Watauga County Board of Commissioners, District #2

The NC State Legislature gerrymandered Watauga’s Commissioner districts. As a result, if you want to know if or which county commissioner candidates are running in your assigned district, you should first determine which County Commissioner district you live in by clicking HERE. (Scroll down to “Jurisdictions,” and look for your County Commission District number.)

NOTE: If District #2 is your assigned district, you may vote for one. Candidates are presented below in the order they appear on your ballot. All of my research sources and links for these candidates are presented after and below the candidate profiles.

Reason for my Endorsement:

Both candidates vying for this seat are focused IMO on key issues facing our County and their district. Russell identifies his top three issues as workforce housing availability and affordability; new school construction; and childcare opportunities. Savva identifies his top three issues as investment in schools; more opportunities for local businesses and creating pathways to local jobs; and traffic issues.

I want to say outright that I think Savva Kostis is an incredibly bright and interesting candidate. His answers to the Pam’s Picks questionnaire were thoughtful, reasoned, and well said. I like him. A lot. His questionnaire emphasizes listening, collaboration, sensible spending, and practical solutions. But those are also relatively easy commitments to make. Kostis seems to approach government primarily through management: examine the costs, evaluate the options, maintain infrastructure, and avoid waste.  A candidate who says he needs to see updated sales-tax numbers before committing might be exercising sound judgment. Or he might be avoiding a difficult decision.

Russell knows how government works. But experience cuts both ways: it gives us more accomplishments to examine and more opportunities to ask why things didn’t happen. Russell seems to approach government more through public intervention: identify a community problem, use county resources to investigate it, and try to organize a response. He says he favors a return to distributing local sales tax revenue to municipalities by population rather than property value but then says he would not force a vote certain to fail. It’s important that he took a meaningful political risk in saying so. Yet during his previous commission term, when Democrats held the every seat on the Board of Commissioners, there is no record of his proposing that change.

It is also important to note that Russell is an individual plaintiff in the continuing federal lawsuit challenging the state legislative changes that gerrymandered Watauga’s Commissioner and School Board into partisan districts. He supported an alternative district map to the one mandated by the state legislature, even though it placed him and fellow Democratic Commissioner Charlie Wallin in the same district. And he voted to put an alternative election structure map before voters. The referendum won 71.3% support in Watauga, but state legislation delayed implementation of voter-approved changes until after the 2032 election.

SOAPBOX: The Issue Neither Candidate Has Really Confronted

I believe Watauga County is approaching a crossroads in how we deal with large scale development outside our towns. Decisions being made today will change our rural communities in ways that cannot easily be undone.

We already have large residential developments moving beyond Boone’s zoning limits, (ie: “The Cottages” and “The Retreat at Boone”) where the county has far fewer controls over what gets built and where. I’m not talking about someone building a home on family land, a farmer putting up another building, or even a small neighborhood development. I’m talking about projects large enough to bring hundreds of additional residents, substantial traffic, and major demands for water, wastewater treatment, and other services. I’m also talking about quality of life.

These developments don’t exist in isolation. They affect the people who already live nearby and all the rest of us living and working here. What happens when a private wastewater system fails? When a narrow two-lane road carries far more traffic than it was designed for? When wells, streams, and neighboring properties are affected? And who pays when something goes wrong? We all do.

Watauga County does have some development regulations, but I don’t believe our existing rules adequately address the size and impact of some of the projects now being built and/or proposed. And I am not advocating countywide zoning that tells rural families what they can do with their own property. I am advocating sensible, carefully written protections for genuinely large developments: rules that consider traffic, water, wastewater, environmental risks, and the effects on neighboring communities before not after construction begins.

If we fail to address this problem, we risk allowing one development after another to reshape rural Watauga without ever making a deliberate decision about what kind of growth we want or can handle. Once the roads are overwhelmed, the land is cleared, and the infrastructure is in place, our choices become much more limited. And fixing problems afterward can be enormously expensive or just outright impossible.

This is where I am disappointed in both candidates. Ray Russell has recognized concerns about large developments and private infrastructure, but I have not seen him offer a specific proposal for addressing the gaps in county regulation. Savva Kostis has valuable experience in construction and has served on the county Planning Board, but I have not seen him identify large scale rural development as a serious issue requiring stronger county oversight. It’s not that the two men disagree about how or if to handle large developments. It’s that neither has presented a need to or a plan for confronting what I consider one of Watauga County’s most consequential challenges.

Because the question isn’t simply whether Watauga County will grow. It will. The question is whether we will make thoughtful decisions about that growth or just wait until the decisions have effectively been made FOR us.

RAY RUSSELL (Democrat)

Campaign website

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Read Ray Russell’s Pam’s Picks Questionnaire Responses here and here.

WHO IS RAY RUSSELL?

Ray Russell has lived in Watauga County for about 35 years. He taught computer science at Appalachian State University for 30 years, served as department chair, and founded Ray’s Weather. He served one term in the North Carolina House after his 2018 election and was appointed to the Watauga County Board of Commissioners in 2022, serving through 2024. As commissioner, he continued working on a county housing proposal, helped fund a completed childcare study, and took consequential votes on Watauga’s election system.

