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

CCTA Issues and Watchdog Report- 18 Dec 2012

Craven County Board of Commissioners Meeting - 3 Dec 2012 & 17 Dec 2012

1) Prayer at the Board Meetings. The Board of Commissioners' meetings this month were both opened with the pledge and a prayer. Jerry Schill, Christian Coalition & Religious Christian Services (RCS) has acknowledged this and thanked the Board members who have lead Christian prayers.

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. When Commissioner Dacey asked the paid Chef Executive of this group directly if they support the Global TransPark, he did and tap toe dance that sounded something like no. The NC statute that established this group directs them to support the Global TransPark . Either they are not following the statute that established them or the Chief Executive lied. Which way is it? This subject is likely to come up again shortly after the appointments of the new members of the state Legislature.

The county's own staff under the leadership of Jack Veit, County Manager, and Gene Hodges, Interim Economic Development Director, has done an excellent job of managing the county's economic development efforts and NCER can just bow out! Gene made a very good presentation at yesterday's meeting with a screen display of the interactive computer web page that will be placed on the county website so that there can be postings of property for sale or lease that business and industry leaders can search for available properties in Craven County. The so called economic development planners we had before should have done this long ago!

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. He told me that 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!

At the first meeting I attended this month 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.

At the meeting held yesterday morning (17 Dec 2012), another mere $66,644 was added that should bring the budget currently to $98,192,091. ALREADY EXCEEDING LAST YEAR'S BUDGET ----TOLD YOU SO!!!!!

IT APPEARS THAT THE BOARD FEELS NO REAL NEED FOR BUDGET TIGHTENING. In fact, at the last budget session, property tax was increased by 3.8% to make it "revenue neutral." Figger that one out! Then the increase was hidden by dropping the tax rate due to the property value re-assessment to 47 cents. I can figure that one out. Our tax rate is still being calculated at the value of the property at the end of 2009 even though the actual value of most property has dropped by around 40%. Why can't they revalue property annually to parallel the percentage drop in actual value by some formula acceptable to the real estate industry? WE ALL KNOW WHY! Then the Board, county manager and finance officer, department heads and the whole bunch would have to really budget year to year like real productive families do and guess at their income, like businesses have to do and budget accordingly. SOUNDS FAIR TO ME!

There was one other very interesting budget matter. At the first meeting, 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.

Unfortunately, It was just added at the second meeting. DDS found a way to spend it on a contract employee, travel and computers for staff.

5) Craven Area Rural Transportation System (CARTS)-
There was a public hearing on CARTS on 3 Dec 12. 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 was held on 17 Dec 2012. The application is for $750,000 for infrastructure projects. I was the only member of the public who spoke. Of course, I did it on behalf of CCTA. 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. At any rate, I congratulated the board on it's decision not to build houses for people anymore. REMEMBER THE GOVERNMENT CANNOT GIVE ANYBODY ANYTHING THAT THE GOVERNMENT DOES NOT FIRST TAKE FROM SOMEBODY ELSE.

7) Electronic Offender Monitoring Program (EOMP) - Captain Jessee Pittman and Sgt. Steve Wallace gave an excellent presentation on this program. They say and adequately substantiate that the program will save taxpayers $250,000 this fiscal year. The program allows non-violent offenders to continue at their jobs and continue paying child support, etc. Most of the savings is from not using beds in the jail that can be leased for federal, state and other counties prisoners. Two judges were there to say they support the program.

8) 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! The board has authorized the expenditure of $7,000. Havelock has agreed to reimburse the county $1,540 of this cost.

