Podcast on May 16-22 News Lines: growth, budgets & milestones in Moore, Lee & Harnett counties

Pip: Sandhills News this week: budgets climbing, school funding falling short, and at least one chairman heading for the exit — which, in local government, counts as a plot twist.

Mara: Editor at Sandhills News covers a lot of ground here — tax pressure across Lee, Moore, and Harnett counties, a state housing order, development fights in Sanford, two community college graduations, and a surprise key to the city. Let’s start with where the money pressure is sharpest: county budgets and the tax bills that follow.

County Budgets And Tax Pressure

Pip: Three counties, three budget headaches, and one state bill hovering over all of them. The core tension is the same everywhere: rapid residential growth is generating service costs faster than it generates revenue, and school funding keeps landing in the gap.

Mara: The Lee County proposed budget lays it out plainly. Property taxes are rising from 65 to 70 cents per $100 valuation, and during public comments, resident Jim Womack called the increase “inappropriate” and said he’d contacted state officials to investigate the board.

Pip: That quote lands harder when you see the numbers behind it — about 77 percent of Lee County’s growth is residential, and a $360,000 home is needed just to cover projected per-pupil school spending.

Mara: The Lee County proposed budget and the resignation piece together tell that fuller story. Lee County Schools requested $26.75 million for operations; commissioners recommended $25.18 million, leaving a $1.58 million gap. Meanwhile, a new EMS contract alone added $1.77 million to public safety spending — a bigger line item than the school shortfall.

Pip: So the schools come up short while the ambulance bill clears without a fight.

Mara: Chairman Kirk Smith’s resignation, covered in the resignation piece, adds another layer. Smith stepped down amid prior controversies, and Commissioner Samantha Martin was elected chair. The board also updated protocols for handling improper member behavior.

Mara: Harnett County’s budget teeters on property tax bill shows similar strain — a proposed $215.1 million budget with a $7.7 million gap between what schools requested and what the county can fund, while commissioners debated nonprofit cuts and a newly approved chatbot service.

Pip: And the week’s news digest notes Moore County’s proposed $239 million budget actually cuts the general fund tax rate slightly, leaning on tourism revenue and rising property valuations to hold the line.

Mara: All three counties are watching House Bill 1089, which would cap local property tax levy growth. Harnett’s chairman warned the budget “could be under different rules in a couple of weeks.” Moore’s commissioner chair, Nick Picerno, defended the cap directly, saying “restricting property tax rate increases forces government entities to manage their budgets carefully and not rely on a never ending stream of revenue from the public property tax.”

Pip: That’s the whole debate in one sentence — and voters may get to weigh in on it in November. Which connects directly to what’s happening on the ground with housing.

Housing And Development Policy

Pip: Growth is the pressure behind every budget fight we just heard, and the housing and development decisions happening right now will shape those budgets for years.

Mara: Governor Stein’s executive order sets the statewide frame. He signed it May 19, saying “Too many families are struggling to make rent or afford a home. This executive order directs a whole-of-government approach to get more homes of all types built and make homeownership more accessible and affordable for North Carolinians.” North Carolina faces a gap of more than 750,000 housing units through 2029.

Pip: More supply sounds straightforward until you read what’s happening in Sanford, where a 473-home mixed-use project called Oakton got tabled because the council wants renderings showing how it looks from the highway — and because it feeds into schools already nearing capacity.

Mara: The Sanford piece also covers the Broadwell Conditional Zoning District update, adding townhomes and single-family homes in the Jonesboro district, and a Landmark Towing rezoning of countryside land to light industrial use — a move the reporting flags as a pattern that gradually erases rural character. Both go back to the council for a vote next meeting.

Pip: More homes, tighter schools, rural land quietly rezoned — that tension runs straight into what the graduation stages this week were full of.

Education And Commencements

Mara: Sandhills Community College’s commencement on May 16 put 508 graduates on the McNeill-Woodward Green. Keynote speaker and SCC alumna Kayla Renee Lowery, who opened her own bakery at 23, kept her advice short: “You don’t have to start big. Just start.”

Pip: That’s the kind of line that earns its applause. And the numbers behind it matter — 915 total graduation applications, with Sandhoke Early College alone contributing 73 associate degrees.

Mara: Central Carolina Community College’s commencement, its 68th, celebrated 663 spring graduates across three ceremonies in Lee, Harnett, and Chatham counties. CCCC President Dr. Lisa Chapman told graduates they carry “the strength of this place and the belief that we all have in you.” Student speakers ranged from a veteran starting a nonprofit to a mother returning after more than 20 years of homeschooling her children.

Pip: Two campuses, hundreds of graduates, and the same message underneath: persistence pays. That spirit of community recognition carried into Sanford’s city hall this week too.

Community Honors And National Issues

Mara: At the May 19 Sanford City Council meeting, Dr. Charles Alexander arrived thinking he was there to carry a proclamation to Raleigh on behalf of older citizens. Instead, Mayor Rebecca Salmon handed him one. “I thought I was here to take a proclamation to Raleigh,” Alexander said. “It was a surprise.” The honor recognized 32 years of public education, senior enrichment work, and Kiwanis membership.

Pip: Thirty-two years of service, and he still showed up thinking he was doing someone else a favor.

Mara: Also this week, a guest editorial from Robert Levy takes on a much larger stage — arguing that both the Biden and Trump administrations have quietly moved toward accepting China’s eventual absorption of Taiwan, prioritizing domestic chip production over military commitment to the island’s independence.

Pip: Local government, graduation stages, and geopolitics — not a bad week’s range.

Mara: Budgets, school capacity, housing supply, and what communities choose to honor — it’s all connected to the same underlying question of how fast a place can grow before it outpaces what it can sustain.

Pip: Next episode, we’ll see whether any of those June budget hearings produced answers. Or at least better questions.

Read the week’s details in News Lines May 16-22 in Moore Lee & Harnett.

May 22, 2026

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