Craven County Board of Commissioners Meeting – 3 Dec 2012
1) The Board of Commissioners’ meeting was again opened with the pledge and a prayer. It still seems strange to me that this goes unacknowledged by the petitioners who spoke about prayer in public meetings. Ray Griffin was scheduled to speak again on that subject, but for some reason he was not there.
2) North Carolina’s Eastern Region-
I petitioned the Board on North Carolina’s Eastern Region asking that they work to dissolve that planning board and to stop supporting the Global TransPark. Global TransPark is starting to compete with our regional airport and, even worse, with Cherry Point for military deployment and return of service members.
3) Transparency in government matters-
It remains difficult to keep up with the county budget if you are not on the Board of Commissioners. I wish the current status of the FY 2012-13 budget could be found on the county website; however, Rick Hemphill, Assistant County Manage for Finance, has been good about giving me this information on the phone. This morning he told me that the balance at the end of November was $97,165,894.
4) FY 2012-13 Budget-
You will remember that, after the budget hearings, I objected to the county staff’s representing that the FY 2012-13 budget was a reduction when compared with the previous year’s budget. I raised this objection because, in order to make it look that way, they had to compare the beginning budget for FY 2012-13 with the ending budget ($97,199,246) for FY 2011-12. It was like comparing apples and oranges, and I predicted that the end budget for FY 2012-13 would eventually exceed the ending budget for FY 2011-12. AT THE END OF NOVEMBER, THEY ARE ONLY $33,352 SHORT OF THAT! THE FY 2012-13 BUDGET DOES NOT END UNTIL 30 JUNE 2013; THERE’S PLENTY OF TIME FOR IT TO CONTINUE GROWING! Also at the meeting I am reporting on (3Dec12), another $959,553 was approved in added expenditures. Most of it is an increase in the projected cost of the County Emergency Operations Center (EOC). We have no objection to the county getting a new EOC, but it was already in the budget, and these are either add-ons or cost overruns. It wasn’t made clear which, and actually generated very little discussion. I wish these additional expenditures had been questioned.
It appears that the Board feels no real need for budget tightening.
There was one other very interesting budget matter. When Rick Hemphill stated that a budget request was being made because, if one were not made, the county would have to send some money back to the State, Commissioner Jeff Taylor objected and said that was the kind of reasoning CCTA objected to. He asked if anyone would fail to receive a county service if that money were sent back (small amount, only $18,300). As to the reasoning, here is a quote that accurately expresses it, “We currently have a reserve that needs to be budgeted and spent in order to not forfeit that funding.” Since Rick could not answer Commissioner Taylor’s question, the matter was continued until the Director of the County Department of Social Services could be consulted.
5) Craven Area Rural Transportation System (CARTS)-
There was a public hearing on CARTS. They asked that their program be approved and grant requests made for $556,092 with County matching funds of just $60,756 required, and the matching funds are to be raised out of operations. It’s a heck of a good deal for the county, but, hey, it’s all taxpayer money, and we taxpayers pay taxes to the State and Federal governments in addition to paying taxes to the County, so it’s not such a good deal from our prospective.
Apparently NCDOT placed a cap on this CARTS funding which caused it to remain the same. The balance of CARTS’ expenses are also covered by operations. Incidentally, a lot of this income from operations is paid by other tax supported counties, boards, commissions, grantees, etc. More tax dollars really. I made our usual objections, but praised the Director, Phyllis Toler, for excellence in executive management of the program. She really squeezes every dollar she gets.
6) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG)-
A public hearing is set for 17 Dec 2012. The application is for $750,000 for infrastructure projects. As I expect you remember, we decided not to fuss so much about these infrastructure projects. We did want the practice of giving houses to individual people to stop. Infrastructure is a valid concern of local government. It’s a shame the federal government has taken it upon itself to provide infrastructure money to local communities, however. It takes a lot more than $750,000 of taxpayers’ money sent to the federal government in order to get that amount delivered to Craven County, and when taxpayers’ money is channeled that way, it always comes down with all kinds of federal “strings” (read, “control”) attached.
7) Tall Structure Ordinance and Contract-
This effort shows great initiative on the part of the Board. This ordinance could prevent tall windmills from being constructed by the progressives in existing flight patterns and show support for our aviation community including the military!
Respectfully Submitted,
Hal James
Chairman, CCTA Watchdog Committee
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