9) School Board-
The school board held an all morning meeting on the Accountability Model the school is implementing at at the direction of the US Department of Education and through the North Carolina Superintendent of public instruction TO THE FEDERAL STANDARDS. The meeting was guided by a slide presentation done by Dr. Brown, the Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum. I have a printed copy I'm sure some of you will be interested in. Whole county school systems, schools, administrators, teachers and students will be held accountable (so they say). I can tell you that student education emphasis is on English, math, and science performance. Literacy standards were also discussed. The meeting was about these accountability requirements and not about the subjects I'm most concerned about- the lack of knowledge of American history on the part of students, and the teaching of globalism in school instead of "American Exceptionalism," and the taking of God out of our schools and letting Satin run rampart instead. One "Educator of the Year" John Taylor Gatto has stated, "turning your children over to total strangers and having those strangers work on your child's mind - it's a mad idea."

TURNING YOUR CHILD OVER TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO BE INDOCTRINATED IS AN EVEN MADDER IDEA!

Sheriff's Office
I want to thank our member Joe Albanese for his work with the Sheriff's Office. He has been volunteering there (looks good in his uniform). He also met with me at the invitation of Sergeant Steve Wallace to discuss the Electronic Offender Monitoring program. I also got a good tour of the jail. Man, what an eye opener! Sgt. Wallace asked me to invite you all on the tour too. Would you like to form a group visit?

Here are a few facts:
70% of the people wearing ankle bracelet monitors work at a job. Often low paying, but they work.

85% of jail inmates have been declared "indigent" therefore, are not required to pay any of the cost - i.e. jail expense, legal defense expense, medical expense, etc.

No prisoner has cut his ankle bracelet in the 3 years of their use by the Sheriffs office. Other agencies have lost some, though. You might have heard about those.

Most cases where the bracelets are used are "child support cases."


Respectfully Submitted,

Hal James, Watchdog Committee Chairman

Coastal Carolina Taxpayers Association

http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=b4ovyaiab&v=001SZ1qw1gWteRfwipfHHVJADEa1eU9yQo69iOEWHuaDf0_Qw5hMca7drMMPk1FVbOuzSk5MfoMpoLgQUcJGtxhSRSxmpJGPiIojVD6H9nshjkARVXGZpwjjiFITSJQ7XARthA1ryJRDhzBWF7-pCtzvA%3D%3D

CCTA Issues and Watchdog Report- 24 August 2012

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

CCTA Watchdog Report on Public Hearing on the Craven County FY 2013 Budget

Editor's Note:  A special thanks to all the CCTA members that spoke at the public hearing and those that came out to show support.  We had 18 members in attendance!  ~ Lynn

June 5, 2012

You can find the budget on line at http://www.cravencounty.com/admin/documents/2012/FY2013_ProposedBudget_May-21-2012.pdf .


First, I want to thank the many CCTA members who attended the public hearing many of whom spoke about our values and what we think of the budget and how government is taking from some citizens to give to other citizens. I believe we are united in thinking that it is not a proper function of government. EVERY SINGLE SPEAKER DID AN EXCELLENT JOB!

Again, I was challenged on my belief that the county budget is actually still growing. My point is that the beginning budget for FY 2013 is larger than the beginning budget of FY 2012 and is likely to continue to grow as the Board administers the budget during the year. I believe it will eventually surpass the FY 2012 budget. Time will tell who is right about that, and I will continue to monitor and report to you.

I also want to repeat that the budget for salaries and benefits for the 600 or so county employees will go up by 1.3% in FY 2013 in spite of the Reduction in Force (RIF). Taxpayers are suffering, and this move should not have been taken at this time. As to the staff additions, with one exception, I still have not seen any data supporting the assertions that they serve vital functions that we could not do without.

In spite of our petitions and pleas, the Commissioners have continued the practice of giving taxpayer money to philanthropic organizations. We maintain that the government has not been granted the power to do this by us citizens. We don't have the power to take from a neighbor under threat of force in order to give to these organizations no matter how much good work they do. It would still be stealing which is immoral and in no way legal.


