Craven County Board of Commissioners Meeting 17 June 2013

CCTA Watchdog Report- 18 June 2013

Craven County Board of Commissioners Meeting 17 June 2013

Budget Ordinance

The Craven County budget as approved by the Board of Commissioners on Monday is roughly $97 million for the coming fiscal year. It was about $94,000 at the start of last year. This represents a growth of about 3%, or about half of what I feared. GOOD! The growth can be attributed to "pass through" tax dollars from taxpayers who pay federal and North Carolina taxes. How is that possible with all the belt tightening we hear about? Well, maybe next year if we work hard to communicate with our representatives at all levels of government. In the final analysis, all money spent by government in Craven County is paid for by we the people who pay taxes. Why can't our county elected representatives do more to protect us from that? We need to continue to work to persuade them, and we need to do the same with our state and federal representatives.

Taxpayer Support of Charities

The practice of taking from some citizens in order to give to others continues with this budget. Strangely, the only dissenting vote on the adoption of the budget came from Commissioner McCabe who objected to the curtailment of the practice of providing "congregate meals" to anyone over 60 years of age regardless of any demonstrated need. To quote Commissioner Dacey, "It is not the responsibility of the county to provide food for anyone with a financial hardship." I surely agree, but I think it runs deeper than that. It is not the taxpayer's obligation to provide food for a social meeting with recreation for Harlowe residents or the residents of any other area of the County.

The Craven County Commissioners still think that the "truly needy" should be helped by the taxpayers. That is not a proper function of government, but at least they are trying to restrict it to the "truly needy." (I believe every CCTA member wants the truly needy to be looked after; however, we believe it's the job of families, friends, churches, neighbors, and philanthropic organizations.

Department of Social Services (DSS)

The entire program for DSS needs to be gleaned for practices similar to that of the "Congregate Meals" program. That is, providing taxpayer money to provide services for people who experience some financial hardship, but who are able to provide them for themselves. These programs include: Family Caregiving, Day Care, Special Assistance to the Aged, Smart Start, Work First Transportation, and on and on. THE LIST IS SEEMINGLY ENDLESS!

Health Department

The same can be said for the Health Department. Programs include: Random Moment Study (whatever the heck that is), Camp Seagull, Medicaid Maximization, Child Health, Women Infants and Children (WIC), WIC Education, Communicable Disease, Family Planning, Home Health, Home Hospice, Inpatient Hospice, Cancer Control, Adult Health, Risk Reduction. ANOTHER SEEMINGLY ENDLESS LIST! Are all the people who participate in these programs really unable to provide for themselves in these areas? Really? Or do they just choose to spend time and money on other things?

News Flash: The taxpayers who are forced to cough up money for these programs would dearly love to spend their money on other things! Going to the dentist twice a year instead of just once? Contributing music lessons to a grandchild? Going out to dinner or to a play a little more often? What would you do if you kept a little more of your own money?

Craven Area Rural Transportation (CARTS)

Anyone can ride cheap. They'll even come pick you up when you call, and it's a lot cheaper than a private taxi. I've watched it happen at the physical therapy place, and at least one couple was going to their home in Fairfield Harbor. Truly needy?

Summary

How much do people who are not "truly needy" sponge off of these programs? My guess is that only God knows. At budget time each year, the Board of Commissioners ask the county manager to have the department heads (whose jobs are dependent on the retention and expansion of these programs) for budget requests. THERE HAS GOT TO BE A BETTER WAY!! Why not ask them to identify the waste, and money spent on people who could very well do for themselves, in their departments' budgets, and see how much they could cut from their prior year's request??? Why not give an award to the department that reduces its budget by the largest percentage? Why not give a "merit pay" increase of 1% to the employees of any department that cuts its request for funds 3 years in a row?

North Carolina Eastern Region (NCER) aka Global TransPark

Here is the latest scheme for this bunch of bureaucratic straphangers to hang on to their jobs. Take the money that the state took from North Carolina taxpayers and fee payers and put it into a 501 (3c) "non-profit" private corporation. HUH! Thank goodness Craven County's representative, Mark Griffin, blew the whistle. Mark really deserves our appreciation. It cannot have been easy for him to have been the only dissenter. Our North Carolina House Representative, Michael Speciale, thinks the law establishing NCER does not provide for this. I should hope not! THE COMMISSIONERS ARE STUDYING THIS SITUATION.

As an aside, Michael has consistently worked for a government that functions in a constitutionally directed way since he's been in the North Carolina House, and he deserves and has earned our deep appreciation as a result.

Community Development Block Grants (CDBG)

As one example of this program, $750,000 has been earmarked to improve infrastructure in Harlowe and James City. That's a good idea. The infrastructure should function well in all areas of the county, and when something is substandard, money should be spent to bring water, sewer, storm drainage, and the like back into good order. That's not the problem, but shouldn't the State of North Carolina and the County of Craven take care of those things instead of the feds? OUR COUNTRY IS IN A LOT OF FINANCIAL TROUBLE! It's much less cost efficient to send money to the feds and get it back (with strings) than it is to take care of our own in the first place.

We do need to acknowledge and appreciate that the Board of Commissioners has recognized that it is not right to take from all taxpayers and benefit only one family with the keys to a new or renovated house without the property owner having "some skin in the game." That, at least, is a step in the right direction. You will remember that giving away houses to people with nothing from them in return used to be part of what "block grant" money was spent on.

Regional Hazard Mitigation Update

LOOK OUT FOR THIS ONE!! There are more houses in flood plains according to the new FEMA flood maps. This has happened because the assumption has been made that sea levels will RISE significantly. Scientists do not all agree on this; it is a theory only. Just think, a theory will mean MORE REVENUE FOR FEMA, and COST MANY CRAVEN COUNTY HOMEOWNERS BIG BUCKS! THIS IS A SLEEPER (KEPT UNDER COVERS). PLEASE APPEAL TO OUR REPRESENTATIVES ON THE FEDERAL LEVEL TO FIX THIS FOR US. Our Commissioners are being told that they have no choice but to accept the new maps or lose all FEMA flood protection insurance for Craven County residents. THEY ARE VIRTUALLY HELPLESS TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT THIS SITUATION!

Inpatient Hospice

An "Interlocal Inpatient Hospice Development Agreement" presentation was scheduled for this meeting, but was quickly deferred until a later meeting. I read this agreement which was attached as an addendum to the agenda, and I have many concerns and questions. I hope to get some answers at Commission Chairman, Scott Dacey's town hall meeting at the River Bend Town Hall today at 4:00 PM. I hope some of our members can attend.

To wrap up on the Budget

The 2013-2014 Craven County budget is much kinder to the taxpayers than those adopted by other recent Boards of Commissioners. We are grateful for that. Much still needs to be done at the federal, state, and local levels of government to really have a taxpayer friendly county budget, but some improvement has begun. The much touted quarter cent reduction in property tax rate is largely symbolic (amounts to about $4.00 on the average house). However, it is a start and does acknowledge that the commissioners would like to help the taxpayers. We have our work cut out for us because the future is uncertain, and our commissioners seem reluctant to make a bold move in the direction of tax reduction for fear of making a mistake that will come back to haunt them.

Respectfully Submitted,
Hal James, Watchdog Committee Chairman
Coastal Carolina Taxpayers Association
New Bern, North Carolina