Meet Gaston County's unopposed commission candidate

A candidate running unopposed for the Southpoint seat on the Gaston County Board of Commissioners said that one of his biggest priorities will be easing the tax burden senior citizens are facing.

Republican Jim Bailey, who ousted incumbent Republican commissioner Ronnie Worley in the May 14 runoff election, said he wants to save the county — and taxpayers — money.

"I've got a lot of homework… and I will probably be going around and meeting with a lot of council members and mayors from the townships that I represent," Bailey said. "When someone contacts me, I want to be able to do what I can to help."

Bailey, who previously worked for the Gaston County Sheriff's Office, said he is concerned about senior citizens who can't afford their property taxes. Property values skyrocketed after a revaluation last year, and some property owners saw a 50%-to-75% increase in their property value, the county said. The Gaston County Board of Commissioners lowered the property tax rate to 61 cents per $100 of assessed value, the lowest the tax rate has been since at least 1970. Bailey said that he has heard of people who still cannot afford their property taxes.

"I guess my main point of focus is the people that are over 60, 65 years old, have lived in their house a long time. They're on a fixed income and their property rates have doubled and tripled," he said. "We need to be able to help them."

Bailey also said he wants to bring more stakeholders to the table to discuss decisions affecting the community.

"I want the communities to be able to be heard also on the county level. One of the things I had discussed with a few city council members around Southpoint township was they're kind of left out of the loop when it comes to anything at the county," he said. "The county commissioners need to sit down with some of the city council people, some of your business people and some of the citizens that want to be involved in it and say, 'Hey, what is best for our community?'"

Bailey also wants to evaluate most county departments to find ways in which the county can cut costs.

"The only county offices that I don't want to bother, I don't want to mess with the schools and I don't want to mess with public safety," he said. "Everything else I think needs to be evaluated. There's always cost savings."

He said that he also wants to examine illegal immigration in the county.

"On a county level, if somebody has a contract with the county that is using illegals to work for the county, I think that contract should be voided," he said.

He said that he also wants to help homeless people in the community, particularly homeless veterans.

"I've seen more people from the communities volunteering and helping with some of these homeless people than I have government stepping in and helping them, and it should be the other way around," he said.

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Meet Gaston County's unopposed commission candidate