The argument that has been voiced by Commissioners is that if they did not contribute to these organizations, the work they do would have to be taken up by the county, and that would eventually cost the taxpayers more. While I believe the commissioners are sincere, I believe they are mistaken. If there were a vacuum, families, friends, neighbors, churches and the philanthropic organizations would provide these services. The commissioners themselves appear to think that is true in the case of Religious Community Services (RCS). This is a group formed by churches, but very poorly supported by them. There is no doubt that they do good work in providing a homeless shelter. That's not the point. Supporting them is just not a proper function of government.

One thing I will concede is that this situation of our government's taking care of citizens (some of whom cannot care for themselves and some of whom have been taught by government bureaucracy to be dependent) evolved over time. To cut it off "cold turkey" could very well cause hardship to people who do not deserve it. Therefore, it's probably better to work incrementally toward the goal of no government involvement in charity so that families and charitable organizations can prepare themselves to take up the slack. Still, we need to be vigilant to insure that the spigot really is being shut off. Government needs to stop forcibly taking from one citizen in order to give to another. Stealing is stealing!


The same rational should apply to the other groups to whom the commissioners gave money. These include Promise Place, Merci Clinic, Red Cross, and The Coastal Women's Shelter.


Even more objectionable to us is that the county will continue it's own philanthropic activities. It cannot be said often enough that taking from taxpayers and spending the money, not for the general good of citizens at large, but to benefit a select few citizens is wrong. Falling into this category are most of the activities of the Department of Social Services, The Adult Clinic, CARTS, and the like. Again, government needs to back out of these entirely.

The HWY 70 and HWY 17 lobbying groups are also poor investments of taxpayer money. I continue to believe that NC DOT does exactly as they would if these groups did not exist.

The budget that appears to be headed for approval still includes money for "Governmental Entities" other than counties and municipalities. These include the Down East RPO ($9,061), The School of Government ($9,241), The Council of Governments - COG ($16,940), the Association of County Commissioners ($10,370), The Association of Black Officials ($100), and The Association of County Clerks ($245). That last one is probably OK. The rest of them just try to lead us down the Agenda 21 road toward global socialism, one world government, and complete population control and subjugation.

The Board has convinced me personally that the Structured Day Reporting organization does perform a service as part of the juvenile court system that provides a cost saving to the alternative of expensive incarceration, and therefore it deserves taxpayer support. It isn't just a boondoggle for teens, but something they must do if they are to avoid incarceration, and apparently a high percentage of them are not repeat offenders.


The Board should not initiate programs in the school system and provide money for them. The State of North Carolina used half it's revenue for education last year. In addition, 41% of Craven County's budget goes to education. WITH ALL THAT MONEY, OUR SCHOOLS ARE STILL FAILING! More money is not the answer. Look for solutions elsewere.

NOW FOR SOME GOOD NEWS!

The off-the-wall request by the city of Havelock for $440,019 was given a quick thumbs down by the Board. Hoo-ray!

The move by the county to dissolve the Economic Development Commission and have their function administered by county staff under the watchful eye of the commissioners is a very good one. It will save the taxpayers a great deal of money IF THE COUNTY DOES NOT UNDERTAKE EXPENSIVE, TAXPAYER SUPPORTED PROJECTS TO ATTRACT BIG BUSINESS OR INDUSTRY TO CRAVEN COUNTY. THESE PROJECTS HAVE PROVEN DISASTROUS IN OTHER PLACES. The best thing government can do at any level is to get out of the way of business by reducing regulation and taxation; the second step is to communicate that information to businesses; the third step is to STAY out of the way.


Another good development is the dissolution of the Military Growth Task Force. This was another group that ate up a lot of taxpayer money and produced absolutely nothing. (I'm not sure the commissioners had anything to do with that, but it is great news that I want to share).

The reduction of staff at the Department of Social Services is another very good move (again, not sure it wasn't the State that did that).

Joe Albanese, a member of CCTA who happens to also volunteer at the Sheriff's Office, did some checking for us on the necessity to hire a deputy to administer the ankle bracelet release program. He reports that this program will definitely save taxpayer money. He also believes that the Sheriff's Office has such an active work schedule already, that these duties cannot be assumed by someone already in the employ of the Sheriff's office. Therefore, I put this action in the category of good news.

