{"id":450,"date":"2010-08-31T12:36:16","date_gmt":"2010-08-31T16:36:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nomcb.com\/?p=450"},"modified":"2010-10-19T10:52:05","modified_gmt":"2010-10-19T14:52:05","slug":"woodard-says-bridge-is-too-expensive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nomcb.com\/?p=450","title":{"rendered":"WOODARD SAYS BRIDGE IS TOO EXPENSIVE"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Reggie Ponder<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Staff Writer<\/p>\n

Tuesday, August 31, 2010<\/p>\n

The Republican candidate for the 1st District seat in the N.C. House of Representatives opposes the Mid-Currituck Bridge, saying it\u2019s too costly and some Currituck residents oppose it.
\nJohn Woodard, who is challenging N.C. Rep. Bill Owens, D-Pasquotank, for the seat Owens has held since being elected in 1994, told The Daily Advance the bridge project costs too much in these tight economic times.
\n\u201cThe state doesn\u2019t have the money to afford a $1 billion bridge,\u201d Woodard said.
\nWoodard said the legislature will face a $3 billion deficit when it convenes next year \u201cand this project is a good example of why that situation exists.\u201d
\nHe said the state has relied on more than $1.5 billion in non-recurring federal stimulus funds and $1.3 billion in temporary tax revenues. With slow revenue growth likely for fiscal year 2011-12 and mounting pressures from the state retirement and health plans, \u201cwhere will the money come from to pay for\u201d the bridge?\u201d Woodard asked.
\nOwens told The Daily Advance much of the revenue for the project will come from tolls.
\n\u201cWe do have a public-private partnership,\u201d Owens said. \u201cTolls will pay for the overwhelming majority of the cost of the bridge.\u201d
\nWoodard is skeptical about how much revenue can be generated by bridge tolls.
\n\u201cVery clearly we have some tourists that visit the island and I\u2019m sure that traveling down to Kitty Hawk and then looping back up is not favorable to them,\u201d he said. \u201cBut how many of them are we going to be able to generate tolls from if that bridge is an alternative?\u201d
\nOwens said he\u2019s not sure the $3 billion shortfall that Woodard cited will come to pass.
\n\u201cWe don\u2019t know what we will face,\u201d Owens said. \u201cWe do know it\u2019s very difficult economic times.\u201d
\nBut Owens said he\u2019s proud of the job state legislators have done with the budget in recent years.
\n\u201cRight now the state of North Carolina is spending 8.7 percent less in its general fund budget than four years ago,\u201d Owens said.
\nHe said spending increased more than 25 percent when he first went into the General Assembly \u2014 and the legislature had Republican leadership at that time.
\n\u201cWe have to balance our budget,\u201d Owns said, adding that difficult budget decisions can keep legislators awake at night.
\nWoodard remains critical of state spending.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re already mortgaging the future of the state,\u201d he said. \u201cThere has been no serious effort undertaken to reduce spending.\u201d
\nWoodard also pointed to the division among county citizens as to whether the bridge is a good idea.
\n\u201cThis is for all intents and purposes a tourism issue,\u201d Woodard said. \u201cMost of the permanent residents of the island are split between those that are in favor and those that are opposed, and I certainly think that we ought to give consideration to the opposition forces. But in either case, whether you think that it\u2019s a project that ought to go forward or not, the state simply lacks the money.\u201d
\nOwens said he takes his cues on local issues from the local elected officials.
\n\u201cMy position has been the same for 16 years \u2014 that I support whatever the county board of commissioners supports,\u201d Owens said. \u201cThey have always supported (the bridge) and I always support what the local officials want.\u201d
\nOwens said he got lots of calls this year from people complaining about traffic being backed up in Currituck County.
\n\u201cI\u2019m convinced more than ever that the bridge is needed for a number of reasons \u2014 for safety reasons, for economic reasons, and in my opinion the majority of people in Currituck do favor it,\u201d Owens said.
\nOwens said he understands there is opposition from residents in Corolla and Aydlett. He has met with citizens to discuss their concerns, he said.
\nResponding to Woodard\u2019s criticism of state spending, Owens said the state cut more than $600 million in spending this year and more than $2 billion last year, he said.
\nThe spending cuts have been made even as university and community college enrollments have risen. The state has fully funded education while consolidating programs and eliminating some programs, he said.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been very frugal,\u201d Owens said.
\nHe added he\u2019s proud the state has maintained its Triple A bond rating.
\nContact Reggie Ponder at rponder@dailyadvance.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reggie Ponder Staff Writer Tuesday, August 31, 2010 The Republican candidate for the 1st District seat in the N.C. House of Representatives opposes the Mid-Currituck Bridge, saying it\u2019s too costly and some Currituck residents oppose it. John Woodard, who is challenging N.C. Rep. Bill Owens, D-Pasquotank, for the seat Owens has held since being […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nomcb.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nomcb.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nomcb.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomcb.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomcb.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=450"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomcb.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":552,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomcb.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450\/revisions\/552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nomcb.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomcb.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomcb.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}