Eleven Fayetteville City Council candidates, including both in this year’s mayoral race, answered questions on primarily economic-related topics — such as growth and development, the tax rate, housing and infrastructure — during a forum Wednesday hosted by the Greater Fayetteville Chamber.
After giving an introductory statement, each candidate present was given three minutes to answer a randomly drawn question. The questions came from a list of 35 that were chosen after being solicited by the organization from various groups in Fayetteville and narrowed from 50 that were submitted.
The forum — sponsored by Piedmont Natural Gas, the Longleaf Pine Association of Realtors and the Home Builders Association of Fayetteville — was organized by individual district races that will be decided in the Nov. 7 general election. After the first candidate in a given district or race answered a particular question, the second candidate in that race was allotted a minute to provide a rebuttal. The second candidate was then asked a different, random question and the first candidate could also offer a rebuttal. In instances where the opposing candidates were not present for the forum, or the candidate was running unopposed, the candidate was only asked one question.
The forum, at the Crown Coliseum, came a day after Fayetteville police released a statement addressing community concerns regarding four bodies that were discovered along Bragg Boulevard in the last three weeks. During the one-hour forum, though, candidates were not directly asked questions about crime and public safety — still, several candidates alluded to the topic throughout the debate. Of the 35 questions selected for the event, none of those drawn addressed crime or policing.
The forum took place just over a week after the 2023 municipal primary election, which included primaries in the mayoral, District 2 and District 5 races.
About 60 people attended, including Chamber members, military leadership, sponsors, members of the media, Chamber President Nat Robertson and his staff, Chamber members from around Cumberland County and other areas, and other residents.
In District 3, incumbent Mario Benavente attended but his competitor, Michelle Dillon, did not. Dillon had work responsibilities and her mother was in the hospital, an event organizer told CityView. District 4 incumbent D.J. Haire, who also did not participate in the forum, is on bedrest recovering from an injury. Stuart Collick, Haire’s competitor, did not provide organizers an explanation for his absence.
Candidates from unopposed races in District 7 and 8 — incumbents Brenda McNair and Courtney Banks-McLaughlin, respectively — did not attend. The event organizer said Banks-McLaughlin was out of town and McNair had family in town for her brother’s funeral.
Fredlisha Lansana, who is running against incumbent Deno Hondros in District 9, was not present because she had to care for her daughter who had a health issue, the event organizer said.
Tax rate
Mayoral candidates were asked about the local property tax rate in Fayetteville, which is 1.3385% (or 0.013385 cents per $100 valuation, which is the combined tax rate of Fayetteville and Cumberland County). That’s higher than the state tax rate of 0.70%. Meanwhile, median income in Fayetteville is $48,923, which is lower than the median income in North Carolina, $60,516.
Given this disparity, candidates were queried on how they would balance the city’s social services without further burdening taxpayers. Incumbent Mayor Mitch Colvin said that although the county tax rate is comparatively high at 0.799%, Fayetteville’s rate of 0.5395% is on the low end when compared to peer cities. For example, Winston-Salem has a city property tax rate of 0.66% and Greensboro has a 0.67% rate.
Colvin said it was important to grow the tax rate by supporting the private sector and attracting new businesses. He also believes, he said, that increasing the tax base would allow the county to rise above a Tier 1 status. The N.C. Department of Commerce annually assigns counties ratings based on economic well-being and assigns each a tier designation ranging from 1 to 3, with 1 being the lowest or worst.
“I’m proud to say that I think as re-evaluation comes, we’re going to see a significant increase in our tax base, which will help us work towards getting out of the Tier 1 status that we have,” Colvin said. “And finally, I’ll say this economy has been too dependent on government-related jobs, so we’ve got to grow the private sector. We’ve got to make it to where there are opportunities here.”
Freddie de la Cruz, Colvin’s opponent for mayor, said he would not raise taxes if elected. He said the city needs to work with builders and contractors to build more houses to increase commercial tax rates and reduce private property taxes. He also thought it was important to increase the city’s tax base by attracting new businesses.
“Currently, I spend about $20,000 a year on county and city taxes,” de la Cruz said. “So I’m definitely not an advocate of increasing taxes for our citizens.”
Growth, development and neighborhood revitalization
District 2 incumbent Shakeyla Ingram was asked how she would address large-scale development projects that developers have abandoned, such as the failed Costco project, apparently because of new building code regulations.
Ingram said she has been successfully working to bring back the committee on the Unified Development Ordinance. She noted she hasn’t seen that level of abandonment in real estate projects in her district, but would continue to address concerns raised by constituents.
“I do work with a lot of developers that have our residents’ interest at heart,” she said. “So what I can do is continue to work to address those concerns.”
