees on developers. In contrast to the GOP candidates, he did not push for deregulation of public education.

“Too many mandates aren’t the problem,” Gilbert said. “Unfunded ones are.”

Early voting in the March 5 primary election begins on Thursday, February 15.

Board of County Commissioners Forum

Seven Republican candidates and one Democrat running for three seats on the Iredell County Board of Commissioners also participated in the forum.

Republican and unaffiliated voters who choose a GOP ballot can vote for up to three commissioner candidates in the March 5 primary.

During Monday’s forum, incumbents Scottie Brown, Gene Houpe, and Melissa Neader defended the board’s handling of the recent budget. Faced with concerns over large increases in property values, the voted — with commissioners Bert Connolly and Brad Stroud — to reduce the tax rate by nearly 4 cents to 50 cents per $100 valuation.

“We lowered your tax rate as much as we could,” Houpe said, adding that reducing them further would have been “irresponsible.”

The commissioners are left with an extra $100 million-plus tab for the new Weathers Creek High School caused by a four-year delay in construction, have to plan to pay for three more new schools, a new courthouse, new headquarters for the sheriff’s office and a new health department. They’ve also put plans for a major fairgrounds renovation on the back burner until bids for the new high school come in.

The board is trying to plan for those projects while also funding the operations of 26 departments, the volunteer fire service, and helping fund the two public school systems and Mitchell Community College.

Balancing all those needs, while looking out for taxpayers is a challenge, Neader said.

“I show up. I participate. I get work done,” said Neader, the current board chair.

Brown said he shared residents’ concerns about their increased tax bills.

Increased demands for new schools and other county services, the incumbent commissioners said, are caused by municipal governments — who don’t have to build schools — approving new housing developments.

“We try to do a good job,” he said. “We’re not perfect.”

The county’s budget increased from $258 million in fiscal year 2022-2023 to $323 million in 2023-2024.

Among the challengers, William Compton criticized the board for approving economic development incentives for companies that relocate to Iredell County; Richard Coleman said he had done his homework and vowed to be “the most conservative commissioner possible;” and Angela Matthews and Brad Howard promised smaller, more transparent government, better oversight and lower taxes.

Coleman also took aim at commissioners for diverting federal Covid-relief funds to the municipalities, which had received their own relief checks.

Howard said commissioners should learn from Iredell-Statesville Schools’ mishandling of the Weathers Creek High School project, which is no closer to being built than when voters approved an $80 million bond referendum in March of 2020.

“Let’s put guardrails in place so it doesn’t happen again,” he said.

PUSHING BACK

Incumbent commissioners Neader and Brown both used their closing statements to push back against Matthews, who claimed in an earlier forum that the property tax bills of two commissioners had decreased.

Both incumbents said those claims were untrue. Brown said his taxes increased by $2,000, and Neader said her property values increased by a total of $900,000.

BIG IDEA

Beverly Maurice, a Democrat running for county commissioner in the November 5 general election, said the Board of Commissioners should consider a bond referendum to pay for several major capital projects.