Bio

I am J. Rives Manning, Jr., also known by my nickname Judge.

That is not a title but a nickname that I have had since a few hours after I was born. My grandmother gave me the nickname Judge and I have been using it ever since. Judge will not be on the November 4 ballot.

I was born and raised in Roanoke Rapids and have lived in Halifax County all my life, except for the almost four years that I spent at NC State College and two years that I was in the US Army.

I have been a property and casualty Insurance agent for over 40 years. My wife and I operated Halifax Farmers Insurance Service from 1981 thru 2002. I reactivated our agency about two years ago and I specialize in the sales and service of crop insurance.

I was married to my wife, Judy S. Manning for over 50 years. We had two sons, John W. Manning, who is deceased and Arlie R. Manning who is married and they have a young daughter. They live in Youngsville.

I am a member of the Rosemary United Methodist Church. I was elected to the Halifax County Board of Commissioners in 2002 and have actively served since then. I serve and am active on the Halifax County Department of Social Services Board, the Economic Development Commission, the Lake Gaston Weed Control Council, the Halifax County Historical Association and several other organizations. I have been active in my Independent Insurance Agents Associations, both in NC and with the national association.

I hope that you will exercise your Rights and be sure to go vote in the November 4 General Election.

I hope that you will vote for me, J. Rives Manning, Jr., Vernon Bryant and Patrick Qualls for Halifax County Commissioner.

Why are you running?

I am running for re-election as a Halifax County Commissioner. I believe this is the most important election in Halifax County that I have ever seen. This year the seats we vote for are at-large seats and are voted on from the whole county. I have served since 2002 and I have been asked by many citizens to run again. I believe that I have done a good job as commissioner, my health is good and I bring experience to the board that some of the other members don’t have. We have kept our property tax rate low and have not had a property Tax rate increase in 11 years. I believe that I have done a good job and I don’t want to see the county’s direction change where we will be faced with a very large property tax increase.

Are you for or against school merger?

I am against the merger of the three Halifax County school districts, at this time. Maybe down the road it might work, but for me, it would have to be following a vote by all the residents of the county with the majority favoring a merger.

There are a number of reasons for my being against the merger of the Halifax County school districts. 1- the Weldon City School District was established by an act of the NC Legislature in 1903, to provide an education to all the children within the District’s boundaries. At that time there was no County or State or Town school district.

2- The Roanoke Rapids Graded School District was created by an act of the NC Legislature in 1907, to provide an education to all the children within the District’s boundaries. The boundaries were described as starting at a point on the Roanoke River, going South down a property line (which happens to be the Weldon City School District’s western boundary line, to the Weldon to Gaston Road, (now Julian Allsbrook Blvd), then along that road in a Westerly direction to Tilghman’s Crossroads, then turning South to Chockoyotte Creek, then turning West and going up Chockoyotte Creek to the Shaw-Simmons line, turning North along that line to the Roanoke River and at the river turning Easterly direction down the river to the point of beginning. These were the boundary lines in 1907 and they are the same boundary lines today.

3- The voters in the Halifax County School district voted in May 2012 not to approve a Supplemental School Tax. The margin was 72 percent against and 28 percent for.

The people in the Roanoke Rapids Graded School District and those in the Weldon City School District are paying a Supplemental School Tax in order to have their children attend the schools in that district and to support their schools. No one has shown where a merger of the three school districts would bring about an improvement in the education of the students in the three school districts.

I believe one disadvantage would be the substantial increase in the property tax rate that would come about if the County Commissioners merged the three school districts in Halifax County. The Supplemental School Property Tax rate in the Roanoke Rapids Graded School District is $.21 per hundred tax rate; the Weldon City School District has a $.17 per hundred rate; there is no Supplemental School property tax in the Halifax County Schools district. The NC General Statute section 115C-68.1 gives the County Commissioners the authority to merge school districts but it has a requirement stating that “(a) The board of commissioners of a county in which two or more local school administrative units are located, but all are located wholly within the county, may adopt a plan for the consolidation and merger of the units into a single countywide unit. The plan adopted under this subsection shall require that the county adopting the plan provide local funding per average daily membership (ADM) to the resulting local school administrative unit for the subsequent years of at least the highest level of any local school administrative unit in the county during the preceding five fiscal years prior to the merger.”

The existing RRGSD and WCSD supplemental school taxes would stop but a new one would start for all property in Halifax County. There are several interpretations as to exactly how much that new tax would be. One idea is that there would be a Supplemental School Tax equal to the of $.21 per hundred that was the RRGSD rate and it would be on all property in the county. Another idea is that there would be a new supplemental School Tax of approximately $.26 per hundred which is based on the total of the WCSD ADM rates and it would be charged on all property in the county. Either way, this would be a large tax increase on most of the property in Halifax County. This would hurt our economic development chances.

Do you feel there are any alternatives to merger that could be explored?

I believe there are some areas where the three districts can work together for their mutual benefit and with a combined savings to all. One of those areas might be in joint purchasing of materials, services, etc. This is really up to the elected School Boards and staffs of each District to work out. I believe that the elected School Boards should take it upon themselves to all become Trustees of the public’s funds, property and to work harder toward improving the education of the children. I believe the Halifax County Schools should look for where that “missing money” went and try to recover it. I believe the School Boards and the Administrations should be held accountable for their funds and the oversight and accounting for their funding and maintaining of the property in their districts.

Which report do you feel is more valid, The UNC Center for Civil Rights Study or the Evergreen Report?

