Comments for Civics 101: Beware of Bureaucracy | Eastern NC Now
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Washingtonian: You may be right; I tend to wax optimistic.
But now that I am older, wiser, I tend know who the bad players are, and why I must do all I can to supplant them with their betters; those who would steer US away from Waste, Fraud and Abuse.
Commented: Friday, June 27th, 2025 @ 7:53 pm
By: Stan Deatherage
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IF I had to use one word to describe Stan, it would be "optimistic."
If I could use two words, it would be "overly optimistic." IMHO :-)
Commented: Friday, June 27th, 2025 @ 5:25 pm
By: Washingtonian
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Office of Inspector General, EPA
FRAUD is a false representation abt a material fact. Its any intentional deception designed to unlawfully deprive th USA/EPA/CSB of somethin of value or to secure 4 an individual a benefit,privilege,allowance or consideration tht he's not entitled. WASTE involves taxpayers not receivin a reasonable value for $$ in connection w a govt-funded activity due to an inappropriate act/omission. Most waste does not involve a violation of law.Its primarily due to mismanagemnt,inappropriate actions & inadequate oversight. ABUSE involves behavior thats deficient/improper when compared w behavior tht a prudent person would consider reasonable&necessary business practice given facts&circumstances.It also includes misuse of authority 4personal financial interests or those of a close relative/associate.Abuse doesnt always involve a crime. SEE: www.epaoig.gov
Commented: Friday, June 27th, 2025 @ 4:56 pm
By: Washingtonian
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Washingtonian: What you are saying is a bit pessimistic; however, there is a large measure of truth in what you profess here.
On the optimistic side, I am seeing a sea change in politics /government. The "Bully Government" is beginning to lose, and will continue to lose as more of US can gain and hold office. A note here to the "Bully Government" of Waste, Fraud and Abuse: Be careful; you have more liability than you might realize.
Commented: Friday, June 27th, 2025 @ 12:36 pm
By: Stan Deatherage
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WeThePple dont have any rights, we just think we do.
If a person has to hire an expensive attorney to enforce one's rights, then basically, as I said, We have no rights. Its like the bully on the playground who says "make me." The smaller one cant! Every bully Govt knows this. If you try to make that bully govt see you, it will find ways to get revenge. Just as they maligned Trump, they might label a citizen in a small town, a grumbling "troublemaker." The word gets around in all circles. Hopefully with the new Voter ID requirement, a handful of cheaters cant change an entire election result.
Commented: Friday, June 27th, 2025 @ 12:15 pm
By: Washingtonian
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BCCitizen: And as much as local governments wastefully spend, there is plenty of low hanging fruit to cut that waste aplenty, if we had the right politicians ... Just far too many Fake Republicans ... Wakeup citizens, or you will lose even what governments you might believe you have left to correct.
Commented: Friday, June 27th, 2025 @ 10:18 am
By: Stan Deatherage
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Any time government takes something that has always been paid for out of tax revenue, as they did with trash pickup and storm water, and suddenly call it a fee, that is nothing but a dishonest shell game so they can lie that they did not raise taxes. We have a very very dishonest city government and it has been that way for too long. They will not play straight with the citizens and taxpayers.
Commented: Friday, June 27th, 2025 @ 10:07 am
By: John Steed
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John, their sales and services (pay as you use) accounts for 1.8 million. property taxes account for 7.5 million. Think about how much more taxes would have to be raised to increase the ad valorem tax revenue by 1.8 million. That's not minor. I agree with everyone up here that the taxes are outrageous, the admin charge from enterprise funds is insane, and storm water fees, trash pickup fees, and other charges can be a way to "tax" the property owner more. But not all governmental revenues are taxes.
Commented: Friday, June 27th, 2025 @ 8:47 am
By: BCCitizen
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BCCitizen, the fees you list are minor and rarely, if ever, paid by city taxpayers. The ones that cover things that used to be covered by taxes, like storm water and trash, on the other hand are paid every month by virtually everyone, and they add up.
Renters may think they are home free because they do not directly pay property taxes on the houses they live in, but they do pay that tax directly every year on the cars they drive. Also, they will pay the property tax on their house indirectly when their landlord has to go up on their rent to cover his additional costs for those taxes. This hits everyone, one way or another.
Commented: Thursday, June 26th, 2025 @ 3:29 pm
By: John Steed
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Commented: Thursday, June 26th, 2025 @ 1:22 pm
By: BCCitizen
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Neutral and the City is above the County tax rate. The county stayed flat in a reval year while the city imposed an 11.5 cent increase while stating in articles they decreased the rate.
Commented: Thursday, June 26th, 2025 @ 1:22 pm
By: BCCitizen
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The city manager told the local newspaper with a straight face that it was a tax decrease. He lied and he knew he was lying, but probably instructed to do that by his boss the mayor. Not only is it an increase in terms of cents, 11.5 to be precise, but in percentage terms it is even worse, an increase of over 28%. How do these city buffoons think city taxpayers won't figure that our when they get their tax bills? Citizens will then know that not only have they been soaked by a massive tax increase, but they have also been lied to.
Maybe Sadler is sandbagging the city manager so he can achieve his dream of the first black city manager. When citisens figure out it was a lie, he will be the scapegoat.
