County should fund non-profits. Not | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: Jim Bispo's weekly column appears in the Beaufort Observer

    So the Non-profits are being targeted according to the lead headline in the 6/2/2011 edition of the WDN. Who, besides Hood Richardson would do such a thing?? If you count Stan Deatherage, that would make two. At least two of our Commissioners don't believe that it is a county function to bankroll every not for profit organization that shows up with their hand out.

    The one thing in the article that I would take at least a mild exception to would be the statement that "Most of the proposed cuts and eliminations were approved by 4-3 votes along party lines...." That was true. However, most of the "non-cuts" were approved with 5-2 votes with Al Klemm and Jay McRoy joining the other Liberals. And there were more "non-cuts" than there were "cuts".

    There were a couple of things that were not reported. The first was what didn't happen. And why should anyone be expected to report what didn't happen?? How about because it is germane?? When Mr. Richardson opened the discussion about the Culture and Recreation item, he expressed his views in a qualified support of the libraries, but little else. He then invited the other Commissioners to voice their opinions about any other items in the group that they supported. His challenge was met by silence. And yet, when it was time to vote, there seemed to be support for many line items that Commissioners were unable or unwilling to support to their colleagues or the public. It was somewhat instructive to watch several of the Commissioners sit there like bumps on a log seemingly unwilling or unable to defend "their favorites" and then vote against cuts to them with no justification or even comments. (Suspicions confirmed.). When pushed on the Chamber of Commerce item, Mr Klemm did say he continues to support the funding them, but that was almost in passing. He offered no rationale for his position. Even when faced with the argument that the Chambers are intended to represent business not taxpayers, he added no words of justification or rebuttal. He wants them funded and that's that. When pressed by Mr. Cayton, about his membership in the Washington and Belhaven Chambers and his lack of membership in the Aurora Chamber (as I reported in a recent column) Mr. Klemm promised to end his "discrimination" and join the Aurora group. (Now that is the real way to support a Chamber of Commerce that you believe in - i.e. with your own time and money; not taxpayer money.)

    One other issue was almost raised by Mr McRoy, but it went nowhere. He questioned just what it is that the county has been getting for its money when it came to one of the non-profits asking for funding (I can't remember which one it was.) Unfortunately, his comment was largely ignored. In truth, the time is long past when every one of the groups in the Culture/Recreation group should be documenting what they are achieving with the money the county has been providing them over the years. Not what they are doing; but what they are achieving.

    No one seemed to be able to identify just what the lobbyist has done to move the Rte. 17 activities along. The return we are getting from the $25,000 (and $35,000 in the following year) for our "lobbyist" would seem to be rather ephemeral. One of the Commissioners opined that lobbyist or no lobbyist, the work would get done when the state is good and ready for it to be done. My impression of the discussion was that the "big kids" have lobbyists so we should have one. Nothing about what he has achieved for us. No discussion a bout why we had to read in the WDN about the third schedule slippage being encountered on the Rte. 17 construction south of Chocowinity. The WDN was definitely out in front on this one. Wouldn't you think that we should have gotten at least a "heads up" from our lobbyist before it appeared in the paper?? Instead, periodically, we get a slick Power Point presentation informing us who our lobbyist has visited in Raleigh and the status of the Rte 17 projects either under construction or included in the TIP. The truth be known, both of those subjects are rather well documented on the highway department web site - and the information is free for the taking...

    A letter to the editor in the 6/7/2011 WDN takes exception Mr. Richardson's suggestion that the taxpayers should not have to fund the Beaufort County Arts Council because they have plenty of money. According to the BCAC 2010 tax return, they ended the fiscal year (ended 6/30/2010) with $166,797 cash on hand. If you are interested in learning more about their finances download their tax return here.

    It turns out that Mr. Richardson may be right after all. While individual members may not be flush with money, the organization seems to be on fairly solid financial footing. Solid enough that they should be able to manage without an infusion of taxpayer money. The budget requests being considered by the Commissioners were not for individuals, they were for organizations. Unless someone is trying to find fault with him, Mr. Richardson's comments should be taken in that context. Taking his comments out of context are grossly unfair.

    There is more about this subject coming - as well there should be.

    D'ya think??