Issues

Economic Development

This is my top priority for Alamance County
We need to have a plan and stick to it. The county has made plans and broken plans for the past decade.
It is unacceptable for Alamance County to become a bedroom community. In the long term, it is more expensive for a county to provide public utilities for residential communities than for commercial and industrial sectors. The cost of gas has also made the bedroom community model less attractive as it now costs more and more to commute.

Teetor’s Plan for Economic Development

Show commitment to education by: funding schools, encouraging school system to spend money in ways that improve teacher quality and student performance, and supporting the continued growth of Alamance Community College.
Recruit businesses that have existing contracts with Alamance County employers to move their operations to Alamance County.
Work with existing employers to understand how the county government can facilitate their expansion within the county.
Ensure public safety units have necessary resources to make Alamance County a safe place to conduct business and keep insurance rates low.
Remain committed to other important factors that reflect a high quality of life: maintain county roads, develop land use plan that protects residential areas from high-impact pollution, easy access to quality healthcare and support modern and adequate recreational facilities.
Maintain a competitive property tax rate.

Education

Education is the most critical piece to economic development for any country, state, county, or city.
We must reduce overcrowding in our schools by redrawing attendance lines to reduce enrollment in overcrowded schools and shift students to schools that are currently operating under capacity.
The county commission should collaborate with the school board to ensure they spend county funds in a way that directly impacts teacher quality and student achievement. These discussions should not be limited to occasions that the county is running low on funds.
We are losing many quality teachers to neighboring counties. Quality teachers can make a tremendous impact on student performance and we must strive to keep good teachers in our system. The teacher supplement in Alamance County should gradually increase from the current rate of 8% to a range of 10-12% in order to remain competitive with neighboring counties and keep our good teachers here.

Public Safety

We must do everything in our power to ensure the Sheriff’s Office, local fire districts, and EMS have adequate resources to respond to emergencies
Our local fire districts find it increasingly difficult to maintain equipment and supplies. Many of them also face a growing demand for services as the county continues to develop. The better equipped these volunteer fire districts are to respond to emergencies, the higher their ratings and the less you pay for home owner’s insurance in rural parts of the county.
Our EMS is in need of a new fleet of ambulances. We should reexamine how successful we have been in collecting ambulance fees through our current 3rd party and reconsider a more efficient collector in an effort to increase revenue for funding expenditures such as a modern ambulance fleet.

Budget and Taxation

Alamance County is extremely fortunate to have a property tax rate that is in the bottom 25% of North Carolina counties and is 9% below the state average.
We must maintain this competitive tax rate while continuing to fund priorities that are critical to maintaining a high quality of life and job creation in Alamance County.
As commissioner, I will treat the county budget as if it were my own and strive to save money.
I support the continued use of performance based budgeting as a tool for reducing expenditures.