October 29, 2025
Farmville voters,
If you like paying high water and electric bills, I think you should vote to re-elect current town officials on November 4. For years our water, sewer, and electric rates have been substantially more than those in nearby municipalities. I feel confident that Town Hall gladly will keep collecting our exorbitant utility bills.
If you enjoy paying the massive increases in our property taxes, I believe our incumbents happily will make this continue. After the recent property reevaluations, in May 2024 Pitt County Commissioners voted unanimously for the largest property tax cut in county history. They cut the rate by 11.78 cents per $100 valuation. Other municipalities cut their rates. Not surprisingly, Farmville did not cut the rate, but kept it the same, resulting in close to $500,000 added income the town gathered from us property owners. It seems like an extra half a million dollars or so added to the town budget should be mentioned more than it is.
If you are happy to foot the bill for extravagant town projects, you can rest assured that the $6.17 Million the town is currently paying back for the new library construction seems like just the tip of the iceberg. Our sitting officials voted to take out that loan the month after they agreed that we needed a new fire station. Just imagine what other ways they might come up with to be careless with our money.
If you like having millions of our taxpayer dollars go to big developers and investors, our incumbents seem more than glad to spend our hard-earned money on outdated incentives to the likes of the Toll Brothers (national firm) and local developers. By agreeing to spend millions of dollars on incentives, they now can boast of all of the new homes that are being built within and near our town limits. Too bad we paid the price for their boasting.
If you dislike having professional appraisals for property being sold, purchased, or “traded,” some sitting in Town Hall might continue the practice of guessing about property values, even if it costs us taxpayers close to $500,000. Maybe the next time they buy or sell one of their numerous property holdings in town, they will be consistent and will refuse to get a professional appraisal.
If you like the idea of a Community Development Block Grant worth close to a half a million dollars being distributed to low and modest-income Farmville homeowners nominated by our elected officials without the required public awareness or selection process, perhaps our incumbents will keep ignoring the rules. If you are fortunate, perhaps you can be one of the handful of people or supporters who seem to benefit greatly from decisions made in Town Hall.
If you dislike having much money in a “Rainy Day Fund” and instead enjoy living on the edge, with very little in the town’s General Fund, I suggest you re-elect some of our town officials. They seem to enjoy insisting that the Enterprise Funds (water, sewer, electric) prop up the General Fund. If this continues, we can be sure that our water, sewer, electric rates, as well as our property tax rates, will remain higher than those in surrounding municipalities for years. Farmville can keep its reputation for being an expensive place to live, relative to places outside of our town limits.
If you think that decisions made in a town of 4,600 people warrant an incumbent being vigorously promoted by a Political Action Committee, I know how you should vote. People do not tend to invest that kind of money into a campaign unless they think they will get more back in return. Follow the money. Neighbors Helping NC, Inc., described as a PAC on the informational website, has received $1,202,076. from NC Realtors PAC, some of which has been used to create and mail two separate 11″ x 8.5″ glossy, color flyers to promote one Farmville incumbent. If you want to elect someone who is beholden to special interests that benefit individuals rather than the Town of Farmville, you should vote differently than I plan to.
celiastone 