HOUSING: From Planning to Building

Soon after joining the commission, Russell moved to authorize $62,300 for the UNC School of Government to study workforce and affordable housing on the county-owned 16.3-acre Brookshire Road property. The motion passed unanimously. Russell stayed involved as the proposal advanced, questioning how many homes could fit, what rents would make the project workable, and whether Boone would commit to water and sewer service. He also supported subsequent architectural and engineering work, but no housing was ever built.

Russell now proposes incentives to persuade owners of short-term or vacant rentals to lease them to local workers, modeled on a “Lease to Locals” program. He also sets a goal of 1,600 additional workforce housing units over five years. The incentive program has a real-world precedent, but he has not presented a Watauga financing or implementation schedule for the larger goal.

CHILDCARE

Russell moved to authorize up to $50,000 for a study of Watauga’s childcare shortage. The study was completed in 2024 and helped inform later work by local organizations. In June 2024, Russell and Commissioner Larry Turnbow voted against a proposal to divide $60,000 between the Children’s Council and the Chamber’s childcare fund; Russell then voted for the overall county budget containing the allocation. The minutes do not explain his objection to that division. Russell favors competitive grants aimed at increasing childcare capacity.

LARGE DEVELOPMENTS & PRIVATE INFRASTRUCTURE

Russell is concerned about large housing developments moving outside Boone’s zoning jurisdiction, where developers can rely on private wells and wastewater treatment systems. He points in part to “The Cottages of Boone,” a large student housing development whose private treatment system discharged untreated wastewater into Laurel Fork in 2021. Russell favors stronger environmental safeguards and adequate infrastructure for large developments, but he has not proposed a specific change to county regulations that would address the problem.

COUNTY SPENDING & PROPERTY TAXES

Russell believes the county could reduce some of its technology costs by gradually moving computer operations from county-owned equipment to outside services accessed over the internet, commonly called “cloud computing.” He proposes making the change over five years as existing equipment needs replacement. Russell’s background in computer science gives him experience in this area, although it remains unclear whether the change would actually save the county money.

During Russell’s two years on the commission, the county property-tax rate remained at 31.8 cents per $100 of assessed value. A stable rate does not mean every property owner’s tax bill stayed the same. Russell favors returning to a system that distributes local sales tax revenue to municipalities by population rather than property value. But he says he would not force a vote he knew would fail.

THE FIGHT OVER A DISTRICT MAP & A VOTER REFERENDUM

Russell’s clearest consequential commission votes came in the fight over Watauga’s election system. In June 2024 he supported an alternative district map to the one mandated by the state legislature, even though it placed him and fellow Democratic Commissioner Charlie Wallin in the same district. He seconded the motion selecting that map and moved to put a proposed election structure of three districts and two at-large seats before voters. Both motions passed 3–2. The referendum won 71.3% support, but state legislation delayed implementation of voter-approved changes until after the 2032 election. Russell is an individual plaintiff in the continuing federal lawsuit challenging the legislative changes.

RUSSELL’S RECORD IN THE NC HOUSE

Abortion: Russell voted against overriding Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of a 2019 Republican abortion bill.

LGBTQ rights: Equality NC and the Human Rights Campaign endorsed his 2020 reelection campaign. These are past endorsements, not endorsements verified for 2026.

Environment: Russell was a primary sponsor of bills to prohibit fracking and to hold polluters responsible for contamination cleanup.

Health care: Russell co-sponsored a Medicaid expansion bill that did not reach a House floor vote.

Endorsements: Russell has been endorsed by Sierra Club North Carolina.

SAVVA KOSTIS (Republican)

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Read Savva Kostis’s Pam’s Picks Questionnaire Responses HERE

WHO IS SAVVA KOSTIS?

Kostis’s roots go back generations in Watauga. His father came to Boone from Greece to attend ASU. On his mother’s side, his grandfather, James Wilcox, served three terms as a Watauga County commissioner beginning in 1988. Kostis and his wife Stephanie, a longtime Watauga County teacher, have a six-year-old daughter who attends Hardin Park School.

Kostis attended Cove Creek School and Watauga High School, where he played football and was a three-time regional wrestling champion and twice state runner-up. He went on to wrestle at Appalachian State, earning a degree in Construction Management with a minor in Business. Kostis holds an unlimited North Carolina general-building contractor license. He describes his construction work as including estimating, project management, budgeting and managing construction teams.

THE WATAUGA COUNTY PLANNING BOARD

Since December 2022, Kostis has served on the Watauga County Planning Board, and commissioners reappointed him last year. During his tenure, the board has dealt with subdivisions and multi-unit developments as well as county rules involving fire and emergency access, erosion, flooding, watersheds and development permits. Kostis says the experience has taught him about the county’s planning process and about “balancing different perspectives and long-term impacts.” That matters because development outside Boone can leave the county dealing with roads, wells and septic systems, fire access, flooding and other consequences after a developer leaves. But I could not determine from the available records what role Kostis personally played in most of the board’s decisions.

