Here we go with the Turnage again | Eastern North Carolina Now

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

    After handing over half a million dollars in the last five years or so (ending June 2011), with the understanding that it was seed money and there would be no further public funding (and, as I understood it, no further forgiveness of tax bills) by Washington. That was that. And then here comes $30K more of the town's money for the year following the end of taxpayer financing of the Turnage. If that sounds like a non-sequitur it is because it is. Taxpayer money is taxpayer money no matter what color you paint it. But now here are scratching our heads trying to work out (according to the WDN 10/7) "the most viable option to gain ownership of the property." The WDN article did not say anything about taxpayer bailouts, but that conversation is surely not far down the road.

    What is not clear (other than by inference) is that anyone has ever publicly talked about whether the taxpayers of Washington (and surely Beaufort County sooner or later) should even be considering handing more taxpayer money over to the Turnage Foundation. This is a question that needs to be answered in the affirmative before anyone even begins to think about figuring out the best option for gaining ownership of the property.

    It is great to see the Arts Council and the Washington Harbor District Alliance and a group of "interested residents" working to do what they can to preserve something that would seem to be in their self interest. If they decide on a privately funded approach, I for one will be among the very first in line to congratulate them and cheer them on. In the meantime, don't bet the farm on that materializing.

    So what we are left wondering is who it was that made the decision to try to figure out how Washington and Beaufort County can be brought into the to save the Turnage. It would be interesting to hear the rationale for going back to the well (other than that life is best lived on grant money.)

    Any discussion about the wisdom of taxpayer bailout of the Turnage should (must??) include a rather detailed public examination and analysis of the operation and funding of the two for profit organizations which according to the Turnage tax return have a "working relationship" with the Turnage Foundation and what looks to be a rather substantial financial involvement.. That would be the Turnage Lessor LLC (a partnership), and the Turnage Manager LLC (a "C" corporation). Both of these organizations are privately held. The only information about them that is available for public review is what they choose to make available (which as near as I can tell isn't much). The purposes and justification for establishing those organizations is certainly something that needs to be closely scrutinized, as do their relationship and dealings with the Turnage.. The Who, what, when, where, why of those two organizations need to be exposed to the light of day, not as a part of, but before any discussion addressing the potential for a bailout.

    What would appear to be a foregone conclusion is that the long suffering taxpayers are going to be forced to bail out what some see as a monument to the "good old days of segregation". The whole scheme of trying for City and County bailout funding starts to sound a lot like the King Chicken meeting room has been reactivated.

    Forget about lowering the electric rates. Instead use the "profit" from the Electric Fund to support the General Fund which can then be used to bail out the Turnage. Forget about maintaining our roads and our buildings. Forget about laying off teachers and squeezing our fire and police departments. Forget about doing any drainage projects to help mitigate flooding during major storms. Forget about all sorts of other things we could be doing to benefit all our citizens. Instead, let's bail out the Turnage. Surely there is nothing more important to the well being of our community than saving the Turnage. And just as surely five years (and over half a million taxpayer dollars) is not nearly enough to make the Turnage a successful undertaking. Just keep pouring money on this project and surely it will succeed. Yeah, right...

    We do certainly have a lot of taxpayer money tied up in the Turnage already. It would surely be a shame to lose that investment. Perhaps, but no more of a shame than the $1.5M or so that we lost on T. Thompson's monument to misguided entrepreneurship at the Washington Industrial Park. (That would be the Blue elephant.)

    It's too bad we seem to be such slow learners.

    D'ya think??