Fake Frankie and the Bloated Budget | Eastern NC Now

Publisher's note: This post appears courtesy of the Beaufort Observer.

    When Frankie Waters ran for election four years ago, he promised not to raise taxes. He ran as a conservative Republican. He told people things were gong to change when he was elected.

    Things did change. Just like they changed when Obama was elected. They changed for the worse. Taxes are higher. We have more waste in county government and more back room dealing. We have borrowed more money.

    When Fake Frankie was elected the Beaufort County Budget was 52 million dollars. Within six months of taking office Fake Frankie made a motion to cap the 2015 budget at 54.5 million dollars. That is an increase of 2.5 million dollars. Just six months before Fake Frankie was telling voters he would not raise taxes.

    Today, our 2018/19 spending stands at 61.9 million dollars . Fake Frankie voted to increase spending every year he has been in office. He has voted to increase spending by 9.9 million during his four years in office. . There is an additional 3.1 million dollars of borrowed money in this year's budget. We will repay that over the next 9 years.

    The fund balance (our savings) has gone from 25 million dollars in 2014 down to 18 million this year. Where did that six million go?

    The county payroll has increased from 300 employees in 2014 to 390 today. We will be seeing the full impact of this next year.

    Fake Frankie was a big player in destroying the Belhaven Hospital when he supported sending the building inspector to do an illegal inspection of the hospital and then sent the illegal report to the judge to get the judge to lift the order restraining the tearing down of the building. Within hours of the order the building was destroyed. That cost Belhaven 50 high paying jobs and several million dollars in commerce each year.

    Fake Frankie has made even more bad decisions. Those are for another article.

    The really big question is: Can we afford this Democrat in Republican clothing and his bad judgment?

    Fake Frankie Waters is not a Republican. He wanted to be chairman of the Board of Commissioners. So, he cut a deal with the Democrats that made him chairman and the Democrat Jerry Langley Vice Chairman. Fake Frankie. This happened with a super majority of Republicans sitting on the board.

    It is time for a change on our Board of County Commissioners. Tax bills are out. Most of us are getting a an average increase of about 12 percent. Do you want another 20 percent increase over the next four years of King Frankie's reign.

    Can we afford Frankie Waters?