I believe the Evergreen Report has the most validity. This report shows how to improve the education of the children in Halifax County. The report looked at each school system and pointed out what could be done to improved the education of the students in that system. It pointed out ways and methods to conserve and better utilize funds and also where those savings could be made. The conclusions of the UNC Center for Civil Rights Study are based on misinformation, assumptions and misinterpretations. It appears that this report tried to make the establishment of the RRGSD a racial issue and I do not believe that was the case. In 1907 there were very few houses in the South Rosemary area or other areas South of Chockoyotte Creek. There were no set aside housing areas for economic reasons, social reasons or racial reasons outside of the the RRGSD boundaries. The Statutes that established both the Weldon City School District and the Roanoke Rapids Graded School District stated that the districts were to educate all children within the districts. They each established schools for all the children.

The county's fund balance has dipped dangerously low. Please explain how you think this happened. Please explain what needs to be done to get it back up to acceptable levels.

When I was elected in 2002, the fund balance was under 8 percent.

Repairs had not been made, personnel had been terminated, funds had been transferred to areas they weren’t supposed to go.

The new Board that I was a part of had to make some drastic changes. We had a tax increase in 2003. We adopted a revenue based budgeting method and were very tight with the funds to each department. This helped greatly and our Fund Balance grew.

We were trying to maintain a Fund Balance at around 18 to 22 percent of revenue.

Over the years the Fund Balance rose to well over that level. There are a number of things that have caused the reduction in the Fund Balance percentage from the highest point to where it is now.

A- Not increasing Taxes each year, while taking some money from the Fund Balance to balance the budget.

B- The slowing and falling economy and still not increasing taxes.

C- About three years ago there was a change, in the way Fund Balance was calculated for Government Audits, which dropped the Fund Balance by about 10 to 12 percent in one year.

Knowing that our citizens were also being hurt by the bad economy we balanced the budget with funds for the Fund Balance.

The economy has been slow to improve in our area, our Tax Base has not increased that much but expenses of operation have increased. We have not increased the Property Tax Rate, so our Fund Balance (Savings account) has decreased. Growth has not been up to expectations for either our citizens or for the county.

Some governments enact small tax increases each year to keep up with the cost of doing business. Would you be in favor of this?

I and the other commissioners have found it very hard to increase Property Taxes as long as we have a Fund Balance that is higher than our “desired” percentage or even the minimum percentage. I do not like Taxes, but I know that in order to have good government we must pay for it. Taxes and fees are the only methods we have for providing those funds. I want our governments to be accountable and “tight” with the money they receive. If a small tax increase is necessary and the commissioners have made other cuts and they find they need to increase the taxes a small amount I can agree with that.

Commissioners recently voted to not expend funds to expand the county jail. Why or why not was this correct thing to do? Do you feel this matter should be looked at again? What do you believe the economic advantages or disadvantages to this decision will be?

Our present Jail facility was designed for 85 “customers.”

For several years we have had more than that number which had to be housed. We knew we had to have more space or to provide housing for more people. The state gave us permission to exceed that basic number by about 10 percent, because we were working on a solution.

Our jail population has gotten up to 120 or so several times and we had to pay other counties to house them for us.

About two years ago we put out bids for a Jail expansion plan. We hired an architect to get us some plans for the expansion to add a little over 100 beds. The estimate was about $6 million.

After going over the plans and making changes we asked for bids. They came back and the low bid was over $11 million, which we couldn’t afford.

We reduced the capacity and made cuts, changes and put it out for bids again. The low bid came back in over our desired figure but it was close enough we thought we could work it.

We then looked at what financing would cost. The financing came in above the figures we liked, at about $750,000 per year.

We then started adding the other costs, such as to add approximately 32 Jail staff. We put all the figures together and it was going to cost the County approximately $2,200,000 more per year to pay for and operate the new Detention Center.

We looked at what it would cost us to contract with other jails in our area and we figured we could pay other counties to house our excess prisoners, vehicles and staff to transport them and all would come to approximately $800,000 per year. We own the Plans. If in a few years we have to have more space, we can use those plans then. It boiled down to the costs to the taxpayers.

If we had to add to the Property Tax rate to pay for housing the prisoners, to build the facility would take approximately a $.07 tax rate; to contract with other counties to house them would take approximately a $.02 tax rate. Either way those people have to be housed and we the taxpayers have to foot the bill.

Following the meetings on the recreation master plan, one of the recommendations is that the county consider forming a recreation department and making the 4-H Rural Life Center part of that plan. What are you thoughts on recreational needs in the county and how do we go about making that happen? What needs to be done to bring recreational activities to a wider spectrum of people in the county?

We have a lot of needs in Halifax County. One of our main limiting factors is money. Most of the money the County receives is from Taxes on the Taxpayers.

Discuss any other issues you feel are important for the betterment of Halifax County and what you would do to improve them.

There are several issues that I believe are very important and need to be addressed.

Some of these the County Commissioners have no control over but the Citizens, voters, do.

I believe the School Board members of all three districts should be elected in the General Election in November and take office in December. The Trustees of the Roanoke Rapids Graded School District and the Weldon City School District are elected at the November General Election time and take office in December.

The Trustees of the Halifax County Schools are elected at the May Primary and take office in July. Budgets for all of our local governmental agencies run from July 1 through June 30.

Newly elected Trustees of the RRGSD and the WCSD have time on the Board to give input and help set the upcoming years Budget.

Newly elected Trustees on the County School Board do not have any input until the following year. Newly elected members serve under a Budget that was set by a previous Board.