Rep. Tim Moffitt, R-Buncombe County, calmly fielded a challenge from local activist Barry Summers regarding his stance on the legislation he has proposed to merge the Asheville regional water system into the Metropolitan Sewerage District. 

The brief interchange occurred during the April 5 breakfast meeting of the Council of Independent Business Owners at Biltmore Square Mall’s food court.

Besides Summers, several other activists — including Elaine Lyte, Heather Rayburn — were in attendance at the meeting mainly composed of businesspeople and elected and appointed government officials.

As Moffitt was leaving the meeting after his presentation and fielding questions, Asheville City Councilman Marc Hunt and several of the activists approached the legislator, who chatted with them at length.

Earlier, Moffitt and fellow Buncombe Republican Rep. Nathan Ramsey had given a state legislative update, when Summers spoke up during a question-and-answer period that followed.

Regarding the proposed MSD water system merger, Summers opened the Q&A by asking Moffitt, with a tone of urgency, “Can you claim the merger will actually save money?”

“Thank you, Barry,” Moffitt replied evenly. “Neither you nor I can predict the future.” In general, he said the MSD takeover of the water system is “the right direction for the future.”

Ramsey added, “There are several people who have no stake in the fight who think that’s the reasonable thing to do… In retrospect, we got here because in 1988 the voters decided not to take water from the French Broad… In retrospect, that was the better thing to do. In the 1990s, everyone agreed to work toward a regional water authority. Certainly reasonable minds can disagree.”

During his presentation, Moffitt began by noting, “Over the past 10 or 15 years, we’ve added about 10,000 rules and regulations in the state of North Carolina that have had the same effect on you. In the next year, we plan to reduce about 2,500 regulations. It is a lengthy process.

“Being a legislator is quite an honor… But the legislature, in a way, is the problem. … It’s very challenging when you craft legislation (on which) you clearly state your intent on the front end. With that being said, we’re looking at the statutes now, where the front end is clear, so what’s on the back end is clear.”

Further, Moffit asserted, “On the process side, anything that threatens your liberty of property needs to be subjected to due process. We have rule-making going on in the dark in our state… in state agencies and on the local level…. It’s inappropriate to put something in place that has not been thoroughly vetted. It’s amazing to me how many of our state agencies have exempted themselves from that process. We’re looking at removing those exemptions simply because it’s the right thing to do.

“The second things is we’re looking at … the tax code…. Changing any aspect of it has unintended consequences…. At Asheville City Council Town hall …the privilege license tax is on the table because” otherwise “it’s picking winners and losers. Our intent is to streamline the tax code… To create a tax code that takes less of your time to comply with.... We have other things in that will result in a net gain for the cities.”

To that end, Moffitt said, “As I was telling members of City Council, it’s mind-numbing when you get into the tax code. …. Try not to overreact to bills that are filed. There was a bill filed for religious freedom in Rowan County. … It’s simply a resolution.. But people look at that without understanding the bill-making process.

“Back to the bill ... just because a bill is filed does not mean the bill will become law. Last session, we had over 3,000 pieces of legislation that were filed and I think only about 400 of those actually became law. Again, I’m available at any time if anybody has any concern. It’s a work in progress,” Moffitt said.

Ramsey, who is a freshman in the House, triggered laughter from the crowd when he said, “It’s always more fun to drive up the hill (to the Asheville area) than down the hill (to Raleigh). We’re also a little closer to heaven” in the mountains.

He noted that “the reason most people are here” was the introduction of a bill the previous week that “would merge the Asheville water system into the MSD. I think that’s good policy…. I think working together as a community by June, there’s many ways to skin a cat. I think we’ll have a more efficient process.… By the end of that process, the City of Asheville comes out in as good or better financial shape as it is today.”