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Amendment One, the effort to bring jobs and economic growth to North Carolina, was approved by North Carolina voters. On the statewide ballot, Amendment One bonds are a local economic development tool communities can use to help create jobs. �The people have indeed spoken. Approval of Amendment One shows how ready North Carolinians are to revive their state and create jobs that will help improve their lives,� said Leslie Bevacqua Coman, Steering Committee Chair for North Carolinians for Jobs and Progress. �As we have been saying all along, Amendment One will help communities across North Carolina return to prosperity. Above all else, North Carolinians understood the importance of Amendment One and voted to give their local communities a tool that can only help to strengthen our economy and our state.� Passage of Amendment One means local governments will now be allowed to use self-financing bonds to pay for public improvements in partnership with private investment within a designated development district. Projects can include streets, water and sewer service and sidewalks. The additional tax revenues from the increased property values in the district are used to pay off the bonds. No tax increases are necessary to pay off Amendment One bonds and taxes cannot be pledged to pay off the bonds without a vote of the people. North Carolina is now the 49th state to permit the use of Amendment One type bonds. The state will be able to use this tool to redevelop abandoned factories and plants into small business centers, build new manufacturing plants and affordable housing, spur community revitalization, build business incubators and commercial development and clean up environmentally damaged areas.
�Amendment One received tremendous statewide support and it wouldn�t have passed without a strong grassroots effort,� Bevacqua Coman added. �From the very beginning, this campaign was about coming together to bring jobs back home. This win is a step in the right direction.� The bipartisan effort has former Governors Jim Holshouser, Jim Hunt and Jim Martin serving as honorary Co-Chairs of the campaign. In addition, co-chairs of the campaign are Breeden Blackwell, NC Association of County Commissioners; Barry Eveland, NCCBI; Joycelyn Johnson, NC League of Municipalities; and Mac Williams, NC Economic Developers Association.
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Amendment One received nearly 400 endorsements from organizations � large and small, rural and urban � across the state. Organizations like North Carolina Citizens for Business and Industry (NCCBI), the North Carolina Economic Developers Association (NCEDA), the North Carolina Home Builders Association, the North Carolina League of Municipalities, the North Carolina Metropolitan Coalition, the North Carolina NAACP, the North Carolina Rural Center, the North Carolina Smart Growth Alliance and the state AFL-CIO and the NC Association of REALTORS as well as numerous cities and towns and chambers or commerce from around the state. 