Another good development was the decision to require fire departments to manage within the fire tax revenue generated for their fire districts. There have been requests from fire departments for matching funds for their grant requests from the general tax revenue of the county. So far, requests denied.


The County Clerk, Gwen Bryan, is also the chairperson of the Craven County 300 Celebration. In this role, Gwen has done an excellent job for the taxpayers by continuing to conduct a yearlong celebration with great community participation at very little cost to the taxpayer. She deserves our appreciation for this.


That is all the good news I can think of coming from the budget process BUT THERE HAS BEEN PROGRESS TOWARD MORE FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY.

The decision to pay more for legal services and have the county attorney's firm on retainer might turn out to be a good move. Only time will tell. I'm surprised though that only one law firm is considered capable of performing this function for the county.


I CERTAINLY HOPE THE IDEA OF DSS's APPLYING FOR RECOGNITION AS A FEDERALLY QUALIFIED HEALTH CENTER HAS BEEN PROPERLY PUT TO BED! THIS WOULD BE A TERRIBLE EXPANSION OF GOVERNMENT WHERE PRIVATE ENTERPRISE SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO FUNCTION. IT WOULD ALSO BE MASSIVELY MORE COSTLY TO THE TAXPAYERS!

There appears to have been no decision made about withdrawing from the Regional Library System. This is another idea I support, so I hope it will be done.


As to what to do with the surplus taxpayer money left over from the FY 2012 budget, the decision (tentative until 13 June 12) is to lower the tax rate to a whole number (47 cents per $100 dollars of property assessment). It took $265,000 to do that. The remainder would be put into the general fund for FY 2013, and decisions about what to do with it would be made as time goes on.


Those of you who were at the public hearing know that I got hammered for criticizing Commissioner McCabe for requesting pay increases and travel allowance increases for Board members. Commissioner Mark said he had good reason and a right to request these changes to the budget. I agree, and I also think I have good reason and a right to object.

Respectfully submitted:
Hal James, Chairman,
CCTA Watchdog Committee

CCTA Watchdog Report on the Second Craven County Budget Workshop

May 30, 2012

The second almost full day session of work on the budget was held on Tuesday May 29, 2012. As I did on the first session, I will give you my take on the budget and various subjects discussed that I feel all of our members will be interested in. There will be another session on Monday 4 June 12 at 1:00 pm in the County Administrative Building at the corner of Broad and Craven Streets. I hope some of you will attend. After this meeting, the public hearing will be held on the budget in the same room at 7:00 pm. If you find something in this report you would like to address with the Board of Commissioners, PLEASE BE THERE!

You can find the budget on line at http://www.cravencounty.com/admin/documents/2012/FY2013_ProposedBudget_May-21-2012.pdf.

Before the meeting, I was challenged on my belief that the county budget is actually growing in comparison with last years. My point is that if the budget grows by the same amount in the coming year as it did in the past year, the growth rate will be about 5%. The Commissioners then proceeded to validate my concerns by gathering a consensus that $25,000 should be added to the budget for The Coastal Women's shelter, $10,000 for RCS' Homeless Shelter (a reduction to half of last year's as a message that RCS should look for other funding for their shelter), and Hwy 70 and Hwy 17 lobbying groups each got $25,000 added to the budget (a $5,000 cut for Hwy 17), and Merci Clinic got $10,000. The Red Cross got $4,000. The Commissioners requested that the directors of Promise Place and Structured Day Reporting come before them with more details about their requests. They also wanted more information about the City of New Bern's request for $24,000 to hire an advertising agency to develop a "brand" to promote our area. They want the county to pay to hire North Star, a company based in Nashville that does this sort of work. It seems to me that New Bern is on a big spending spree and should leave the county out of it. The Commissioners asked for more information.


