Film incentives, the New Hanover Community Endowment and funding for transportation and infrastructure projects, such as the replacement of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, proved hot topics for local and state-level candidates during the Greater Wilmington Business Journal’s Power Breakfast on Thursday.

The event brought together candidates vying for seats in the N.C. Senate, the N.C. House of Representatives and the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners ahead of the Nov. 3 general election.

Republican incumbent Sen. Michael Lee and Democratic challenger Jessica Bichler voiced differing views on the status of the state’s film grant incentives program. 

In July, the state legislature approved a budget that included changes to the N.C. Film and Entertainment Grant, including increases to the maximum available grant amounts for a feature film and TV or scripted streaming service series, among other changes. The film grant program operates with $31 million in guaranteed recurring funding each year, with unspent dollars rolling forward instead of going back to the state.

“The issue that we're having right now is that the film office granted $100 million in the last 24 months, $91 million of which they didn't have,” Lee told Power Breakfast attendees on Thursday.

“We're going to have to find more money, but we can't find $100 million in 12 months,” he added. “We've got to fix the program and prevent this from happening again. That's only going to happen through some type of accountability and restructuring of how it all works.”

Bichler took issue with Lee’s characterization of mismanagement from the department.

“This idea of saying that it is mismanagement from the film commission, I think, is a real misrepresentation because the film commission understood how much money was available. What's happening right now is they're changing the rhythm around the distribution of that,” she said.

Lee and the Department of Commerce, which administers the film grant program, have been at odds over the status of the incentive funding in recent weeks, with Department of Commerce officials saying that the department likely won’t be able to award “any significant film grants for new productions until 2029” because available funds are already committed to other projects.

Bichler, who said she previously worked in the film industry, said that without new incentives, North Carolina could lose film productions and the workers who make them. 

In an email Thursday, Patrice Gist, communications director for the N.C. Department of Commerce, said the grant program would fulfill its obligations.

“The North Carolina Film and Entertainment Grant Program will meet its current grant award obligations," Gist wrote. "Our film industry is an important positive economic driver for North Carolina, and we will continue working with the General Assembly to keep cameras rolling across the state.”

Both candidates expressed concern about the impacts of interbasin water transfers and the need to find other funding mechanisms to support transportation and infrastructure projects.

In response to an audience question, Lee said he supports data centers being built in North Carolina “as long as the cost doesn’t fall on the backs of ratepayers.” Bichler acknowledged that technology is part of the state’s ongoing growth and development, but said the data center industry is currently able to “run roughshod over communities.”

Bichler also pointed to an AI-generated advertisement from Sen. Lee that depicts Bichler, a co-owner of Wilmington Yoga Center, meditating and doing yoga. Port City Daily recently reported that Bichler has issued a cease-and-desist letter over the advertisement.
 
“There are people in our community who don't understand that the images that he generated are AI-generated and are confused about what they're actually seeing on the screen there,” she said. “I think it's really important that we put strong guardrails in place around how this technology is being used, and actually consider how we are growing that industry if we choose to.”

Watch the N.C. Senate candidates speak at the Power Breakfast here:



New Hanover County Board of Commissioners race
The five candidates competing for two seats on the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners discussed issues ranging from the upcoming $320 million school bond referendum to affordable housing, homelessness and the New Hanover Community Endowment.

The candidate slate includes board Chair LeAnn Pierce, a Republican; Democratic Commissioner Rob Zapple; Republican candidate Richard Collier; Libertarian candidate Bob Drach and Democratic candidate LeShonda Wallace.

The school bond issue drew broad support from the candidates, with Zapple saying that there is no “plan B” for funding the proposed school improvements.

“We've let it go along too long,” he said. “We have too many obsolete schools and deferred maintenance. We need this $320 million dollars.”

Zapple said he plans to continue pushing for more investment in affordable housing and advocated for working more closely with the city of Wilmington to address homelessness in the region. If elected, the county’s infrastructure, including transportation, healthcare and schools, would be a top priority, he said.

