Comments | Eastern NC Now

Ceres: trust me, dude; I, too, understand your frustration in regard to the resistance of the old guard "doomer" generation to the younger Trunp-era brand of Conservatism.

We research, debate and challenge matters that either the old heads will not touch or know anything about BUT, at the end of the day, there is a portion of hard truth in some of their rambling, if you will.

It's about bottom line and the bottom line is, regardless of the 10.5 million we're allegedly only "paying " our tax dollars are being pissed away for the political gain of Cheeseman....one man. That's insane!

All of the 50. whatever million is made up of our tax money, in actuality. It's just being laundered through the "Education Lottery" which, judging by how Washington High School looked last Thursday at "Steppin' Out", doesn't seem to have anything to do with education..looking from 73 miles up.

"Educational Lottery" systems seem to be benefitting individuals more than communities. We need an audit.

Commented: Monday, April 21st, 2025 @ 4:15 pm By: John Valley

Gary: The essential key to making that whole "property tax limitation" work is locating and cutting "waste, fraud and abuse" here in Beaufort County. The public schools are making terrible decisions, which are costing way too much money to educate children in an environment where they are losing students, ergo, "waste, fraud and abuse."

This is a time when management is most important, because when one governs as a body politic of the State of North Carolina, as is the county commissioners, it eventually comes down to the math and the management, accordingly, this necessary tandem is failing on the school board, and with the Center Left Coalition - those who swap votes to share power - it often unrealized on the Board of Beaufort County Commissioners.

Commented: Monday, April 21st, 2025 @ 3:08 pm By: Stan Deatherage

Every single day of the Trump Presidency so far is outpacing my expectations! Couldn't be happier with the job he's doing!

Commented: Monday, April 21st, 2025 @ 3:01 pm By: Gary Ceres

Gary: If the The Hood does not mention you in an article, you would be wise to back out of any argument with the venerable commissioner.

The school board, in toto, is having a most difficult time making sense of things, and from a governing sense, they best start finding some footing real fast.

From a political sense, the sentiment in the county at large is not good.

Gary, you don't need to die on that same political hill along with the those school board members that keep making these huge governing mistakes, which makes a good many of them resemble complete amateurs.

One more thing Gary: The matching portion on the school that we do not need, built on the lowest point of the land, is 10,500,000.00 ... so far.

Commented: Monday, April 21st, 2025 @ 2:46 pm By: Stan Deatherage

John Valley: Now I agree with your analysis on why ... but the fact is its happened. Right now we can stave off tax increases if we act and part of that is planning for the future. The cost to Beaufort County is not 53 million dollars ... our matching portion is 10 million. We currently have a 40 million or so surplus in the county Treasury. So no direct cost in extra taxation. Now if we hold off ... you are looking at 60-75 million dollars down the line. That's not fiscally conservative to me.

You can limit taxation while doing this. I reject that tax limitation is an expense. Limiting property tax growth would enable business investment and economic growth that exlands the tax base and increases county revenues which would more than make uo the 10 million dollars to replace the surplus in coming years. I am 100% with you on cutting spending elsewhere. The misconception here is this isn't a proposition to take 53 million dollars for economic reviatalization or build the school. The grant is solely for the school and is 42 million dollars. Our portion is just 10 million. This is a no-brainer to me as a fiscal conservative that is looking long-term to limit spending and hold taxes down. But I respect the opposite viewpoint. What I reject is being demonized and foolishly being labeled liberal for thinking independently.

Commented: Monday, April 21st, 2025 @ 2:34 pm By: Gary Ceres

We could start with an audit of the Housing Authority.

Commented: Monday, April 21st, 2025 @ 1:46 pm By: Gary Ceres

I pay rent sir which is directly affected by property taxes. We need to pass property tax limitation legislation which limits how high a single parcel can be increased in property tax between assessments. Those on fixed incomes cannot afford massive property tax increases which are inevitable if down the line the county will be paying 10s of millions more for needed school construction in coming years because right now 42 million is coming from the Education lottery grants and considering this is the first ever allocation for Beaufort County it is not in our favor to get another grant anytime soon. We also need to make sure multiple parcel owners and business owners have some stability in the projections for property taxes and without property tax limitation you cannot serve the interests of renters, fixed income individuals, multiple land owners and business developers. It's great to advocate conservatism ... its another thing to actually accomplish conservatism. You don't do that by demonizing allies.

I graduated from Frank J Dugan Elementary School in Marlboro, New Jersey.

Commented: Monday, April 21st, 2025 @ 1:21 pm By: Gary Ceres

I never attended an Elementary school under 800 students. We outperformed metrics across the board. We can have a reseaonable debate on these things. There are certainly pluses and minutes to small and large schools. But you are precluding debate by labeling all opposition to one way of thinking as liberal.

Commented: Monday, April 21st, 2025 @ 12:04 pm By: Gary Ceres

899 students is crammed? Lol. My God ... please do some research. I graduated from a school that was 1,875 students and ranked in the top 200 schools in the country. Our graduation rate was 99%. Please look at statistics before making irrational statements.

Commented: Monday, April 21st, 2025 @ 11:09 am By: Rational Observer

899 students is crammed? Lol. My God ... please do some research. I graduated from a school that was 1,875 students and ranked in the top 200 schools in the country. Our graduation rate was 99%. Please look at statistics before making irrational statements.

Commented: Monday, April 21st, 2025 @ 11:12 am By: Gary Ceres

It is not just immigration. The backlash against Climate Alarmism has risen rapidly in the UK after Labour's draconian Net Zero program was implemented, which will cost ordinary Brits a bundle in their own pocketbooks. Conservatives have announced a plan reining in the most expensive parts, but the Reform Party, which has always called Net Zero "Net Stupid" wants to cancel it in its entirety. They also blame the Conservatives for starting the Net Zero project in the first place. Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson's then girlfriend, and now wife, was and is a big climate activist.

Immigration is part of what is driving the Reform Party's surge but so is the backlash to climate alarmism and Net Zero.

Commented: Monday, April 21st, 2025 @ 8:09 am By: Concerned Taxpayer