Franklin County wants more water. In nearby Vance County, the city of Henderson, which controls a regional water source that Franklin County relies on, has refused to grant their request for more water for years. Last week, state legislators stepped in to force a deal. This week, they changed their minds.
A last-minute addition to a bill would have allowed Franklin County to get the water supply it wants, potentially by force in neighboring counties, without the consent of their county commissioners.
Further west, the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School system is reeling from debt after a 2025 audit uncovered over $40 million in overspending. Since, the school system has eliminated hundreds of positions and experienced rapid superintendent turnover. The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners forgave a portion of their debt.
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Lawmakers were not as forgiving last week, when they amended the same bill to shorten the terms of school board members and commissioners in Forsyth County who are elected this November from four to two years, to “give voters one more opportunity” to address recent concerns, said State Rep. Kyle Hall, R-Stokes. That came after three incumbent education board members and three commissioners — all but one Democratic candidates — won their March primaries.
Tuesday, after outcries from local communities, lawmakers reversed course on both issues — for now. They withdrew the bill, and promised to eliminate the two disputed provisions.
House Speaker Destin Hall said nothing ever truly dies in the legislature, though. While legislators are willing to give the involved local communities more time to figure out their water issues, they won’t wait forever.
“This body will probably do something on it one way or the other, if they don’t get it worked out,” Hall said. “So if they can do that themselves, that’d be much better for everyone.”
The same applies to Forsyth County’s school district woes. The election provision won’t be included in the latest version of the bill, but Hall said the provision “probably will come back at some point” as they keep working.
These additions were housed in Senate Bill 214, a bill that originally addressed another local issue the legislature has gotten heavily involved in: deannexations.
North Carolina localities don’t have that much power. As a modified Dillon Rule state, localities may only exercise the powers the state explicitly grants them.
But opponents to the proposed bill and its temporarily defeated additions say the legislature’s meddling into local matters has gone too far. Impacted elected officials want the state to leave them alone and let them take care of their own business.
Starting with deannexations
North Carolina is doing it all wrong, said Rep. Deb Butler, D-New Hanover.
For years, the state has handled deannexations in a top-down manner. Property owners would approach state lawmakers and ask for their property to be removed from a city’s boundaries. Perhaps they owned property on Main Street and took advantage of some city services, but wanted to opt for more preferential county rules instead, Butler explained.
Then, lawmakers would put a provision in a bill singling out their property for deannexation. The issue was that lawmakers generally didn’t do any research before granting those requests, which could cause unintended issues.
Originally, Senate Bill 214 did just this. It removed two tracts of land, about 26 total acres, from Four Oaks city limits in Johnston County. Over the past year or so, other deannexations were added and removed from the bill. Now, the bill would allow deannexation of certain property from Southport, Kannapolis and Yadkinville city limits.
Last Wednesday, April 22, when lawmakers were scheduled to vote on the final bill, Butler urged her colleagues to pause. After researching the issue as part of a legislative subcommittee, she said they found out most other states have a more local process where property owners or municipalities can file deannexation requests. She added that their subcommittee would publish a report on what North Carolina should do soon.
“There really is a better path,” Butler said.
Lawmakers, in fact, did not vote on the bill Wednesday. That not only gave Butler and her subcommittee peers the opportunity to share their findings, but also a chance for the public to weigh in on newly added provisions that have nothing to do with deannexations.
In short — they didn’t like the additions. In fact, Granville County commissioners threatened to take the issue to court, on behalf of Henderson.
When state Senate and House members do not agree on an original bill, as was the case with this bill, they can create a conference committee. Legislative leaders choose a small group of lawmakers to work behind the scenes on a compromise.
In practice, the conference report that emerges often includes provisions that have no relation to the original bill. Since conference reports cannot be amended during floor debate, and aren’t subject to the public committee process, they can be a method for lawmakers to force passage of potentially unpopular legislation.
If at first you fail, call your representative
Rep. Bryan Cohn, D-Granville, got lost on the way to the General Assembly.
He was distracted. Cohn had been on the phone since 7:45 a.m. with local officials in Vance County and the city of Henderson who had no warning about the bill impacting their water system.
It isn’t like Cohn didn’t see it coming, though. The water dispute between Franklin County and Henderson has been ongoing for years.
Henderson owns a 60% stake in the Kerr Lake Regional Water System, essentially giving it total control over the resource. The regional water system provides water to the city of Oxford and Warren County, which make up the 40% minority stake, and also portions of Vance, Granville and Franklin counties.
Currently, the system is undergoing an effort to increase its capacity, from 10 million gallons of water supply per day to 20 million.
Franklin County wants a bigger piece of that pie. As Wake County’s northern neighbor, Franklin County is taking in the outgrowth of Raleigh’s population boom. That means more businesses and people — the county is projected to double in population by 2060 — and consequently, greater water demand.
While Franklin County’s main water source is the Kerr Lake Regional Water System, it also buys water from Louisburg and Raleigh and has its own smaller water plant. It’s not enough though, according to the county’s projections. Between 2020 and 2024, the county “made repeated written and verbal attempts” to buy more water from Henderson, according to the county website.
