Civitas Review Online

WSOC in Winston-Salem did a story last night on Civitas’ Brian Balfour’s Top 10 Worst Federal Stimulus Projects in NC:

With one $25 million-dollar pier currently under construction in Nags Head, Dare County and Aquarium officials have shifted focus to the next of the three proposed piers. Partnered with the Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores, the next “$25 million-dollar pier” will be located in Emerald Isle on land donated by the town.

At a meeting of  Pier Advisory Committee last week, Aquarium Society Director of Development Jay Barnes presented that he had spoken with both Sen. Preston (R – Carteret) and Rep. McElraft (R – Carteret) and “both are very supportive” of the project.

No, don’t adjust your browser settings. You read that right.

Despite the “lashing” the first pier received following funding by General Assembly at a time when other priorities were being cut, two supposed conservative Republicans, Sen. Preston and Rep. McElraft, are in support of yet another taxpayer funded pier. There is currently one privately owned fishing pier in Emerald Isle.

The Aquarium Society has (finally) commissioned an economic impact study to be conducted by the economics department at UNC – Wilmington on the three proposed piers. Supporters hope this study will “give some credibility to the arguments we make about how important the piers are.”

I suppose we shall see if we can expect another “Aquarium Satellite Areas Funding” bill to come sailing through the General Assembly again soon.  I wonder if Basnight Construction will get some work on this one too?

The model of government inefficiency? Yes, and here’s why:

The State Division of Motor Vehicles will not renew a vehicle registration if the vehicle has not been inspected first.   In fact, if you try to make a payment to renew your registration it won’t be accepted.  Most people in North Carolina still renew their vehicle registration by mail.  According to an N&O report, one in every four renewals will be rejected, that amounts to about 22,600 car owners every month.

Instead of rejecting your payment and mailing back your check directly, the DMV goes through a multistep process whereby your check is sent to the bank, your renewal processed and rejected through a computer, and a refund check mailed back to you.  The entire process can take up to a month.

The result is car owners often have to send in two or more renewals until their registration can be processed (and often before they receive refund checks), valuable personnel hours are wasted on unnecessary tasks, and revenue collection is delayed.  Once again, it is clear that excess government regulation does nothing more than waste valuable time and resources – and the DMV never fails us as the quintessential example.

We first brought you news of the hiring of a “Part-Time Pier Construction Observer” over the summer. This temporary employee has an 11-month contract (July 23, 2009 – June 23, 2010), working 20 hours per week at an hourly rate of $44.03 (roughly $38,000 total). Main duties of this State-funded position include giving guided tours for elected officials and informing stakeholders if a crisis should arise (or if the crane falls down).  Essentially, taxpayer funds are being used to have someone sit around and wait for Sen. Basnight show up and want a tour.

Funny, that’s not what I was thinking when legislators argued “job creation” in favor of this project.

The authorizing legislation (House Bill 628) claimed the creation of 555 on-site jobs, yet it seems no more than 30 men are working on an average afternoon.

The Aquariums Division have proposed the creation of 11 full-time year-round pier staff positions including a Pier Manager, Aquarist/Exhibits Tech, Rental & Events Coordinator, Admissions Manager and Housekeeper. Funding of these positions will cost $557,064 according to a drafted budget.

Aquarium officials believe these positions will be funded by revenue from pier walk-ons, fishing passes and equipment rentals. Yet, quick math indicates that the Pier would need at least 153 visitors paying at least the $10 per day average for a fishing pass all 365 days of a year to break-even. Any budget shortfalls will be covered by the Aquarium’s Admissions fund, supported by your tax-dollars.

It’s becoming clear that this $25 million pier will end up costing taxpayers much, much more.

Be sure to check out the live web-cam of construction here.

Need a job?  Today’s Wall Street Journal  (subscription required) reports the federal government added 103,000 new employees last year and will add another 170,000 this year. That’s right while companies and households were cutting back to whether the recession, the Democrats and the Obama administration increased federal “civilian full-time” labor force 273,000 in the last two years alone. That’s a whopping 14 percent! Think there’s a disconnect between Washington and the rest of the country?   Go ask the people of Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts.

If you wanted to increase travel efficiency between Raleigh and Charlotte, what is the better use of $520 million?

1. Upgrade a rail line (but not fully) that serves a few hundred people per day that could possibly grow to a couple of thousand people per day.

2. Replace the Yadkin River Bridge ($300M) and have $220 million left over to widen I-85 in Cabarrus, Rowan and Davidson Counties from 2 lanes to 4 which in some sections has a daily traffic count of 110,000 cars per day and is consistently the cause of traffic jams and accidents.  (And as all you greenies out there know, traffic congestion leads to global warming global cooling climate change.)

