Discussion, Tour and Reception Tuesday, June 23 at 3 p.m.
Connect NC is Governor McCrory's $2.85 billion bond proposal for strategic investments in our state's transportation and other public infrastructure that will cultivate a stronger economy, increased jobs and improve North Carolina's quality of life. The proposed bonds will benefit projects from the mountains to the piedmont to the coast with investments in 64 counties across the state. Projects include investments in both small rural areas and large urban cities. Strategic investments have been selected considering agency priority, the size of the project and location.
N.C. Department of Cultural Resources Secretary Susan Kluttz will host a discussion of the new bond proposal Tuesday, June 23 at 3 p.m. at a celebration of Fort Fisher that, until the last few months of the Civil War, kept North Carolina's port of Wilmington open to blockade-runners supplying necessary goods to Confederate armies inland. If the Connect NC bonds are approved by voters this November, state historic sites may receive $24 million to provide badly needed funding to repair or replace outdated HVAC and electrical equipment and $11 million to repair or replace roofs.
"Currently, interest rates are historically low," says Kluttz, "so timing is good for this targeted, long-term investment in our state's future. I am thrilled that Fort Fisher will get badly need roof repairs to enhance visitor experience and to positively impact the economies of the local communities." No tax increases are necessary to finance the bonds because North Carolina's economy is strong and growing and, because the budget has been managed well, the state has ample credit capacity to borrow and repay the bonds with no tax increase.
North Carolina is growing faster than average and has surpassed Michigan to become the ninth most populous state - attractive to both retirees and new professionals alike. This growth impacts our state's aging infrastructure. Two bonds are proposed of roughly $1.4 billion each that will support investment in our state's transportation and other public infrastructure projects in education, public health, parks, and ports as well as for projects that support operations for our military.
By 1865, the supply line through Wilmington was the last remaining supply route open to Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. When Fort Fisher fell after a massive Federal amphibious assault on January 15, 1865, its defeat helped seal the fate of the Confederacy.