RALEIGH – It’s election season again in North Carolina, with hundreds of candidates filing for office, raising money, and mapping out a strategy for victory in the fall. They’ll be seeking votes among an electorate that is worried, disaffected, and in many cases angry.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that incumbents are about to be swept out of office. The 2009 elections will be for local offices, including municipal councils and school boards. While recession has triggered a spate of painful budget decisions in many communities, voters are more likely to blame Raleigh or Washington for their plight, if history is any guide.

With the exception of the military, local government is usually the most popular public institution in the country. Ever since the advent of republican government among the archons and assemblies of ancient Greek city states, locally elected officials have cultivated the image – often though not always a reality – of being accessible, accountable, and committed public servants rather than remote and self-serving careerists.

Serving on a town council or school board is no picnic. You are paid for part-time work that can become nearly a full-time job. You are dependent on critical information from self-interested employees and vendors. And you are indeed accessible, meaning that you are likely to be approached by inquisitive or grumbling constituents while at the grocery store, the bank, or the baseball game.

Still, just in the past decade thousands of North Carolinians have stepped forward and placed themselves in contention for local office. Why do they do it? While some may see it as a means of self-aggrandizement, self-enrichment, or promotion to higher office, most simply feel a calling to serve their communities.

All North Carolinians have an interest in ensuring that ethical, diligent, and well-informed citizens run for local office. Municipal governments, for example, make critical decisions about basic services such as police and fire protection, sanitation, and transportation. They also play a significant role in broader regional and statewide issues such as environmental protection and economic development. Moreover, some local politicians do become future candidates for state and federal offices. Dozens of recent state legislators had previously served on city councils, county commissions, and school boards.

The 2009 election cycle in North Carolina promises to be an exciting one. There will be competitive mayoral races in Charlotte, Greensboro, and many other cities and towns. School board races may draw more political attention than usual because of recent budget cuts, including some teacher layoffs, as well as high-profile controversies such as the forced-busing debate in Wake County, now the state’s biggest school district.

Here are some of the major issues you can expect to hear about this fall:

• Budget savings. Some municipalities and most school systems have had to make significant cuts to balance this year’s books and create budgets for the 2009-10 fiscal year. Items that in the past have generated little public outcry, such as grants to nonprofits and subsidies for recreation and entertainment venues, are likely to get lots of attention. For the most part, municipal incumbents chose not to raise property taxes to eliminate their deficits, while quite a few counties did. Why the difference? The latter won’t stand for re-election until 2010. Perhaps we should elect both city and county officials annually.

• Annexation. Longtime city residents don’t seem to care a lot about North Carolina’s extreme annexation laws. But recent victims of forced annexation typically care a lot – and are willing to take out their frustrations at the first opportunity.

• Managed growth. It may seem out of tune to worry about excessive growth at a time of deep recession, but committed Smart Growthers aren’t known for their commitment to harmony. They still detest the residential freedom that most North Carolinians enjoy – the activists prefer the pejorative “urban sprawl” – and want to use taxes, fees, and regulations to squash it.

• Water. Recent droughts have led to major regional and statewide efforts to reform utility policies and redefine water rights in North Carolina. Will these efforts improve the pricing of water services and allow real markets to develop and allocate water resources, or will they bring central planning?

Expect an exciting and momentous political season in 2009.

Hood is president of the John Locke Foundation