The Commissioners are trying to reduce the budget for Special Appropriations, but they look at a request from an agency or organization and discuss the good work they do and say that if they don't get taxpayer support, the county would have to take over the work, or citizens would have to do without it. I believe they should first consider that charity is not a legitimate function of government. Should the service provided by this organization be paid for by the government or by the concerned citizens directly? Take the RCS Homeless Shelter mentioned above as an example. 26 churches originally started this program. There are over 300 churches in Craven County and some of the original member churches no longer contribute. RCS stands for Religious Christian Services. More churches have built onto their church buildings than participate in this very worthy charity. That's because in the past it has been easier to convince 7 commissioners to give them taxpayer money than to get off their duffs and get church goers to support them. That appears to have changed with the current commissioners. A BRAC lobbing group asked for $7,500 without indicating how it was to be spent and, so far, have received nothing. Swiss Bear has also, so far, received nothing. The town of Havelock made an off the wall request for $440,019 (No, that is not a typo!). They got nothing.


If commissioners do believe that an organization performs a legitimate function of government, they should then look at the specifics of the request like the organization's budget and what specifically they intend to do with the taxpayer money. Most of these requests are not accompanied by such supporting documentation. The organization merely gives the Commissioners a wish list and quotes what good work they do. THAT IS NOT ENOUGH! County staff is beginning to learn that as the Commissioners are more and more insisting on detailed information before granting their requests. The organizations getting money in the Special Appropriations part of the county budget need to learn that as well. As noted above, the commissioners have made a good start on this.


At the first budget study session , the first discussion of the day was what to do with the current (2012) surplus. Since no decision was made, I am repeating the options presented by the finance officer:

1. Let it flow into the fund balance. Money would be available for unforeseen needs in the future.
2. Appropriate in next year's budget.
3. Lower the tax rate.
4. Put it in the Capital Reserve fund for future capital improvements without having to borrow.
5. A combination of two or more of the above.

Some commissioners still point to the removal of 12 county staff positions as evidence that county government is getting smaller, not larger. So I repeat, Some 12 or so employees have been let go due to a "Reduction in Force (RIF)." However, it was noted that the total allocation for salaries and benefits in the recommended budget is 1.3% ABOVE THE CURRENT BUDGET! The RIF and the increase helps pay for the 3% COLA the other employees are getting. They may be smaller in number, but they are more expensive! And, to me, there is still too little documentation, facts and figures, to justify the new employees requested by the county manager.


The proposed budget includes an increase of $20,000 for legal services. The commissioners have asked the county attorney to come before them to discuss his proposals and possibly to negotiate with him. That is a good step, but why not really open up the possibility of savings by putting our a request for bids?

There was no discussion of the provision in the new budget to increase in the rescue squads' base budgets from $170,000 each to $185,000 each. What new need is to be met by that? It seems to me that it is the same mentality that just expects the price of government to continue to grow. No justification for this increase has been offered or requested.

The Director of Social Services came before the board with yet another idea for greatly expanding county government. He started his presentation by stating that there are 15,635 Medicaid patients in Craven County and an estimated 15,000 citizens who don't carry insurance. His contention seemed to be that those people are not being seen by doctors in the area now, so there are over 30,000 people in the county who aren't able to get medical care from the private providers. He proposed that the county DSS apply for "Federally Qualified Health Center" status. Allowing them to provide service to nearly one third of the Craven County population. Here is what I have found out about these FQHCs:

"The FQHC benefit under Medicare was added effective October 1, 1991, when Section 1861aa of the Social Security Act (the Act) was amended by Section 4161 of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990. FQHCs are "safety net" providers such as community health centers, public housing centers, outpatient health programs funded by the Indian Health Service, and programs serving migrants and the homeless. The main purpose of the FQHC Program is to enhance the provision of primary care services in underserved urban and rural communities." Taken from a .gov outreach website.


