Onslow County Politics

It’s not enough to say that I never saw something like that before.

When I worked for the County we lost a good manager, but there was no way I was going put my career on the line to defend him.  The city employeees have much more nerve than me.  They signed petitions, they filled the room and stood together.  Simply amazing.

That sort of It’s a Wonderful Life moment just doesn’t happen in real life, or so I thought.  But sure enough everyone stepped up for someone who needed and deserved a kind word.

There was a call for his re-hiring.  I can’t imagine the four councilmembers admitting their mistake and re-hiring him.  I can’t imagine him accepting a re-hire offer.  But then again, I couldn’t have imagined the city employees standing for him like that.

The County Commissioners ended up going with the original proposed budget.

A long meeting with lots of speakers.  Very emotional from all perspectives.

Commissioner Buchanan previously said he would not vote for a tax raise, but did so.  This is more surprising because he could have cast a dissenting vote and still had the budget passed.  In essence, he did not take the opportunity to place himself in a better light politically.

Commissioner Keller did not expect to vote tonight.

Commissioner Midgett mentions that only 100 people attended the four public sessions and said people just werent interested.  He urged people to become more educated and involved.

Commissioner Ikner wants to put the sales tax back on the ballot and will vote to reduce the tax rate an equal amount if passed.

Meeting ends at midnight…

To be truly critical of something you have two options.  First, you can fully understand it and believe there is a better alternative.  Second, you can not fully understand it and believe that the burden is elsewhere to convince you.

It’s my opinion that in regards to budgets our community rightfully rests in the second camp.  The budgets are too big and complex for anyone to know completely.  Options to review and suggest alternatives are disingenuous.  Recent history includes reasons to be suspicious but lacks reasons to give trust–time and actions will hopefully reverse this.

I believe myself to be fairly educated in our local government, but I’ll be the first to say that I do not fully comprehend the budget.

I think the Interim County Manager did a decent job in putting the budget in terms that were easily understandable.  It wasn’t perfect, but that’s not entirely his fault–it’s the nature of the beast (e.g. politics).

What I think would be beneficial is more of the complete breakdown of the budget into simple to understand terms.  The Triangle Transportation Authority in Raleigh worked with the public to determine its budget some years ago.  It had a certain amount of new funding and had to decide what to do with the funds.  So it posted a simple webpage that let everyone vote.  Everyone got to ‘spend’ their 14 ‘pennies’ however they wanted.  Each item had its approximate cost (e.g. bike racks were 2 pennies, extra routes were 6 pennies, etc).

Telling the public that the budget is bare-bones is not sufficient.  Telling the public that these are the best next cuts is not sufficient.  The public is requesting to be shown.  And at the same time, pointing to a 400-page budget won’t cut it.

Apparently the Board of Commissioners have directed the County Manager to cut the proposed budget some more.

Proposed further cuts include:

JDNews Article

The proposed County budget was revealed on June 1st. It will have a public hearing and is expected to be adopted on June 15th.

It’s a bit late for this, but perhaps better late than never….  Below is the Budget Message Redux.  It takes the Manager’s ‘Budget Message’ and puts it into super simple terms.  Why do this?  Because the Budget is huge–no one reads it in the entirity.  So the Manager writes an introduction that summarizes everything, but even that is thirteen pages long!  So this is an even shorter version.

One caveat is that this is a redux, so don’t quote this.  Instead, use this as a quick guide.  If you see something interesting then find it in the Manager’s actual message (and then use that as a guide to finding it in the actual budget).

BUDGET MESSAGE SUPER REDUX

Taxes are going up from $0.503 to $0.59 to pay for a $155 million budget; but no tax hikes for five years.

Historical Perspective

The County has been spending more money that it has been making.

Expenditure Challenges

The County is in a bad spot. The two big costs are Employees and Education.

Revenue Challenges

The County will get more property tax ($1.7 million), but less sales tax ($1.8 million). Also worried the State won’t give us what they promised ($2 million).

The Crossroads of Onslow County

The tax increase of $0.087 can be split up with old debt for jail and schools ($0.0525), new debt by this BOC ($0.01) and Schools & ‘If the State doesn’t give us our money’ ($0.0245).

The new tax rate of $0.59 is lower than the state average ($0.63) and the average for Onslow County in the last 30 years ($0.62).

Visionary Leadership

The BOC had a retreat in March and said they wanted a strategic plan. They also adopted a Capital Improvement Program (CIP).

Cutting Expenses

We cut 71 jobs to save $2.2 million a year.

The programs cut were (1) Youth Shelter, (2) In-Home Aides, (3) staffing for Law Library, (4) beaver management and (5) mobile home disposal assistance program.

But we will add a Basic Life Support team to EMS for $700,000.

Non-profits will get 16% less ($2.7 million to $2.3 million).

Customer Service and Organizational Efficiency

There will be more efficiency because reorganization.

Relocating offices will save rent of $70,000 a year.

Some employees will have more responsibility and will be compensated for this later.

Personnel Considerations

There will be no Cost of Living Adjustment. There will be a Merit Pay Increase available up to 3%. There will be less benefits for new employees.

Achieving Sustainability

Can’t continue to use savings for recurring costs. Need a long-term plan, like the new funding formula for education.

Justice Complex Considerations

The Sheriff’s Construction Coordinator position is no longer needed. The Sheriff should get a consultant by this fall to train his staff to operate the new jail.

Citizen Communication

Citizens want and deserve transparency and accountability. The County should get its own tv channel, use the internet, its phone system and other creative ideas to get the word out.

Focus on the Future

Jeff Hudson is going to do well. Here is a list of issues for the BOC to consider:

Employee Morale: Ever since County Manager Frank Clifton got fired, employees don’t trust the BOC. The BOC should work on that.

Attracting and Retaining Quality Employees: It’s difficult to get good people when you cut benefits.

Taxpayer Communication/Understanding: The BOC needs to look at the long-term and explain their reasoning to the people.

Facility Conditions: County buildings are at a critical point (mold, overcrowded, substandard) especially our computer servers with no fire protection.

Population Growth: Population is booming.

Understanding Citizen Expectations: The strategic planning process will help the BOC figure out what are acceptable levels of service to the public.

Volunteer Fire and Rescue Services: These services are inadequate. The current study should give the BOC their options.

Communications Infrastructure: This needs to be fixed. The CIP includes money for this.

Courthouse Security: Money has been available for upgrades for years, but the Sheriff says he needs more bailiffs.

Procedural Considerations

The Manager gave his proposal June 1^st. There will be four public meetings. The BOC will work on it between June 8^th and June 12^th. The budget will be adopted on June 15^th.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the deputy county managers and the human resources department head. Remember that the County mission is to “provide residents, visitors and the business community with the highest quality public service in an efficient, courteous manner and to enhance the quality of life, work and play through visionary support and leadership.”