WATAUGA COUNTY SCHOOLS

Kostis lists Watauga County’s aging school facilities as one of his top priorities. Kostis says he has worked with construction costs, budgets, schedules and subcontractors and that delaying a problem usually does not make it cheaper. At the Chamber candidate forum Kostis described three tests for a school building: Is it safe? Is it functional? Is it built for longevity? He says Hardin Park needs replacement and argues that the county should inspect each school, decide what should be maintained, renovated or replaced, and make a realistic long-term plan rather than wait for something to fail.

LOCAL OPPORTUNITY AND TRAFFIC

Kostis says Watauga needs to do more to make it possible for young people who grow up here to build a life here. He points to trade and career programs such as “Rise Caldwell and Watauga” and “Watauga Innovation Academy” and says the county should support existing businesses as well as people who want to start their own. Traffic is another of the three issues he identified as most pressing in the Pam’s Picks questionnaire. His answer is specific: stop repeatedly studying the problem without acting. He suggests looking first at signal timing, problem intersections, and connections between secondary roads before undertaking more major road construction.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Kostis approaches housing largely from a builder’s perspective. He points to the rising cost of labor and materials and says the goal should be helping working families own homes. He suggests looking into housing trust funds, the state’s Workforce Housing Loan Program, federal HOME money and public-private partnerships as possible tools. Those programs do not all do the same thing however. In particular, North Carolina’s Workforce Housing Loan Program finances qualifying affordable rental developments. It is not a homebuyer loan program. Kostis has not explained how the tools he named would translate into homeownership for Watauga working families.

CHILDCARE

Kostis says his own family has dealt with the high cost and availability of child care. At the Chamber forum he pointed to North Carolina’s Tri-Share program, which splits eligible child-care costs among an employer, the state and the family, and said he would like to expand local participation. A Tri-Share partnership announced this year includes UNC Health Appalachian and Kid Cove in Boone. Kid Cove reserved 14 spaces for participating health-system employees.

COUNTY SPENDING & SALES TAXES

Asked where he would look for savings without cutting essential services, Kostis points to outside consultants and professional services. He says consultants can make sense when specialized expertise is not available among county employees, but commissioners should first ask whether county staff can do the work.

Sales-tax distribution is a particularly important issue in District 2, which includes parts of Boone as well as unincorporated areas. In 2013, a Republican-controlled county commission changed Watauga’s distribution method from one based largely on population to an ad-valorem formula based on property-tax levies. The change reduced Boone’s share. Kostis will not currently commit to either method: “I think this is a question where I would want to look at the actual numbers before saying that one method is automatically more fair than the other.” He says population, property values and the county tax base have changed substantially since 2013 and wants an updated comparison showing what the county and each municipality would receive before deciding.

He also notes that “the county also had the opportunity to change it back under democratic control several years later and they did not.” He says his goal would be a system that is fair and predictable and allows both the county and municipalities to plan their budgets.

OTHER ISSUES

I looked for public statements by Kostis on several issues readers frequently ask about. I could not find an attributable public position from him on abortion, LGBTQ rights, North Carolina’s private-school voucher program or health-care policy. Those issues were not included in my questionnaire to Kostis, so the absence of a public position should not be read as evidence of where he stands.

I also did not find a broader environmental platform from Kostis. His Planning Board has dealt with erosion, flooding and watershed regulations, but the available records do not establish his individual positions on those matters.

Endorsements: I could not find a current independent 2026 organizational endorsement of Kostis. The Watauga County Republican Party promotes him as its District 2 nominee, but I do not count a party’s support for its own nominee as an independent endorsement.

SOURCES/LINKS for Ray Russell

SOURCES/LINKS for Savva Kostis

  • Savva Kostis: Pam’s Picks 2026 General Election questionnaire response
  • Boone Area Chamber of Commerce: 2026 Watauga County Meet the Candidates Forum
  • App State Athletics: Savva Kostis wrestling biography
  • Hampton Funeral & Cremation Service: James Dean Wilcox obituary
  • Watauga County Board of Commissioners: December 20, 2022 minutes
  • Watauga County Board of Commissioners: January 21, 2025 minutes
  • Watauga County: Boards & Commissions: Planning Board
  • North Carolina Housing Finance Agency: Workforce Housing Loan Program
  • North Carolina General Statutes § 122A-5.15: Workforce Housing Loan Program
  • Boone Area Chamber of Commerce Foundation: May 19, 2026 Tri-Share announcement
  • North Carolina Tri-Share Child Care Pilot Program: statutory/budget description
  • Watauga County minutes May 2014: attempt to restore per-capita sales-tax distribution
  • C. Gen. Stat. § 105-472: local sales-tax distribution
  • Town of Boone v. Watauga County, N.C. Court of Appeals (2022)
  • Watauga County Board of Elections: 2026 candidate filing list
  • Watauga County Republican Party: 2026 Voting
  • Blue Voter Guide: Watauga County 2026 General Election
  • The Cottages wastewater discharge: High Country Press, 2021
  • Landmark Properties Acquires 40-Acre Site in Boone, NC; Announces Plans for The Retreat at Boone