Revised: Beaufort County Budget Passes 5 to 2, with a Prognosis | Eastern North Carolina Now

Keeps the Tax Rate at 53 cents per 100.00 evaluation.

    Beaufort County Budget Passes 5 to 2, with Republican Gary making the motion, Al Klemm seconding the motion, Democrats Jerry Langley, Ed Booth and Robert Belcher voting yay, and Republicans Hood Richardson and Stan Deatherage voting nay.

    Those commissioners voting in the affirmative thanked the manager for giving them a budget that needed little of their consideration toward any measurable cuts in spending, while Commissioner Richardson voting nay because of what few cuts in spending that were made did not go far enough. Commissioner Deatherage stated that by passing a budget that considered the new jail, with so few cuts in additional spending, gave tacit approval to the construction of that proposed 'Southwest County Jail', which will leave the county vulnerable to certain large tax increases should the nation have another economic downturn.

Update: June 22, 2014

To be Viewed as an Accurate Prediction or a Cautionary Tale
    The way I see it:

    As promised, I shall provide an update, but there is no news at this point other than for me to state, or re-state what is obvious as to the state of the county's financial health:

   •  The County's second largest asset, after the Water System, the County Hospital (54 million dollar's worth), has been fully divested from Beaufort County's balance sheet for 'pennies on dollar' as remuneration;

   •  Beaufort County will be build a new jail (two times larger than is needed, with a core 4 times larger than is needed) in the southwest corner of the county in our industrial park, just across from the new rest/welcome area on Hwy. 17 South, at a cost of around 20 million dollars, with costs of transferring prisoners estimated at 800,000.00 per annum, and without allowing the public the right to vote on a general obligation bond to pay for this capital project;

   •  Schools are overbuilt by 20%, yet we still have overcrowding of school children in some areas of the county;

   •  Beaufort County's economic developer, Bob Heuts, resigns for no conspicuous reason; however, an industrial incarceration complex will now stand as a giant impediment in the industrial park he was charged to sell.

   •  Beaufort County's sales tax is beginning to shrink slightly as the economy is broadcast to be improving overall.

   •  The commission discovers yet another 5 - 2 vote for a Beaufort County budget, which represents no serious cutting of county expenditures, because the budget can be effected without raising taxes due to a slightly rising tax base (What happens when the tax base stops slowly rising?);

   •  And finally, a Republican primary is held where the top issue forged upon an vast apathetic electorate in this specific primary, which actually worked, was the issue of "Commissioner Conduct, Personalities and the Vagaries of Just Getting Along".

Prognosis for the next ten years:

   •  Beaufort County will incur a minimum of a 4% tax increase over the next four years, providing there is no serious economic downturn;

   •  When the next revaluation occurs, there will be a natural shift of the burden to pay that tax increase, which will create a great consternation for some as opposed to the others, who will receive tax relief due the revaluation;

   •  There will be an additional 2% tax increase, along with the natural property value increase from the current tax base; rising for some, while decreasing for others;

   •  When there is an economic downtown, which there will be at some point over the next 10 years, there be a minimum of a 10% tax increase, and if there is a serious economic downtown (my money is riding on this eventuality), one's tax increase will approach 20%.

    But one can always look on the bright side: 1) The commissioners will all seem level-headed to some, while getting along so much better; 2) if there is a serious economic downturn, your property values will definitely go down, and if the revaluation is timed just right, your property values will be down, and possibly, your taxes will be a little less than that probable 20% increase.

    On the sobering side of this argument, my estimates are probably a bit on the conservative side.

    My advice to the electorate at large: Buck-up, pay the taxes without complaining. A vast majority of this Beaufort County electorate - Democrat, Independents and to a lesser extent, Republicans - over the last 10 years have surely voted for paying the higher property taxes through their selection of county commissioners. Your only alternative as per the police power of Beaufort County's Court of County Commissioners, pay the higher property taxes, and don't complain about the privilege you have afforded yourselves, unless you have gravitas to do so ... and trust me on this one absolute truth, there are not that many of you.

    Obviously, not enough to make a difference.