Democrats county commissioners make new gains statewide

By Scott Nicholson

The post-election make-up of North Carolina county commissions is creating changes that are as dramatic as the nation’s electing its first minority president.

A record number of both female and African-American commissioners were elected in November, and Democrats now hold the most county-commission seats they have held since 1992.

Democrats control 64 of the 100 counties in the state and hold 353 of the 576 commission seats. The Democrats have slowly increased their majority since 1996, when they held 326 seats. However, the Democratic majority dipped to 316 seats in 2004 when North Carolina voters selected Republican George Bush for president.

Currently there are 109 African-American commissioners and 98 female commissioners, with six Native Americans and no Hispanics. Independents hold three commission seats.

Watauga County is one of 28 counties in which Democrats hold a unanimous lock on the commission. Neighboring Ashe County flipped from a Democratic majority to a Republican majority in the last election, while Burke County went from Republican to Democrat. Watauga is surrounded by “red” counties that connect to a foothills belt dominated by Republicans.

Despite the historic nature of the last election, one of the smallest groups of new commissioners took office since 1974, when the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners began tracking the make-up of county boards.

Democratic commission majorities will be working with a Democratic state leadership, with Beverly Perdue as governor.

The 2009 General Assembly will have 30 Democrats and 20 Republicans in the Senate and 68 Democrats and 52 Republicans in the House of Representatives.

The annual Legislative Goals Conference takes place Jan. 15 and 16, the major opportunity for county leaders to communicate their needs to state officials. The Raleigh meeting will focus on “Revenue Options and Protection,” the most prominent goal of 37 listed by the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners.
That goal reads, “Seek legislation to allow all counties to enact by resolution any or all revenue options from among those that have been authorized for any other county, including local option sales taxes, impact taxes, real estate transfer taxes and prepared food taxes, and to preserve the existing revenue base.”

Watauga County commissioners Jim Deal, Tim Futrelle and Winston Kinsey are tentatively scheduled to attend the conference.