Most citizens in Cary are tightening their belts to deal with the downturn in the economy. We should expect the same of our elected officials. However a review of the town’s current budget reveals some startling facts: Debt service, the amount of our taxes that goes to pay interest and principal on money the town has borrowed, has grown from $1.6 million in fiscal year 2000 to $14.3 million today, an increase from 2.4 percent of all expenditures in 2000 to 12.4 percent today. That means that more than one dime out of each dollar we pay in taxes does not go toward an essential service. And there is no formal upper limit on the amount the town permits itself to borrow. Why has the town allowed this debt to grow? The answer may be found in the massive losses the town incurs in non-essential facilities and services, for instance recycling ($1.1 million loss), C-Tran bus ($1.3 million loss), toilet buy-back ($89,000 cost), turf buy-back ($40,000 cost), Cary Tennis Park ($227,043 loss), WakeMed Soccer Park ($417,981 loss), USA Baseball Training Complex ($513,950 loss). These non-essential facilities and services have accounted for additional taxation to Cary citizens of almost $3.7 million in just one year. With tax revenue plummeting, combined with the recent increases in property taxes we’ve all incurred, isn’t it about time that Cary officials look at eliminating support for these money-losing, non-essential facilities and services?

Kent Misegades, Cary

Where are the benefits?

Once again my neighbors have been reading about a capital project that has been approved but not yet implemented, i.e. downtown improvements — approximately $36 million. We can’t help but lend our comments to the growing tide of concern for this project. As our cynic put it, “Every expenditure should have benefits associated with the cost. Why is it almost impossible to find this project’s benefits?” Almost everyone piled on with comments like:

• Cary is a bedroom community of RTP and Raleigh. We have residential and business centers, not a town center • Our town center consists of 12-15 auto businesses, 12-15 eateries, a pharmacy, bank and a few other businesses • We do not have any established businesses downtown that attracts customers. Why go downtown when there is no attraction? • We shop at Crossroads, Town Center, MacGregor and High House as well as many other smaller venues.

In summary, most everyone could support a number of other projects where benefits appear to be clearer. For instance why not put our energy into a new water supply to supplement Jordan Lake, or build additional community swimming pools? How about depressing the railroad line below grade through Cary and eliminate crossings? How about a solar energy project for the town office complex, how about a world famous southeast music center such as Julliard, Berkshires, Interlochen in Cary? Let’s think big.

Ray Czarnecki, Cary

IRV has benefits

I remember not long ago being allowed the opportunity as a youth, to volunteer at some elections where Cary tried out the Instant Runoff Voting ballots. I was assigned to explain the experimental process to the voters at the polls.

Admittedly, it took some measure of explanation, but overwhelmingly, there was strong support for this new method of voting. I strongly encourage Cary residents to make that experimental IRV method permanent. The benefits it offers in terms of voter accuracy and activity, as well as cost savings (see ncvotes123.com) are well worth the effort to get this passed.

There is a town council meeting March 12. I hope we can get much support there.

Matthew Watkins, Cary

Loose cats impinge on neighbors’ rights

Re: “Cary Overrun by Mice and Snakes?” letter of March 4.

Mr. Nowicki has obviously never had the side of his home sprayed by night-prowling cats to the extent that their urine permeated his sliding doors, ruining the carpet and drapes in the room. He also probably has never had his yard and pine straw areas used as the repository of free-roaming cat waste so every time people walk in it we must exercise caution with every step, or find their droppings in our gardens as we toil.

Well some of us have had these experiences, more than once, and it is about time that all the cat owners are made aware that the leash law does apply to their animals too, and not just to dogs.

As for the benefits of having cats roam, I doubt very much that domesticated cats are doing much to save us from the hoard of poisonous snakes in Cary waiting to grow larger by their absence. The mice and mole populations seem to do nicely with, or without, free-roaming cats.

Cary is a very well managed town environment for people and domesticated animals. It is not a suburban habitat where unsupervised animals should be running free au natural. Owners that allow their animals to do so are impinging upon the rights and property of others and need to wake up.

M&M Mazanek, Cary

Message signs: ‘good riddance’

Randy Murray’s March 4 letter (“More ‘dynamic’ suggestions”) regarding the Town of Cary’s so-called dynamic message signs got it right: These unattractive signs seldom display useful, easily comprehended information (they very rarely display anything at all).

However, Susie Putnam correctly notes in her Feb. 25 letter (“Message board dynamics”) that these “ugly, expensive and useless message boards” are allowed to display only messages about traffic (and perhaps the occasional Amber alert).

Yep, those are the rules. Soon after these government pole signs were erected (at about the same time that the town declared all private pole signs illegal), Cary’s Citizens Assisting Police team brainstormed about useful messages that might be displayed. Alas, they, too, learned that these (now hunter green!) boondoggles can light up only on those infrequent occasions when there’s an approved traffic message to display.