Commented: Thursday, June 26th, 2025 @ 1:40 pm
By: Concerned Taxpayer
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Neutral and the City is above the County tax rate. The county stayed flat in a reval year while the city imposed an 11.5 cent increase while stating in articles they decreased the rate.
Commented: Thursday, June 26th, 2025 @ 1:27 pm
By: BCCitizen
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John, I was addressing more of the fees for notary, parks and rec, mowing and lot cleaning, boat slip rentals, etc. Those are fees. They are a pay as you use fee. I agree that the admin charge to the general fund for utilities is absurd! The previous administration there got that charge way down, to what it reasonably should be. Then, Russell came in and spent down fund balance and increased taxes and fees. They increased taxes by .02 years ago for the new police station. However, when that was built and paid for, they kept the .02 and did not give it back to the citizens. They are dishonest. I already know people who have put their house up for sale and bought land to build outside of the city limits because of the crazy increases the City has imposed. An increase in tax may be warranted if you are getting more services provided but they are not doing that. They took the revaluation and used it as an excuse to blame the county on the tax increase. However, the county is at revenue....
Commented: Thursday, June 26th, 2025 @ 1:08 pm
By: BCCitizen
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I will argue, successfully, that the county government actually raised taxes this fiscal year, and one can easily decipher such once they get their tax bill in August, thus comparing probable increase year over year.
As your Conservative County Commissioner, I voted against that tax hike in a variety of ways, on a multiplicity of days. The City of Washington took raising taxes, however, in a revaluation year, to a grand and incredible scale, far beyond what the county of beaufort did to its citizens, so I am advising all taxpayers to compare bills and know the truth of your property tax predicament of financing certain "Waste, Fraud and Abuse."
Commented: Thursday, June 26th, 2025 @ 1:22 pm
By: Stan Deatherage
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Neutral and the City is above the County tax rate. The county stayed flat in a reval year while the city imposed an 11.5 cent increase while stating in articles they decreased the rate.
Commented: Thursday, June 26th, 2025 @ 1:10 pm
By: BCCitizen
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If I ran for local elected office, and promised free ice cream for life, free grocery stores, $30 per hr wages, free childcare, no cops, no arrest, etc, would I be elected? Are we smarter than New Yorkers? I guess that remains to be seen.
I remember a guy who said I dont see why we cant build Two bridges. We didnt even get one. Citizens are being advised to think twice about who they vote for. We get the Govts we deserve.
Commented: Thursday, June 26th, 2025 @ 11:53 am
By: Washingtonian
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BC Citizen: That sounds about right.
The City of Washington is a much smaller government than county government, and there is plenty of low hanging fruit to cut as waste (even more than the county government, where there is a plenty), so their core government should be considerably less than the 25 Million mark.
Commented: Thursday, June 26th, 2025 @ 11:52 am
By: Stan Deatherage
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Fees are just another word for taxes by the back door. Many things that used to be paid for by taxes in Washington have been shifted to "fees" like trash pick up and storm water drainage. Calling those "fees" when they used to be covered by taxes is just dishonest. It is pulling the wool over citizens eyes. If it looks like a tax, walks like a tax, quacks like a tax, it is a tax no matter what name you try to put on it.
Then there is the overcharging for electricity that is then shifting into the general fund. That is just another tax by the back door Transparency means not shifting tax supported city activities to "fees" and it means not gouging on electric rates for a backdoor tax. Transparency also means giving meaningful notice of the budget and the taxes involved, which the Sadler regime did NOT do.
Commented: Thursday, June 26th, 2025 @ 11:21 am
By: John Steed
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Nick: Their General Fund budget is 25,000,000. Of that, their ad valorem (property) taxes are 7.5 million. They are not collecting 57 million in taxes from residents. This can all be found in their budget. Also, the taxes are not spread equally across the city. Waterfront areas pay more, obviously. So, NO, every citizen is NOT paying $12,127 or even $10,000+. A lot of revenue is fees. While I agree, their tax increase is insane and their board needs an overhaul. I like transparency from both sides of a debate and saying that they are collecting 57 million in taxes and every citizen is paying $12,127 is highly inaccurate.
Commented: Thursday, June 26th, 2025 @ 8:54 am
By: BCCitizen
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The City of Washington needs a governmental overhaul; an overhaul that should be drastic in scale.
Commented: Wednesday, June 25th, 2025 @ 6:24 pm
By: Stan Deatherage
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BCCitizen: there are roughly 4700 employed citizens in the City of Washington. The City's budget is roughly $57 million. (That's $117 million minus $60 million for utilities). That's $12,127 per working working citizen. It's atrocious.
Commented: Wednesday, June 25th, 2025 @ 4:20 pm
By: Nick Fritz
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You identified the problem. None of this is communicated to the public to allow them to respond until after the fact. We used to have a daily newspaper that carried information like this and had a wide circulation, but what is left of that newspaper is now a pathetic joke. It would help if online publications like this one would help try to get such information out.
What are council members who genuinely want to represent the public going to do? Realize that this budget is a massive burden on citizens and send it back for cuts. They don't have to have people tell them that to comprehend the problem. Unfortunately, Washington now has a council that is almost all pathetic yes-men who will do what Boss Sadler wants. That needs to change.
Commented: Wednesday, June 25th, 2025 @ 3:49 pm
By: Concerned Taxpayer
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