Henderson said no almost every time. Mayor Melissa Elliott was not available for comment before publication.
Eventually, the city did allow for a temporary increase in Franklin County’s water allotment, but that expires this year. Last April, the county informed Henderson officials that if they couldn’t purchase the water they needed, they would find another option.
Their alternative plan is to build a new water intake, pump station and distribution line directly from Kerr Lake to a new water plant in Franklin County, according to documents provided by the county. As part of this $200 million project, the county needs permission to reallocate a portion of Kerr Lake’s water — equating to about 15.7 million gallons of water per day — toward their own county water supply.
In order to make this happen, Franklin County needs the approval of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Right now, the USACE Wilmington District is studying what impact the county’s request would have, including how it might affect the environment, the water system’s hydropower efforts and the water demand from other cities and counties.
They are expected to issue a final report and recommendation in May 2028.
The county also might need access to any part of the new system that is built outside Franklin County. Generally, counties need the approval of county commissioners for that. Senate Bill 214 would give them that access, even if Vance County commissioners object.
“Passage of Senate Bill 214 would allow Franklin County to construct, own and operate assets located outside of Franklin County as part of its long-term water strategy,” said James Hicks, Franklin County public information officer.
It’s not the first time lawmakers have tried to weigh in on the water dispute.
Last year, lawmakers passed a bill that would have diverted $10 million in previously appropriated money meant for the Kerr Lake Regional Water System’s expansion project to other water infrastructure projects, including $3 million for a Franklin County water infrastructure project. However, by the time the bill passed, the money was already spent, Cohn said.
This feels like payback for thwarting the legislature’s attempt to crawl back funding, he said.
“I firmly believe the full goal and intent of this is to take the plant away from the City of Henderson,” Cohn said.
State Rep. Matthew Winslow, R-Franklin, denied this in a statement. He said nearly 20 years of good faith negotiations between the county and Henderson had failed.
“Henderson has sought to restrict allocation volumes—requiring repeated future negotiations — and to charge Franklin County citizens rates nearly four times higher than those paid by other users,” Winslow wrote. “Passing exorbitant costs directly to our residents would be the easy choice, but it would not serve the long-term interests of our community.”
Vance County Commissioner Dan Brummitt understands Franklin County’s plight, but thinks there needs to be a better way for regional partners to work together, he told Carolina Public Press.
“I don’t support any condemnation of property in any form, and for another county to be able to do it in the county is not the correct thing to do,” he said. “… It’s a dangerous precedent to set.”
While Franklin County is growing, Halifax and Warren counties are not, said Rep. Rodney Pierce, D-Halifax. However, that doesn’t give Franklin County the right to take land without permission, he said.
“I’m a history teacher by trade,” Pierce said. “This straight up sounds like manifest destiny.”
Hall said there was discussion around the water provision after concerns came up last week. Lawmakers determined that the local governments should talk to each other and try once more to work out a deal before the state steps in.
Giving voters another chance or gaming the system?
When Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education Democratic member Alex Bohannon advanced in the March primary election, he expected to campaign for another four-year term in the November general election.
But if some lawmakers have their way, he may be out by 2028, even if he wins reelection.
Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools are working through a financial crisis. A state audit found overspending, poor accounting and negligence by previous officials, culminating in a budget deficit over $40 million.
For the past year, school district leaders have been digging themselves out of that hole. They laid off more than 300 employees. The district began using a new system to manage its money. It raised about $10 million in private funds from the community.
While Forsyth County commissioners originally declined to help clean up the district’s mess, they eventually forgave a portion of their debt.
Some board members paid the price. Six of the nine education board members ran for reelection, and half lost. However, three education board members won their primaries and the three returning county commissioners won theirs, too.
If the bill additions weren’t withdrawn, Senate Bill 214 would have changed the stakes. Commissioners and education board members elected in 2026 would have only served two-year terms, not four years.
To Bohannon, it feels like lawmakers are gaming the system because they don’t like what voters chose. They could have changed the law last year, but only proposed to do so now, he noted.
“It just seems like to me to be a direct result of the efforts of the primaries,” he said. “Maybe people’s preferred candidates didn’t win, but the timing seems a little bit off to me.”
When asked about the motivation behind the provision, Rep. Kyle Hall, R-Stokes, didn’t exactly deny those suspicions.
“I’ve heard from a number of constituents who are concerned with everything that is going on with the school system there — we all have seen the headlines of that,” Hall said. “This gives the voters one more opportunity to address those concerns with a turnout election that should be pretty high.”
Bohannon said limiting terms to two years is the opposite of what the boards need. In fact, a lack of continuity was part of the reason the financial woes began in the first place, he said.
“That isn’t good for continuity, that’s not good for governance, that’s not good for a superintendent that’s trying to get the district back to where it needs to be,” Bohannon said. “You have to have stability at the top.”
Editor’s note: This article has been updated due to news developments shortly after its initial publication.
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