Tar Heel considers changing term limits from two to four years

TAR HEEL — Commissioners here held a public hearing Tuesday night regarding changing term limits for the mayor and themselves from two years to four.

The question came up around January of last year, Mayor Sam Allen said.

Tar Heel’s population is only about 200, per census estimates of the last few years. According to Commissioner Mike Underwood, one of the main factors of changing the term years is economics. He said it costs around $1,800 for elections, while only six to eight people actually come out to vote. The idea is to save taxpayers’ money.

Underwood said that in two years time, it is hard to really complete a project. For a commissioner to actually get a project in the works and completed, they would need at least four years.

No one from the public came to the meeting to comment on the possibility of changing the term years.

“We have such a small budget and every few years hardly anybody comes to the town to vote,” the mayor said. “It’s a big expense. We can just span that out in four years, that’ll save us. Then whoever is in office will have longer. In politics it’s hard. You may start something today and it takes a while to get it going.”

Allen said that the changing of the terms would really benefit the town by sparing their budget. Historically, Tar Heel is the only municipality in North Carolina that made national news because no one wanted to run for office, according to Underwood.

The late Roy Dew won the mayoral race in 2019 by collecting 13 votes. Allen won a commissioner seat with 13, Underwood got 10, and Commissioner Angie Hall got six. Underwood and Hall were write-ins; there was one other write-in. Only Dew and Allen filed to run.

Those were higher numbers than 2017. Dew got all seven votes for mayor in that election, and Allen and Hall also got seven for commissioner. She filed that year. Underwood was a write-in candidate with the next highest total (three). There was one other write-in.

The 2015 election had more participation. Dew got all 24 votes for mayor, and Hall got 24 for commissioner. They were the only candidates to file. Allen was a write-in and drew 20 votes.