Harnett County prioritizes the jetport, parks, public safety and school requirements

On January 5, Harnett County Commissioners ratified the 2027-2033 Capital Improvement Program (CIP).

According to CIP’s priorities, the county allocated $5,600,000 in capital reserves, with high hopes for about $1.4 million being grant funded, for three new hangars at the Harnett Regional Jetport and earmarked nearly $300,000 to develop Bunnlevel Community Park.

On the same priority list, the CIP prioritizes body and surveillance cameras for the sheriff’s department with recording management software at $620,105, and lighting for Neills Creek Park and Barbeque Creek Park, and for the schools: bleachers and track resurfacing at $863,710.

For projects in the next 1-4 years, the county has about $288.7 million allocated for school structural needs, but no teacher or principal salary increases are noted.

Harnett has lower teacher salaries than Moore or Lee and has a lower socioeconomic population, which may explain its 16 D and two F-rated schools. Struggling families do not have the extra income for tutors and are often too tired to help with homework or do not have the skills to help.

The school board’s clerk said in a phone call two weeks ago that the failing schools were not the board members’ fault.

“There are principals and school systems that have turned around failing schools. I just met one a couple of days ago. She does things like using a program called I-Ready to diagnose micro skill deficits. These are things like a child being unable to “decode” an array of letters to understand a word or a child having an inability to retain what he reads,” Ret. Moore County School Board Chair Robert Levy wrote in an email to Sandhills News.

A different former teacher suggested county-funded tutoring during school hours.

Teachers on social media repeat that they need higher salaries for the ever-increasing demands and lack of administrative support.

“The only way to improve a failing school is to employ a person who has improved a failing school and give that principal the authority to do it again,” Levy said and added he believed in fair compensation.

If the adage is correct, “The children are our future,” Harnett County’s children will grow up to enjoy improved parks while watching the increased air traffic under the protection of sheriff deputies with body cameras.

County commissioners may allocate salary funds, such as housing stipends, to accompany federal and state funding.

They have the money and hold the purse strings of the board of education.

Harnett County’s property tax base grew about 140% from 2024, about $1.7 billion over the past three years from all the new development.

The CIP used statistics to justify spending $400,000 of matched grant funds for the Cape Fear Shiner County Park. It is 6 acres of wetlands and floodplains, but they hired engineers to address the problem.

Harnett County parks rank 90^th out of the 100 counties.

The Harnett County School district ranks 242 out of 320 districts in the state, according to Public School Review.

Sandhills News requested statistics from the finance department through Harnett County Public Relations at 10:51 on Jan. 5 and had not heard back by the time of publication. The article will be updated if the information is received.

Under action items, the board discussed and approved the application for the rural transit grant because the existing public transportation system, HARTS, is over capacity and focuses on medical needs.

General Services Director Barry Blevins said he had a conversation with the Golden Leaf Foundation, and they said to focus on transportation for employment. The Uber-type system, call for pickup, would cost $7.00 per trip and would include the entire county.

Commissioner Barbara McKoy asked if they would hire more drivers.

“Yes, six more and a scheduler,” Blevins said.

The grant application deadline is Jan. 14, and Golden Leaf meets in Feb. to decide on awards.

“We are competing with eight or nine other counties,” Blevins said and added that if denied, they would need to postpone reapplying for a couple of years.

The grant would cover the $500,000 van expense.

The next meeting is Jan. 13 at 9 a.m.

Jan. 5, 2025

Stephanie M. Sellers

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