The Wake County Republican Party is opposing bond referendums for Raleigh transportation and public school construction projects.
Voters will decide in October whether to approve $75 million in improvements to sidewalks and roads as well as traffic calming projects in Raleigh. The Wake GOP executive committee says it voted to oppose that bond due to the city's accumulating debt.
Meanwhile, Wake County GOP chair Donna Williams says the committee narrowly voted to oppose the $810 million Wake County Schools bond because of a lack of confidence in the Democratically controlled school board.
"We feel that they have had a lack of transparency and accountability," Williams says.
"The Wake County Commissioners are required to sign off on land purchases, but after that it's completely in the school board's hands. We're just not comfortable with that. We would just feel much better if our county commissioners could be part of the entire process. Nobody's questioning that we don't need new schools and nobody's questioning that we don't need new renovations. But if it passes, it's taxpayer funded."
The bond was approved for a ballot referendum by the Wake County Board of Commissioners, which has a Republican majority. The school bond would support renovations and the construction of 16 new schools. The transportation bond would raise property taxes in Raleigh by a little more than one cent while the school bond would raise Wake County property taxes by five cents.