Rte 17 and wasted money | Eastern North Carolina Now

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

    It sure looks as though Beaufort County has hit the "Big Time" We have our own lobbyist (well, at least part of one). How having a lobbyist makes us "Big Time" remains a mystery, but there are apparently some in our County government who seem to believe it does. Otherwise, we can only wonder why we spend money on this particular endeavor.

    Several years ago, we hired a lobbyist, Highway 17 Transportation Assn. According to their latest tax return their mission in life is: "Assuring through collective action and constancy of purpose, that the inclusion and funding of all unfunded portions of the US Hwy 17 corridor shall be part of the NC department of Transportation's Transportation improvement program (TIP)" (I'm probably going to need a little help to discern what "collective action and constancy of purpose" means. Also, in an earlier life I seem to remember that "shall" makes something mandatory. How an "outsider" can make it mandatory for the NC DOT to include or not include something in their TIP is a mystery, but anyway....) In the meantime, no one seems to pay much attention to what he does, or more importantly, achieves. Apparently, all it takes to keep our County Commissioners happy is a slick Power Point presentation every once in a while. (You have to admit that the same approach seems to have been working for the EDC for quite a while.) So we continue to throw good money after bad. Who cares whether the other participants in this project who initially agreed to contribute to funding the activity, are actually still paying the amounts to which they originally committed?? The real question is, are we (all of us) getting our money's worth??

    In the Culture and Recreation section of the budget we find a $35K line item for the Highway 17 Transportation Assn., which represents a $5K increase from the prior year. On page 137 of the budget we find mention of the increase. However, apparently since the total request for this section of the budget represents a decrease from the prior year approved amount, there is no discussion (that I found) in the "expansion" items. On pages 21 to 25 the increased funding recommended for approval (i.e. expansion items) are broken down by "Department". They are listed line item by line item, and for each there is brief explanation of the requested increase. What seems to be rather conspicuous by it's absence is any line item increases in the Culture and Recreation item. Well, not totally absent. It does appear on page 137 of the 168 page document, which means that there is a better than even chance that none of the Commissioners would, without having their attention called to it, even focus on the Highway 17 Transportation Assn much less the requested $5K increase.

    As an aside; Knowing of the integrity of the County staff charged with putting the budget together, I would never in the world suggest, or even hint, that there was any effort to obfuscate. In fact, they are to be complemented for a budget presentation that is easy to read, easy to follow, and easy to understand. They need to be further complimented for making it abundantly clear to the Commissioners (at least to those who bother to read the County Manager's transmittal letter or as far as page 137 in the budget) that the entire Culture and Recreation Section of the budget is funding things "normally outside the normal functions of the county". (emphasis added) There would seem to be at least five of our commissioners who don't really care. As long as they can take taxpayer money to fund their favorite charities instead of letting us decide for ourselves which charities should be funded, why should they give us a choice?? But that's another subject for another day...

    It may well be time to question the need for and the benefits we derive from having a lobbyist in Raleigh; or is it Craven County where our lobbyist resides?? Craven County?? More of our money going to Craven County?? Would that would be the same Craven county that seems to have improved their "economic status" up to Tier 3?? Do you suppose the Beaufort County money our Lobbyist and our EDC director carried back to Craven County had anything to do with that?? About the only thing we seem to be getting for our money is a slick Power Point presentation once in a while (even though I don't recall when the last one was). Aside from a listing of State Highway Department folks with whom our lobbyist has met, we get virtually nothing that is not truly easy to get directly (and for free) from the DOT web site. For a listing of the status of Rte 17 projects, go to: http://www.ncdot.gov/projects/search/#t=us%2017.

    Instead of assessing the efficacy of having a lobbyist and satisfying ourselves that we are getting a reasonable rate of return on our investment, we are instead worrying that all the other jurisdictions who initially agreed to contribute to funding the activity, are actually still paying the amounts to which they originally committed.

    According to their tax return (990EZ) for the year ending 9/30/2010 (the latest I could find) the Highway 17 Transportation Assn. spent $169,292 for "salaries, other compensation and employee benefits". In the year prior to that they spent $169,086 for salaries. I rather suspect that the salary numbers include some Administrative Assistant (secretarial??) support in the neighborhood of $30,000. Two years earlier they filed a long form 990 which showed "salary and wages" in the amount of $24,085 and "Contract Services" of $126,000.. It seems likely that there was a W-2 issued covering the $24K (because the FICA expense addressing about that amount, was shown as "expense" on the return). We can only wonder if there was a 1099 MISC issued covering the $126K. Do you suppose there are any folks who might be interested in knowing a little more about what we are receiving for the salaries being paid for all this "help" we are getting?? If there are, do you suppose any of them are County Commissioners??

    D'ya think??