Governor Perdue’s Dorothea Dix Giveaway Bad for Taxpayers
Americans for Prosperity Urging Members to Call Council of State
RALEIGH, NC – Americans for Prosperity – North Carolina, the state’s leading advocate for economic freedom, today called on the Council of State to reject Governor Perdue’s plan to essentially give away taxpayer-owned land to the City of Raleigh. AFP-NC has activated its statewide membership of over 140,000 activists to flood the Council of State’s emails and phones in opposition.
Click here to stop Perdue’s multi-billion dollar giveaway of taxpayer resources in downtown Raleigh.
“This is a billion-dollar giveaway of taxpayer resources to Raleigh elites for another state taxpayer funded cultural amenity. State taxpayers have already provided the residents of Raleigh hundreds of millions of dollars for the State Museums of Art, History, and Natural Sciences, the PNC Arena, the North Carolina Symphony – not to mention three state parks with lands inside of Wake County. In addition Wake County has eight parks and natural areas, while the City of Raleigh has more than 200 city parks,” said Dallas Woodhouse, director of AFP-NC. “This is a horrible deal for state taxpayers – the real owners of the property.”
The lame-duck governor hopes to sell the 325-acre, state-owned Dorothea Dix property to the City of Raleigh at a price below fair-market value or to arrange a complicated lease. Transferring ownership of the property to the city deprives taxpayers of the financial benefits that would come from a true market value sale price and the resulting tax revenue.
Woodhouse continued, “Lieutenant Governor Walter Dalton needs to explain how, in essence, giving away a valuable state property to one city, benefits taxpayers in his native Rutherford County. Auditor Wood and Treasurer Cowell, who are elected to protect all taxpayers, need to explain why this is a good deal for taxpayers. Does Wayne Goodwin think this is a good deal for Richmond County taxpayers? Does Roy Cooper think his neighbors in Rocky Mount really benefit from this dirty Dix deal?”
The Council of State must approve all land deals, and Americans for Prosperity hopes that it will reject Governor Perdue’s proposal as unfair to state taxpayers.
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