Yep, trains win.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Here’s the latest update from the NC Institute of Constitutional Law on the incentives game that has done NOTHING to help NC’s unemployment rate.

$5,560,000 in total possible incentives has been granted to Celgard LLC to expand its Charlotte campus into Concord. The Charlotte-based company develops and produces the specialty membranes used in lithium batteries. The incentives include $4.6 million in potential tax benefits from the Job Development Investment Fund (JDIG) and $955,000 from the state’s One North Carolina Fund. If that wasn’t enough, the company was also selected to receive a $49 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy for the expansion. The state grant is contingent upon the approval of local incentives.

~ Salisbury Post, January 19, 2010

A recent Triangle Business Journal article written by Ken Elkins claims the total incentives could reach as high as $18.6 million when it is all said and done.

$1,000,000 has been granted to Reser’s Fine Foods from the state’s One North Carolina Fund. The Oregon-based company will be expanding its current food production plant in Halifax County. The company makes potato salads, mashed potatoes, and other prepared foods. Local incentives will follow.

~ David Bracken, News & Observer, January 20, 2010

The Durham City Council has approved $70,000 in local incentives for ACW Technology, a British contract manufacturing company for international commercial, aerospace and defense customers. ACW wants to build a domestic factory to be closer to their U.S. suppliers and clients. The company has not yet confirmed they will build in Durham County. They are considering sites in Maryland and Virginia, and are also being courted by North Carolina’s Wake and Franklin counties. The N.C. Commerce Department has declined to comment whether the state will pitch in any additional incentives.

~ Jim Wise, News & Observer, January 21, 2010

$164,807 in total incentives has been approved by Rockingham County officials and the town of Reidsville for Commonwealth Brands, a local tobacco manufacturer. The company is eligible to receive $83,207 in incentives from the city of Reidsville and $81,600 from Rockingham County.

~ Journal Staff, Winston Salem Journal, January 13, 2010

$796,280 in combined incentives has been approved for SANS Technical Fibers to expand its Stoneville plant. The synthetic nylon filament and yarn manufacturer will receive $625,000 in state grants to the city for sewer and water improvements, $41,960 from Rockingham County, $39,320 from the city of Stoneville, a $60,000 grant from the state’s One North Carolina Fund, and a $30,000 grant from Duke Energy Corp.

~ Journal Staff, Winston Salem Journal, January 13, 2010

NC’s state and local governmens have used incentives heavily over the past decade.  It can be argued that such policies have actually contributed to a massive loss of jobs. Worst jobless numbers in 30 years! And do our policy makers have an answer?

North Carolina’s unemployment rate hit a historic high of 11.2 percent in December as the tally of jobs lost by the state’s workers since the recession started two years ago neared 250,000.

December’s jobless rate of 11.2 percent rose from 10.8 percent in November, the Employment Security Commission said Friday.

After seeing our article from Jan. 12 detailing how Basnight Construction received a subcontract job to build a portion of the $25 million fishing pier in Sen. Marc Basnight’s district, news reporters caught up with him yesterday to ask him about his involvement.

Sen. Basnight’s response according to the N&O was that he resigned from Basnight Construction in August 2009 once he was told that Basnight Construction “plan(ned) to bid on the work.”

The problem is, by that time, Basnight Construction had not only planned to bid, but had actually placed a bid and been awarded a subcontract to do work.  According to documents given to us by the NC Division of Aquariums, Basnight Construction was awarded a subcontract to do work pending funding for the project being in place in December 2008 — a full 9 months prior to what Basnight told the N&O.

In between December 2008 and August 2009, Sen. Basnight pushed a bill through the General Assembly (HB 628) that authorized the funding for the pier project in April 2009.

So something in the Senator’s story isn’t holding up.  Here’s the timeline spelled out:

November 2008 – Basnight Construction listed as an interested subcontractor for work on the pier project
December 4, 2008 – Basnight Construction awarded subcontract for pier pending the project being funded and Clancy & Theys receiving general contract
April 14, 2009 – HB 628 (which authorizes and funds the pier project) is given final passage by the NC Senate and signed by Gov. Perdue that same day
April 15, 2009 – Contract is awarded to Clancy & Theys for $22 million to construct N.C.  Aquarium’s Jennette’s Pier in Nags Head
August 5, 2009 – Sen. Marc Basnight submits letter of resignation from Board of Basnight Construction and transfers the 2,800 shares of the company he owns to his cousin Jimmy Basnight