County Manager's budget: "We are not taxed enough..." | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: We appreciate this report on the budget for Beaufort County's government from our friends at the Beaufort Observer .

Says there's a "revenue problem" when the money is sitting in the bank to avoid a tax increase

    At the 5-9-11 Beaufort County Board of Commissioners' meeting, County Manager Paul Spruill recommended a budget that would increase property taxes by five cents next year. The proposal is now before the board, which will be holding workshop sessions and at least one public hearing on it before adopting the FY 2012 budget by June 30. The adoption of the budget sets the tax rate. Thus, any decreases or increases the board makes could impact the final tax rate.

    As you hear in the videos below, he also proposes submitting a referendum to the people to vote on raising the local sales tax by .25 cents, raising the total local and state rate from 7.75% to 8%, and using the proceeds to reduce next year's property-tax rate.

    The book he refers to in his presentation that contains all the numbers you will ever want to see can be downloaded from the county Web site by clicking here. (It's a large file so it requires patience to download, depending on your connection speed).

    The video is divided into two segments. The first is what might be called an overview responding to some of the comments from the public asking the county not to raise taxes in light of the economic conditions many residents face these days. Mr. Spruill argues that "the problem" is not simply a matter of reducing spending, but he claims that decreases in revenue call for higher taxes in spite of some identified "cuts."

    The second video is his actual budget presentation. We'll have more by way of analysis and commentary as the workshop sessions progress but we will offer our immediate reaction to Mr. Spruill below.

Here's the first video:



Here's his actual budget message presentation to the board:



Commentary

    Mr. Spruill has fallen into the trap of so many government bureaucrats and officials these days. He believes government just must spend more and more money rather than reducing spending to live within its means. For them, spending drives their budgets, not the amount of money that's available. That's exactly the mindset in Washington, D.C., and Raleigh. We think no matter how convoluted he makes his explanation, it all boils down to the simple fact that he is unwilling to cut expenses enough to give hard-pressed taxpayers some relief in the hardest economic times all of us have ever faced. We think that unconscionable and we are sorely disappointed in Mr. Spruill. And we think he is being rather disingenuous in his basic premise: That there is not enough revenue to avoid a tax increase. Here's why.

    He claims the county has done a good job of cutting expenses and has done as much as it can do. And he is correct in that claim for some departments and functions but he is not in others which he simply ignores.

    The most notable of these expenditures that he conveniently overlooks in the schools' budget. As we have reported here, there are few counties that have spent more on schools in the last five to six years than has Beaufort County. In fact, as the article at the link above shows, the school system spent $8.9 million more in 2010 than it did in 2005 for less students. County spending went from $10 million in 2005 to $16.6 million in 2011, a 64% increase, again for fewer students. We doubt there are very many families in Beaufort County that have had a 64% incease in income since 2005.

    But here's the major "fact" Mr. Spruill conveniently leaves out of his presentation: The School Board is sitting on a reserve account (fund balance) of over $3 million. That is more than enough to avoid the tax increase Mr. Spruill is arguing cannot be avoided. Obviously, it is not, as he says, "a revenue problem," it is a question of priorities. Do we cut spending or do we impose a heavier burden on our people and damage the economy of the county at a very crucial time?

    We'll have more to say about the school budget in relation to the county budget and particularly about the tax increase Mr. Spruill is recommending but suffice it to say here that he is simply flat out wrong when he says "there is a revenue problem…" that requires a tax increase. The money is sitting in the bank right now. The revenue is there, if it were appropriated for the expenditures he and the school board claim are absolutely essential. And some of those proposed expenditures are, in fact, not essential. We'll also have more to say about that as the budget is reviewed in workshop sessions and as we get a clearer picture of what the state budget is going to look like. But we would argue that Mr. Spruill has fallen into the trap of believing that we are not taxed enough already and we need to pay more in taxes. On that he is just as wrong as Barack Obama, Beverly Perdue and anyone who believes we are not already paying enough taxes.

    As Buzz Cayton and Donna Lay said in their presentations, most people in Beaufort County are hurting. Small businesses—the lifeblood of this county's economy (and ultimately the future tax base)—is really hurting and don't need more of a crimp put into their customer base from a sales-tax increase or added expense from a property-tax increase. It is the economy that's really the problem, and raising taxes is not the thing to do when the economy is in such dire straits and so many people are hurting. No, Mr. Spruill, we are not taxed too little. And yes, revenue is taking a hit. But government must live within its means just like the rest of us have to. At least until things improve some.