Blackwater Reports Inc. maintains a neutral stance and will neither endorse nor oppose any candidate for political office. Questions posed to political candidates will be uniform and consistent across all individuals running for the same political position.

BlackwaterReports asked:

1. Who are you, and why are you running?
2. What are your top three priorities?
3. Will you commit to your voters that you will fight for your priorities?

These are C. Shay Ballance’s unedited responses:

My name is C. Shay Ballance. I am running for Currituck County Commissioner, District-2 Lower Currituck. I am a life long, 9th generation Currituck native. I grew up in Currituck, I own a business in Currituck. I am a father to be, who plans on raising my family in Currituck. I was originally appointed to the Board of Adjustments in 2013, followed by 6 years on the Planning Board, 3 years as Chairman. I have the experience and Knowledge needed to take on this position. I am running for Commissioner, because I love my home, and we cannot afford 4 more years of the current administration, and the mess
we have seen reported in the news lately.

The Biggest challenge facing Currituck county is, taxes, taxes, taxes. Currituck citizens have faced one of the largest property tax rate increases in my lifetime. Property taxes increased over 20% just last year. With another increase already planned for this year. My opponent voted for both increases. Taxes went up because of poor planning, mismanagement, and no foresight. We must get a plan to attract additional sources of revenue, and commit to it. We need to stop over regulating small businesses. Give the little guy a chance. We need two different sets of UDO regulations. One specifically for Moyock, and one for Lower Currituck. Attract commercial tax base on the Northern end of the county, and tourism on the southern end. These are additional sources of revenue, without putting
pressure on our school system.

On the Mainland, rising property taxes will continue to cause land owners, to be forced to sell to residential developers, because they could no longer pay their property tax, and were given no other options. Ladies and gentlemen, this recipe will only multiply the problem, and will not preserve anything. My opponents proposed voluntary farm program is smoke and mirrors, and will not work. It is what it says it is, voluntary. Land owners in Currituck know this program won’t work, and collectively support my campaign. In addition, my opponent has had 5 plus years to implement these programs, and has done nothing, while residential growth in Moyock has continued unchecked. We must stop trying to regulate everything County wide, with a one size fits all approach. We address growth and preserve land in Moyock, by designing a new set of UDO regulations to specifically, and precisely address Moyock issues.

As Commissioner, I will fight for, and approach all of my decisions with five points in mind. #1. keeping our property tax rate low, #2. small government, #3. Common sense, #4. Responsible growth, #5. A county manager that actually lives in Currituck. If our county manager doesn’t love Currituck enough to actually want to live in our community, how can we believe they know best what our community needs are?