Wake County Board of County Commissioners, At-Large: Steve Rao

Name: Steve S. Rao

Age: 55

Party affiliation: Democrat

Campaign website: www.steveraoforwake.com

Occupation and employer: I-T Consultant 

1. In your view, what are the three most pressing issues facing Wake County? If elected, what will you do to address these issues?

1. Standing up and fighting the Trump Administration and their denigrating cuts to education, Medicaid and transit programs. The Trump budget cuts are going to be devestating to Wake County families. I will stand up and fight the Trump budget cuts
2. Supporting our public schools and classroom teachers. As the son of Indian-immigrants, my parents taught me the value of a good education — using education as an economic ladder for success and prosperity. I will support our classroom teachers, our school board, our parents, and support staff. I will support our schools growth plan and the upcoming school bonds for capital investments.
3 Community investments in Affordable Housing and Transit. We must work closely with our local elected officials to make critical investments in our infrastructure to maintain and improve our quality of life. It’s about results, opportunities and action. The RAO effect.

2. How would your experience―in politics or otherwise in your career―make you an asset to the county’s decision-making process? 

I am the first Indian-American elected to public office in NC. I spent 14 years on the Morrisville Town Council bringing people together and solving problems. I have vast experience working with our county government and school board on issues that impacted residents in my town. But also I have been active with other local elected officials and the Triangle J Council of Governments. I bring this experience to the table — and will be ready to lead on day one.

3. If you are a candidate for a district seat, please identify your priorities for your district. If you are an at-large candidate, please explain how you would approach decision-making with the entire county in mind.

At Large 
My priorities are:
1. Supporting our public schools, classroom teachers, support staff, make sure we provide our children with a 21st century education that prepares them for a changing economy
2. Affordable Housing. This means collaboration with all local governments and with the real estate industry to identify the needs and work to address them from public housing support, to first-time homebuyers, the working families, to our senior population.
3. Invest in transit systems that will reduce congestion and offer more options to improve traffic movement across the county
4. Work with other commissioners and address the critical issues facing our EMS system. Commissioners Don Mial and Shinica Thomas have been working on this issues for the past few years but we need more help — and they have made progress but we need to do more. Our EMS ambulances can’t keep pace with our county’s growth and we must make sure we have the ambulance units and staff available to answer the 9-1-1 calls for help.

4. With Wake County’s rapid growth come challenges related to suburban sprawl, transportation, and affordable housing. What have been the county’s successes in managing this growth in recent years? What about its failures? What would you do differently?

I believe that leadership is the ability to bring people together to get things done. I am an action-oriented leader. I believe in setting policy and making sure these policies are executed. I believe we deal with the challenges of growth by working in a collaborative manner with our local elected officials, our legislative leaders. It’s about bringing people together, building consensus and then making sure our city and county officials work together to execute the plans and policies. Success is built on having a plan and having accountability.

5. What should be the county’s role in addressing issues of economic inequality, such as gentrification, affordable housing, and homelessness? Do you believe the board is doing enough to help its municipalities manage Wake County’s growth in order to prevent current residents from being priced out? 

We need to make sure our economic opportunities have the ability to uplift all communities. We need to make sure we have an education system that can provide an economic ladder to success. We need more collaboration between county government and our local governments in all municipalities from Morrisville to Zebulon and Wake Forest to Fuquay-Varina.

6. Property valuations have risen significantly in recent years and many Wake County residents are worried about their ability to continue to afford to pay taxes on their homes. What do you believe the county commission should do to make living here more affordable? Should the county consider lowering taxes or creating new tax assistance programs? If you support cutting taxes, where would you reduce government spending?

I think we need to be creative in finding tax assistance programs for our low-income and senior citizens. The State Legislature is looking at property tax reform right now, so we will have to follow that closely. I think it will be critical to look at county spending and areas that we can improve efficiency to free up monies for our schools, affordable housing, helping the unhoused, fixing our EMS and investing in transit programs.

7. The county board of commissioners voted this year to increase the Wake County Public School System budget by $40 million, which fell short of the school system’s stated need by about $20 million. Was this the right move? What is the county’s responsibility to public schools in an increasingly tight budget environment? 

I look back to leadership from Michael Weeks and Bill Fletcher when they led the County Commission and School Board, they worked together to hammer out a budget that met the needs of the school system. I think we can get back to that type of collaborative leadership that will allow the county to fund the needs of the school board’s budget.

8. At 41¢ per capita arts funding, Wake County spends much less than peer counties in North Carolina and regionally. A new arts spending plan lays out some ways to bridge those funding gaps, but many arts leaders believe the county should spend more. Do you agree Wake County should spend more on the arts? If so, what are some ways you think the county could finance that spending?

Earlier, your survey was asking about tax cuts and not meeting the school board budgets, so it is easy to see all the dynamics facing the county commissioners. I will support our arts and cultural programs but will place priorities on school funding, affordable housing, transit and fixing EMS.

9. North Carolina is a “Dillon Rule” state, meaning that the only powers municipal and county governments have are the ones granted to them by the legislature. Would you like to see this changed? How would you work with state legislators from Wake County, as well as mayors and council members from the city’s municipalities, to ensure that Wake County, its municipalities, and the state are on the same page regarding policies that affect residents of Wake?

I do not believe in today’s political environment that changing the state’s constitution to grant more powers to the local governments is realistic. Until there is a change in power at the General Assembly, this is moot question.

10. Is the county doing enough to protect, preserve, and maintain its natural resources, including parks, waterways, and green spaces?

County government needs to be proactive in its parks, waterways and green spaces. We need more planning, more vision, more resident engagement to set a parks plan that can provide excellent parks for the next few decades

11. Give an example of an opinion, policy, vote, or action you changed based on constituent feedback. If you have not yet held elected office, describe a time when you changed your position on an issue after listening to those affected by it.

A few years ago many immigrants approached me about having difficulties accessing government services because they didn’t speak English. I was able to get the policy at our town changed to develop a language access plan. We received a grant and funded a position and worked with the Hindu temples in Morrisville to translate government program documents into Hindi, the national language of India. 

The town is now working to provide other languages translations as well. (35% of Morrisville’s population is Indian-American.) This type of program could be expanded across the county.

12. If there is anything else you would like to address, please do so here.

If I am elected I will lead. I will focus on results, opportunities and action. I will use my background in sales and business to be accountable, responsive and transparent. I will work day and night to meet the needs of our residents. I will return your phone calls and I will show up and be an active, engaged leader for Wake County.