As an engineer and a former planning board member, Collier said he, too, views infrastructure and planning as key.

“Growth doesn’t manage itself,” he said. “We have to manage the growth.”

Collier said he views the New Hanover Community Endowment as a “true gift” for the community and said he would advocate for the county to help address the homelessness and mental health issues impacting the region.

Drach promised to bring new “independent-minded” leadership to the Board of Commissioners. He said he’s been a critic of the endowment and the way it was set up.

“Now that we have an endowment, it's the endowment's responsibility to spend that money for the benefit of the people of New Hanover County,” he said. “So, I will be aligned with anyone who's pushing the endowment … to spend more of that money faster.”

Drach also advocated for an approach to affordable housing that encourages private development through infill and said it’s important for the county to support nonprofits and other local groups who provide outreach to the homeless.

Pierce said she brings experience as an elected official – both on the Board of Commissioners and as the former mayor of Carolina Beach. Top issues for Pierce include responsible growth, well-funded schools, affordable housing and low taxes. 

“I think it's very important that we keep our tax rate down so that you can afford to have more money at home in your pockets with your families,” she said, “and to put the money where you want to put it.”

Wallace, an advanced practice nurse, said that, if elected, one of her top priorities would be establishing a health access advisory council that would help inform policy decisions made by the Board of Commissioners. Wallace advocated for holding broader community-level conversations about what affordable housing means for the area and said she believes the appointments to the New Hanover Community Endowment board should be made transparently.

She also voiced support for the school bond and investing in the county's needs.

“When our county management and leadership tell us what the needs and essential needs are when it comes to making decisions for the budget,” she said, “I will make sure I support what they tell us, standing on their merit, that we address it.”

Watch the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners candidates speak at the Power Breakfast here:



N.C. House race
In the race to fill a seat left vacant by the retirement of Rep. Ted Davis from the N.C. House of Representatives, New Hanover County School Board member Tim Merrick, a Democrat, is facing off against Republican Dane Scalise, vice chair of the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners.

Merrick said, if elected, affordability would be his top priority. 

“Raleigh is not getting the job done,” he said. “We should not let hardworking North Carolinians shoulder the burden of all of the costs of the state.”

Merrick said he wants to keep pushing for new opportunities to fund transportation projects, including the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge replacement, and pushed back against tolling the project. He added that the area needs more competition for healthcare and that state officials need to be more thoughtful about how to support the film industry.

Scalise said he’s been a “doer” on the Board of Commissioners and will continue to get things done as a state representative. He said he has the ability and relationships to help bring back funding for the proposed medical school at UNCW and advocated for ironing out concerns with the state film grant incentives.

Scalise said a priority will be bringing money back to the district, which encompasses northern and eastern portions of New Hanover County.

“I am going to bring back more money to New Hanover County than has ever been brought back previously,” he said.

Republican challenger Latisha Grady is running against incumbent Democratic Rep. Deb Butler to represent District 18, which includes downtown Wilmington and parts of central and southern New Hanover County, in the N.C. House of Representatives.

Grady said she’s personally experienced some of the cost-of-living issues facing the district and would bring a “common-sense conservative approach” to the role. She voiced support for securing additional funding for UNCW’s medical school and film incentives, adding that her priority would be establishing a trade school within the district aimed at underemployed and unemployed individuals.

“I think that would create better pathways to higher income and for them to be able to quickly exit poverty,” she said.

Butler said the state needs to evaluate how it funds transportation projects amid drops in gas tax revenue due to more efficient vehicles and an increasing number of electric vehicles statewide. Officials also need to reconsider the formula that scores transportation projects for funding and called a potential toll on the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge replacement “double taxation.”

If reelected, Butler said her priority would be to hold Chemours and other polluters accountable for PFAS contamination in the region.

“If I could do one thing, it would be to pass the bill that I filed in 2019 that would make DuPont and Chemours pay for the technology necessary to get that junk out of our water,” Butler said.

Watch the N.C. House of Representatives candidates speak at the Power Breakfast here: