Craven County Board of Commissioners -
1) The Board of Commissioners deserves a lot of credit! They have hit a home run for the taxpayers. The Board of Commissioners replaced a liberal on the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board with a conservative, Chip Hughes. In his first meeting on the ABC Board,(one of our members, Carl Mischka was at that meeting), Chip learned that the ABC board has been holding a very large reserve of earnings that could have been turned over to the county. Their stated reason for doing that was to have funds available for capital expenditures like building a new store. In fact, it made them a lot more likely to fund trips and dinners, etc. for board members. Chip did not believe that this money should be withheld from the county taxpayers, and since the ABC Board now has a majority of like thinking members, they will present the county with a sizable check at the evening meeting on 4 September 2012 at the Dover firehouse. PLEASE PLAN TO ATTEND AND SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR THIS EXTRAORDINARY EVENT!
We need conservative people on these boards, commissions, task forces, etc. I printed the list of them with their supporting material that is on the county website. If you are interested in serving, please let me know. Maybe we can affect some other big changes!
2) Transparency in government matters-
a) Commissioner Dacey emailed me to inform us that the budget was back up on line. IT IS INDEED! However, you have to check not only the budget ordinance as adopted, but also both the budget amendments and budget details to get the full picture. There is no running budget with all the changes and there is no accounting for capital projects that are budgeted and then kept separately. These county assets are not accounted for in this budget reporting process.
b) Appointed members of the various boards and committees are not keeping citizens/taxpayers informed by making formal reports at Board of Commissioners meetings. For instance, the Global TransPark Board of Directors apparently has no county representative now. Mark Griffin, who was appointed to their Board of Directors by the County Board of Directors is no longer on that board, but is, instead, on North Carolina's Eastern Region. It appears that the Global TransPark is now totally run by the State of North Carolina and some industry and business representatives. I AM VERY PLEASED WITH THIS DEVELOPMENT, BUT WHY WEREN'T WE TOLD??? Another example is the Military Growth Task Force. After spending hundreds of thousand of taxpayer dollars (if not millions) on study after study and no concrete projects, they are just folding their tents and closing up. GREAT! BUT WHY WITHOUT FANFARE???
c) The information about the Boards, Commissions, and Task Forces, etc. that is on the county website is too sketchy. Often just telling who the appointed representative is.
3) Scott Dacey has continued his commendable efforts to communicate with citizens and taxpayers through holding "town hall meetings." We had very good representation at his last one on 15 August 12 at the Trent Wood Town Hall. Scott listened to us and his constituents on a variety of subjects including: Sheriff's Department, Global TransPark, NC's Eastern Region, Eastern Council of Governments, schools, effects of potential military reduction, and the new county district lines being drawn.
4) Growth in County budget- As of 31 July 12 the county budget stood at $95,060,300. In other words, it has grown by about $1 million in 2 months. My guess is that the county 2013 budget will pass the final FY 2012 budget by mid-year. When will there be relief for the taxpayer?
Respectfully submitted:
Hal James, Watchdog Chairman
Coastal Carolina Taxpayers Association
No comments:
Post a Comment