Chairman of the Cumberland County Legislative Delegation and State Rep. William Richardson, along with several members of the Delegation, Sen. Kirk deViere, Rep. John Szoka and Rep. Diane Wheatley, met with Greater Fayetteville Business Journal on Nov. 30 to discuss the massive and historic investment of over $412 million dollars into the Cumberland County community from the state budget. 

“What stood out to me this entire session has been the quality of the wonderful senators and representatives that this county elected,” Richardson said. “By far, the best delegation I’ve worked with in fiveand-a half-terms. Outstanding group of people, character people, very courageous -- because it took courage what everyone did, to get these items in the budget … I believe, because of the collective efforts and the individual efforts of this delegation, we have a gamechanger for Cumberland County.” 

Szoka mentioned he was also particularly excited that the whole Cumberland County delegation was on the “same sheet of music.” “I don’t think there’s any other delegation in the state that did this, and I’m not sure when the last time it happened here was, if ever,” Szoka said. “We united early on in the session. We made the decision that we were going to work together for the community, and we did.” 

“There are so many items in this budget for our community, and there isn’t one of them that all of us did not support. We all had things we brought to the table and wanted to see funded,” Wheatley said. She explained that she called each mayor in her district to ask what the needs of their communities were. “Those items were all funded in this budget,” she said. “I think all of us are extremely relieved, really, that the Governor signed the bill. I believe we got just about everything we requested.” 

The community investments are allocated as followed: $198,020,000 for higher education; $64,085,801 for local government; $11,100,000 for health care; $4,250,000 for economic equality; $550,000 for human services; $27,512,162 for military and veterans; $19,440,350 for flood mitigation and resiliency; $87,625,000 for other capital investments. 

These allocations mean that $352 million of capital investments are coming to the area to drive construction and job growth. 

“From my perspective and as a small business owner, I think it’s important to look at the impact that this budget … is going to have on our business community here locally and the economy overall,” deViere said. “We know that small businesses are the backbone of any community, and we made investments to grow those small businesses. We created an equity fund that will work with our economic development organization … to be able to grow businesses from that.” 

DeViere also mentioned that another investment in the business community includes a grant that the Center for Economic Empowerment and Development will receive for $750,000. It will be used for funding and training for minority-owned businesses, as well as to create a Community Development Financial Institution for minority business capital. 

In another effort to grow minority companies, $2.5M will go toward the Economic Equity Venture Capital Fund, with a goal of funding ten businesses that employ over ten employees over five years. 

Additionally, corporate income tax will be eliminated by 2030, state income tax on military pensions will cease to encourage the retention of military talent here and personal income tax rates will be cut, starting with a cut from 5.25 percent to 4.99 percent in 2022.

 “Over 9,000 people just here in Cumberland County exit the military every year. If we can keep that workforce, that’s a workforce that our businesses can use,” deViere said. 

“There’s about 65,000 retirees who live in the general vicinity [the Fayetteville MSA], Cumberland, Harnett, and Hoke,” Szoka said. “So what the bill does is it exempts military retired pay from state income tax, which is something 32 other states have done.” Until this change passed, many military retirees would leave to go to other states where they change had already been made; getting rid of the state income tax for military retirees makes North Carolina substantially more military friendly. “This is something I’ve personally been working on for over ten years,” Szoka said. 

With improvements to education, government, infrastructure, small business environments and more, the local legislature agreed that the quality of life will be improved by the new investments into the community; consequently, they anticipate that more people will see the benefit of living in the area. “If I could preach one thing to everyone,” Richardson said, “don’t be afraid to work with each other and to compromise and celebrate our differences and come together in the best interest of the community. The biggest lesson of this delegation … is that working together — it doesn’t matter that we disagree on how we get there… It doesn’t matter that you’re a democrat or a republican. What matters is we love this community and we want it to grow.” 

CUMBERLAND COUNTY COMMUNITY INVESTMENT BREAKDOWN 

HIGHER EDUCATION: FSU - College of Education, $63,000,000; FSU - NC Promise, $11,500,000; FSU - New Residence Hall, $40,000,000; FSU - Repairs and Renovations, $38,850,000; FSU - Residence Hall Parking Deck, $10,000,000; FSU - Ultraviolet-C Steralization Units, $670,000; FTCC Fire Training Center, $20,000,000; FTCC Nursing Building, $4,000,000; FTCC Truck Driver Training, $10,000,000 

LOCAL GOVERNMENT: City of Fayetteville - Homeless Day Center, $1,000,000; City of Fayetteville - Housing Trust Fund, $1,000,000; City of Fayetteville - Parks & Recreation Facilities, $2,000,000; City of Fayetteville - PWC - Stormwater Projects, $9,800,000; City of Fayetteville - PWC - Texfi Site Cleanup, $220,000; City of Fayetteville - Rehab Old City Hall, $250,000; City of Fayetteville - Storm Water Projects, $750,000; City of Fayetteville Historic Building Renovations, $2,700,000; City of Fayetteville Safety Improvements, $4,319,350; City of Fayetteville Trail Upgrades, $1,700,000; City of Raeford Capital Funds, $250,000; County of Cumberland - Homeless Shelter, $1,000,000; Cumberland County - Methodist University Stream Restoration, $2,000,000; Cumberland County - Local Health Department Grant, $371,451; Hoke County Capital Funds, $750,000; Hoke County Court House Rehab, $30,000,000; Hope Mills- East Patterson Street, $2,500,000; Hope Mills- Woodland Hills, $650,000; Spring Lake - Parks and Recreation, $200,000; Spring Lake - water line replacement and repairs, $400,000; Spring Lake Civic Center Renovation, $250,000; Town of Eastover Ballpark Expansion, $450,000; Town of Falcon Town Hall Renovation, $55,000; Town of Hope Mills - Storm Water Projects, $600,000; Town of Hope Mills Outdoor Park Improvement, $680,000; Town of Linden Equipment, $30,000;Town of Spring Lake Veteran Memorial Park, $110,000; Town of Wade Multipurpose Field, $50,000 

HEALTH CARE: Stedman-Wade Health Services, Inc, $500,000; Cumberland HealthNET, $250,000; Veterans Health Care Pilot Program, $750,000; Southern Regional Area Health Education Center - Residency Program, $9,600,000 

ECONOMIC EQUITY: Reduce Generational Poverty Fund, $1,000,000; Economic Equity Venture Capital Fund (pilot), $2,500,000; Center for Economic Empowerment and Development, $750,000 HUMAN SERVICES: Rape Crisis Center of Fayetteville - Domestic Violence Support, $125,000; Rape Crisis Center of Fayetteville - SANE Nurse Training Pilot, $125,000; Human Trafficking Court - Cumberland County, $300,000 

MILITARY & VETERANS: State Veterans Home - Fayetteville, $26,266,162; Veterans Court, $460,000; Soldier to Agriculture Program - NC State, $150,000; Veterans Farm NC - Training Program, $100,000; Military Family Counselors (K-12), $466,000; Project Healing Waters, $70,000 

FLOOD MITIGATION AND RESILIENCY: Rhodes Pond, $8,819,350; Cape Fear Botanical Gardens Pandemic Mitigation Assistance, $321,000; Massey Hill Historic Preservation Project, $200,000; Lake Rim, $500,000; Spring Lake - Woodlake Dam Repair, $9,600,000 

CAPITAL INVESTMENT: Falcon Children's Home, $45,000; Fayetteville MLK Park, $2,500,000; Myrover-Reese Fellowship Homes, $1,000,000; NC Civil War and Reconstruction History Center, $59,600,000; US Airborne and Special Operations Museum, $3,000,000; Rape Crisis Center of Fayetteville (Phoenix Center), $50,000; Cumberland County Fire Chiefs Association, $1,000,000; Fascinate U Children’s Museum, $250,000; Cape Fear Regional Theatre, $5,000,000; Cape Fear Valley Health System, $15,000,000; Umoja Group, $150,000; Gray's Creek Ruritan Club, $30,000 TOTAL INVESTMENT $412,583,313