Pamlico County Budget

Last night Pamlico County's Board of Commissioners held a public hearing on the budget for FY 2011 - 2012. The national (and worldwide) economic downturn, which was none of the county's doing, is now harming its citizens.

During the hearing on the budget, members of the county's soil and water conservation board asked the commissioners to reconsider the decision to reduce work hours for two of their employees. This point was taken up by Commissioners Delamar and Ollison before the vote on the budget. They emphasized the services provided by the board to all of the county's citizens.

The county GOP Director of Communications complimented the commissioners on a good budget and then made the predictable observation that we need tax cuts, smaller government and more individual responsibility. He also cited the county's median income as $47,000 per capita (that's more likely the figure for family income, not individual income), 15% below the poverty line and the fact that taxes constitute 56% of the county's revenue. He did not mention that the county has a functional illiteracy rate of 14% and that 24% of the county's citizens have a disability of some kind.

The challenge facing the county was to deal with reduction in funds received from the state, forcing the county to reduce its contribution to both the Community College and the Public Schools at the same time those institutions received reduced resources from the state. The surprise resignation by Dr. James Coon, county school superintendent, represented his contribution to the reduction of central staff in an effort to hold down expenses. Even so, there will be staff reductions, increase in class size, and a likely adverse effect on the quality of education in the county.

The county commissioners have done the best they could under difficult circumstances.

This is a case of stuff flowing down hill. The economic crisis didn't start here and can't be fixed here. It started on Wall Street. It can be fixed by Washington. It won't be fixed until our leaders recognize that what is needed is a substantial fiscal stimulus.

I have written about this before. I won't go into it again, at least not now.

But the only people benefiting from the current situation and the refusal of the national government to take effective stimulus measures are the top 1% of our economy, who own fifty percent of the nation's assets. The next 9% are doing OK. The bottom 90% are hurting. And it's all so unnecessary.