District 5 incumbent Johnny Dawkins was asked about what he would do to help revitalize struggling neighborhoods. He said he had previously voted to support the Murchison Road Choice Neighborhood plan and the redevelopment of Grove View Terrace, as well as the Day Resource Center for the homeless.
“I’ve supported every project to revitalize neighborhoods,” Dawkins said. “I’m a big proponent of protecting neighborhoods from commercial encroachment.”
Lynne Greene, who faces Dawkins, offered a rebuttal to that statement, arguing that public safety was the major impediment in revitalizing struggling neighborhoods and improving community members’ relationship with the police would help.
“When the police come into the neighborhood, they foster those relationships and they foster a feeling of community again, and they take pride in their neighborhood,” Greene said. “And that pride goes a long way.”
Housing and infrastructure
Derrick Thompson, running unopposed in District 6, was asked if he supports accessory dwelling units, tiny houses and duplexes in single-family neighborhoods.
He said he is in favor of housing development in Fayetteville, including apartments in single-family neighborhoods. Thompson believes the city needs developers to build more houses to expand the tax base, keep young people in Fayetteville and attract new families to the city.
“Family values and family growth can only come in a house,” Thompson said. “It’s hard to do it in an apartment.”
District 3’s Benavente fielded a question about how he would address stormwater challenges with growth creating novel challenges for maintaining the city’s infrastructure.
Benavente said stormwater concerns are a top priority for his constituents; the Eccles Park community in his district is particularly vulnerable to flooding. Benavente said he has visited the community with civil engineers to better understand the problem and to develop solutions, and is committed to working on stormwater issues, especially amid global warming.
“I’m someone who doesn’t sit quietly and idly by, just putting my thumb up and down once every couple of weeks,” Benavente said. “I make sure that when there’s a priority to be achieved, especially for my neighborhoods, we’re going to achieve that goal together with all the relevant partners. And if money is the last obstacle, we’ll be able to get that as well.”
Civic issues
District 2 candidate Malik Davis was asked if he believes the city’s $7.1 million investment in the Day Resource Center — a support service center for the homeless — was warranted, or if the money “could be better spent” on something else.
Davis argued that people experiencing homelessness should be treated as community members and given support services.
“We can never put an amount of money on someone’s life, in order to make sure that we are protecting those that are in our community,” Davis said. “The homeless community is very important. They’re human beings just like us. So any amount of money that we can spend to make sure that they have a safe place to stay is money well spent.”
District 9 incumbent Deno Hondros was asked what he would do to help create unity within the county and city. Hondros said he believes that if city leaders do more to work with the county and the city’s Public Works Commission, they can achieve widespread improvement on multiple civic fronts, as opposed to individual leadership working in silos.
He said this would mean having ongoing conversations and attending each other’s events and meetings — Hondros frequently attends PWC meetings.
“A lot of the problems, youth violence, homelessness — they’re not going to be solved by the city,” Hondros said. “They’re not going to be solved by the county alone. We have to work together. It’s got to be a partnership between not only the city and the county, but also the private sector and the community, the citizens.”
Attracting families and businesses to Fayetteville
Alex Rodriguez, who is running against longtime Councilwoman Kathy Jensen in District 1, was asked how he would work to keep transient military families in the city. He said Fayetteville needs to incentivize corporations to come in and provide salary-based positions that can “match the talent” of military members who rejoin the workforce as civilians.
Rodriguez also believes prioritizing public safety will make Fayetteville a more desirable place to live.
“We’re setting records of crimes of homicides over the past three years,” Rodriguez said. “I’m the only … (candidate) with prior law enforcement experience running to actually have solutions to fight crime and also transparency of government.”
Running for her sixth term on city council, Jensen said she has prioritized supporting events that make Fayetteville a place with lots to do for families. She was asked to justify the city’s spending of over $300,000 on public events such as the New Year’s Eve and Juneteenth celebrations, but much less on the annual Dogwood Festival.
Jensen said that since the Dogwood Festival is operated by a nonprofit, the city contributed less in financial support. She believes that events like Juneteenth and New Year’s Festival help keep Fayetteville a bustling city and make families, especially military ones, want to stay and raise children here. She said she would like to make the Dogwood Festival “bigger and bigger” in the future, with the support of the county and other partners.
“People want to come here,” Jensen said of Fayetteville. “They want to know our history. They want to know how we do it. That’s how we became the All-American city. Our Dogwood Festival can bring as much as the Azalea Festival in Wilmington, but as a community, we need to get behind it”
This year’s Fall Dogwood Festival starts Friday and goes through the weekend. It will feature hay rides, food trucks, vendors and live music.
Contact Evey Weisblat at eweisblat@cityviewnc.com or 216-527-3608.
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