North Carolina voters typically approve bonds to improve local parks, so one town’s vote to reject a bond this year was unusual, McGuireWoods Raleigh associate Connor Crews told WRAL News in a Nov. 8, 2023, story.
WRAL sought Crews’ insights after voters in Fuquay-Varina rejected a $60 million parks bond. Crews rejoined McGuireWoods’ public finance team in October after spending more than three years on the faculty of the University of North Carolina School of Government.
“It’s rare for a bond referendum not to succeed,” Crews told WRAL. Crews analyzed the success rate of bond referendums during his time on the UNC faculty and found that over a decade, North Carolina voters approved 202 of 213 bond referendums and 37 of 43 parks bonds.
“It might be common sense for a voter to think about a potential increase in their property taxes that would go to pay debt service on the bonds or just opposition to the project,” Crews said.
At the UNC School of Government, Crews taught and advised local and state officials, government contractors, and public- and private-sector counsel on matters involving local government finance and public procurement.