Even former Mayor Ernie McAlister, a vocal defender of these debacles, changed his tune during his 2007 campaign and admitted that they were ill-advised.

Cary’s DMS — dark message signs — continue to be out of character for Cary, blight the landscape, waste more taxpayer dollars in maintenance costs and stand as monuments to a double standard in the town’s sign ordinance. Although many suggest that we tear them down, the conventional wisdom is that we’ve already paid to put them up, so we ought to live with them.

But what’s wrong with government getting rid of something that citizens don’t want, don’t like, is nearly useless and has a poor return on investment?

Perhaps the leader who gets rid of these could lead us in a chorus of “Good riddance!”

Brent Miller, Cary

Looking for a town manager?

I read with interest about our town hiring a consultant to search for a town manager. Too bad we didn’t learn our lesson when looking for a police chief!

Ben Shiver, our best candidate, is already in place, knows the drill and will look after our town far better than a stranger coming in. I would ask that we embrace the proven principals of running a successful company and hiring from within when there is a qualified person already on board. Not to mention the money and time that would be saved on hiring yet another consultant and valuable time for our staff.

Sheila H. Ogle, Cary

Keep cats from roaming

I just had to reply to Mr. Nowicki’s March 4 letter protesting Cary’s cat leash law. He indicated that his cat protected him from mice, voles and snakes and only occasionally killed a bird, but that cats are born to hunt and “that’s nature.” In fact, nationally, outdoor domestic cats kill hundreds of millions of songbirds every year and more than a billion small animals. Studies have shown that songbirds make up about 25 percent of a cat’s kill, many at backyard feeders, even if the cats are well-fed. Cats also kill nestlings, rabbits, chipmunks, salamanders and ground-nesting birds. In nature, scarcity of food sources would keep predator populations in check in a particular area, but well-fed domestic cats prowl constantly and kill even when their prey numbers are low and they are not hungry. This is not “perfectly natural.” As for snakes, Mr. Nowicki should know that the common North Carolina blacksnake efficiently kills hundreds of mice and voles as part of its diet. Cats do not do us a service by killing beneficial snakes, and they won’t protect us from “large cottonmouths” in our yards, as Mr. Nowicki indicated. Outdoor roaming cats are also subject to death by roadkill, parasites and disease. Keeping our cats from roaming freely is the loving thing to do.

Terry Korab, Apex

Holly Springs did its homework

The letter written by Tracey Goodwin in the March 4 edition of the Southwest Wake News proved how easy it is to be impressed and influenced when you lack information. She was critical of the Holly Springs Town Council for not considering local firms for the town’s Web site redesign project.

Let me first state that town staff did research and consider local firms. Town staff contacted firms with experience creating municipal Web sites and sought references from other towns who used these firms. If local Web design firms had, or at least, promoted their experience with municipal Web sites, I am sure they would have been included in the pool. Holly Springs has only one opportunity to make the right impression in cyberspace, and we need to make sure that we get it right the first time. We need to make sure that we have a quality, user-friendly, 24-hour source for town information available to our citizens. We also have to make sure that we have a professional image on the Web, which will act as an omnipresent economic development tool for the town. The research and recommendation by town staff was responsible and prudent. In summary, sound business decisions, like this one, best serve the interests of our town and its citizens; irresponsible comments do not.

Hank Dickson, Holly Springs

We support Novant’s appeal

To all the 90,000 citizens in southern Wake County, many of whom continue to call with their “regrets” that Novant lost the Certificate of Need hearing to WakeMed, please note that on Feb. 27, Novant Health filed a contested case petition for its proposed Hospital to be located in Holly Springs. “We disagree with the State's findings,” said Dean Swindle, Executive Vice President. Mark Billings, president of Presbyterian Healthcare, said, “This appeal demonstrates Novant’s commitment to delivering and locating healthcare services closer to where people live.” We totally concur, we approved a town resolution of support on Feb. 28 and will continue to join Novant in fighting the good fight.

Recent developments include multiple media appearances, presentations to the Wake County Delegation, letters to our State and Federal Representatives, and inclusion of such “facts” as other hospitals are too far away in an emergency, that the CON hearings pit communities against each other, and I submit that the whole process should be reviewed. Currently, 14 other states have discontinued CON hearings. However, Novant is willing to continue the appeal under current rules. How can the state ignore the need in our area (15,000 letters of support), the $110 million private investment, the 200-300 jobs associated with the hospital along with probably 600 construction jobs, and that Novant is “shovel-ready,” especially given the current economic climate? Maybe, just maybe, the state should approve Novant’s application and WakeMed’s, who recently is campaigning for stroke victims “that every minute counts.” On that point, I totally agree. This decision could be a matter of life or death. Stay tuned. Dick Sears, Mayor of Holly Springs