This memorandum will serve as notice that Chairman Thomas S. Hester, Jr. has called a special meeting for Tuesday, June 25 at 5:30 p.m. in the Commissioners’ Conference Room, Vance County Administration Building, 122 Young Street, Henderson, NC. The purpose of the special meeting is to address the following:
1. Qualified Zone Academy Bonds
2. Adoption of FY 2013-2014 Budget Ordinance – to be distributed at meeting
3. Authorization of Year-End Closeouts
4. CDBG Debarment Certifications
5. Appointment of Voting Delegate and Alternate for NACo Annual Conference
6. Henderson Collegiate Charter School Lease Agreement
7. Other items as needed
Download the full packet here: 20130625_vcboc_agenda_packet
On Tuesday June 25 sometime after 5:30 pm our county commissioners will complete this year’s budget approval process. The vote, based on my observation at the last public work session, is 4 ayes and 3 nays. The dissention is not the point of this letter.
Commissioner Taylor prepared and presented to his colleagues a summary of the budget. His summary enlightened this county budget neophyte. According to Commissioner Taylor only $1,771,849 (4.16%) of the entire $42,556,413 budget is what he termed “non-required funding”.
Using Commissioner Taylor’s work, I had Excel categorizes the top ten line entries. The following three categories account for 73.4% of the entire budget and are specifically to meet the necessary needs of the citizens and mandates of regulatory authorities.
$11,202,632 (25.32%) for Public Safety – Sheriff’s Office, Jail, Fire & Ambulance, 911 Emergency Center.
$10,338,509 (22.96%) for Social Services.
$9,655,012 (22.69%) for Education – public schools system, teachers supplements, & VGCC.
Adding fund transfers to the first three categories then $34,113.612 (80.16%) of the entire budget is allocated before the commissioners spent sixteen hours in public debate and discussion on the other citizen mandates, regulatory spending and non-required funding.
After spending sixteen hours in public budget work sessions the commissioners added only $40,123 to the proposed budget and lowered the Fund Balance (think of this as a savings for a rainy day) by $874,663.
We can only wonder how much smaller the fund balance transfer would have been, if the top 100 who owe $1,151,981.63 in unpaid property taxes had paid what they owe.
I wonder how long the commissioners meeting will run. There is Brown’s rant about ethnicity over intellectual prowess as a basis for employment. Then her rant against a charter school filled with black students whose families fled the failing county school system she championed. Expect Wright’s long rant about the today’s supreme court’s decision, one where a black man voted with the majority. Will Garrison join in and announce that 53% equals the minority. Hopefully, Pitts and his many pseudonyms stay home.
City citizens still have no budget for next year. Three members of the council did not show up to the budget meeting last night. We are inside of a week to get the thing approved. Why would you want to cut it that close to such an important deadline?
Also, it appears all the other council members showed up to work. Why could those three not make it? When you are in an elected position, you act on behalf of those who put you there. So, if there is a very important meeting about the fiscal health of the very place you represent, normally you would go. Instead we have three “adults” who choose to leave the rest of the group high and dry. Was this some sort of protest? I believe the city residents deserve an honest answer. Kind of in the same way the residents deserve for their neighbors and elected officials to pay their taxes.
Only in Henderson would this take place. Three people, elected to represent the City of Henderson, just decide not to show up. They probably did not like how the vote on the budget was going to be, so they decided to act like 4 year olds in a sandbox. They took their buckets and shovels and went home. Those who elected these three need to remember this in the next election. We can do better.
While I am on the subject of city money, when is the Embassy Foundation going to start making payments to the taxpayers on their $1.8 million debt. The library has been turned over to the city and the promise was made to pay off the loan….in money and not just in land and a building. Many of us remember what we were told. This should serve as a reminder to the current council. Well, five-eights of the council.
Those who didn’t show up should be ashamed, in my opinion. The City Council and County Commissioner are lacking in accountability as I see it.
The Embassy Foundation has made it appear they have paid the City–am I wrong? I’d sure like to see that cancelled check–or facsimile–how about rr??
What I find shameful is the citizens of Henderson continue to put up with this mess. VOTE “EM OUT OF OFFICE and get rid of them.!