Phil Smith — Burke County Commission

Full name: Karl Philip Smith (Phil)

Age: 65 years

Education: Graduate of Texas A&M University — B.S.; Gardner-Webb University — M.S.; Appalachian State University — Ed.S

Current employer and job title: (Retired) 30 years Burke County Public Schools, Educator; 30 years U.S. Army and North Carolina National Guard, Chief Warrant Officer

How long have you lived in the district you want to serve?

65 years. I was born here, lived here, raised my family here, and will die here — God willing.

What are your top three priorities you want to address if elected?

My top three priorities are actually all intertwined in some way. In order for our county to succeed and advance, a good commissioner must have more than three priorities and each one must be to improve the economy of Burke County, and I would do that by attracting more industries with good paying jobs here. This is done by providing for (1) a skilled and educated workforce, (2) having good medical services here with hospitals and doctors, (3) a good system of public safety including our Sheriff’s Department, fire departments, and emergency medical services, (4) a good system of parks and recreation including our trails and services to our children, (5) attracting good restaurants and entertainment, (6) better housing and more of it, and (7) transportation through our public transit system and maintenance of our roads. All of these things work together to attract better paying jobs for citizens and to provide a better quality of life.

Burke recently fell to a Tier 1 county. What can be done to drive economic growth and bring us back up to a Tier 2 county?

Here, I would ask you to return to my answer in question No. 1 above. If we concentrate on those areas, advancing from Tier 1 will be no problem. However, an explanation of the Tier Rankings is needed. Each year the North Carolina Department of Commerce is required to place all 100 counties in one of three tier categories: 40 counties in Tier 1, 40 counties in Tier 2, and 20 counties in Tier 3. This year Burke County was placed in Tier 1 due mainly to the devastation from Hurricane Helene. Several other counties in Western North Carolina dropped at least one Tier designation also including Buncombe, Henderson, and Haywood to name a few. In total 18 counties in North Carolina shifted Tier status. The public should know that Burke County’s local economy is strengthening and many indicators show real progress. The Tier calculation simply reflects how Burke compares to the rest of the state during a period in which many counties — especially large, urban counties — experienced historically rapid growth and industrial expansion. Simply put, Tier rankings are based on the unemployment rate, median household income, population growth, and property tax base per capita. We should not be overly concerned about moving to Tier 1. We will be back to Tier 2 soon. No one reading this woke up one morning and thought “Oh gosh, Burke County just moved into Tier 1.” We would not have even known if Raleigh had not informed us. As my favorite writer, Hal Borland, once said, “No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.”

If elected, what will you do to continue assisting the people of Burke County with recovery from Hurricane Helene?

Again, I must refer you to question 1. Improving our economy is the best prescription for total recovery. However, we must continue to work with FEMA and other federal and state agencies to help in all matters of cleanup and restoration. Our county employees are diligently working to assist families and individuals in all areas of health and human services and in all facets of public safety. The best thing we can do is to continue to improve our emergency services to be better prepared for the next natural disaster that may strike our county. We are currently in the process of improving every aspect of emergency services. We will recover!