The Director of Social Services asked the board for $45,000 to hire a consultant to guide DSS through the process of qualifying as an FQHC. He held out the threat that if DSS doesn't do it, someone else might and get all that government support. The Director stated that the FQHC might have a multiple million dollar budget and could be set up in 6 months.

This was a new idea presented to the Board of Commissioners and they asked for time to study the proposal and get more information and details and find out from Merci Clinic what they think of the proposal. There are other people to consider like those in private medical practice. I think the Director believes the FQHC would provide a valuable service that would not hurt private practice, but I'm not so sure. I DO KNOW THAT I THINK THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD GET OUT OF HEALTH CARE AND NOT EXPAND THEIR PRESENCE THERE!

BY THE WAY, STILL THINK THE SIZE OF COUNTY GOVERNMENT IS GETTING SMALLER?

Well, a big surprise to me was the retiring (resignation?) of Mr. Davis, the Director of the Economic Development Commission. The Commission was apparently formed under the "Committee of 100" and the only control the county commissioners had over it was in the area of their budget. I have heard dissatisfaction expressed about this in the past, and I had some sympathy for the commissioners on that because they had to commit taxpayer money to the organization without a voice in how it managed it's affairs. It was very expensive and showed very little tangible results. The county will take over the operations of the Economic Development Commission and bring it under county staff control with the over-site of the elected Board of Commissioners. This seems a better arrangement to me. There might even be a reduction in taxpayer funding required.


The Commissioners are still struggling with a proposal to withdraw from the Regional Library System. I'd like to see that. I want a more autonomous county government without all these regional government setups (RPOs and the like). Regional groups are open invitation to implement Agenda 21.

Then came the request from Cove City Fire Department for $30,000 matching funds they would like to have for gear the firemen wear to a fire. This request was made by Commissioner Taylor, who conferred with the firemen by phone during the meeting. The threat was that if the Board did not grant the request, the rating of the department might drop and citizens in that area of the county would have to pay higher fire insurance premiums. Several commissioners were reluctant to grant this request because the fire commissioners had been informed that they would have to budget within the fire tax funds provided by the citizens of their fire districts. If Cove City fire department received general fund taxpayer money, all other fire departments would want additional funding as well. I agree with this assessment. Either have fire taxes, and live within them or do away with them and provide county wide funding. Not a mixture of the two. I see no fairness in that. It got kind of comic when someone suggested that maybe they could get a grant from someone to get the matching funds for their grant request. WHAT IS THE WORLD COMING TO? Commissioner Taylor said he would get back with the Board on this issue.


Commissioner Tyson was kind enough to read my last report and take it seriously. About the assigning of the county garage to the Water Department, Commissioner Tyson stated that Rusty Hayes is the Director of the County Water System and, as such, is better able to supervise the county mechanics. I guess, the water system operation and maintenance being more mechanical in scope than directing a bus operation. I'm still not so sure. Oddly enough, I once owned and operated a large bus company. I would have hated to have the fleet maintenance manager report to someone else. I guess time will tell. I do appreciate Commissioner Steve Tyson commenting on it.

I've got one more beef then I will sign off for now. Commissioner McCabe (a really nice gentleman, in all other ways) proposed several government cost increasing measures. Fortunately, his requests weren't granted by the board although sometimes supported by Commissioner Sampson, and sometimes not. He asked for:

1. A 6 % pay increase for county employees instead of the 3% raise.

2. A 3 % increase in Commissioners pay.
3. A $1300 increase in Commissioners travel allowance annually.
4. He stated that if an organization asked for more funding, give it to them.

I wonder if the citizens of his district really want him to continually try to redistribute the wealth in the county and get as much as possible for himself. IS THIS WHAT THE PEOPLE OF HARLOWE AND HAVELOCK WANT?

Respectfully submitted:
Hal James

Coastal Carolina Taxpayers Association
Issues and Watchdog Committee Chairman