More Salisbury Tax Money Circling the Drain

May 27, 2008 by Cato  
Filed under Fiscal Policy, Maryland, Salisbury Politics

FLUSH

That’s the sound you’ll hear tonight as the Barrie Tilghman rubber stamp of Louise Smith, Gary Comegys, and Shanie Shields support over $100,000 of additional expenditures to come out of the Taxpayers’ Surplus Account. As usual, Salisbury Mayor Tilghman WON’T be “taking full responsibility”.

Most of this money will be appropriated because the Mayor and her crack team of bureaucrats (you know, the one’s getting the big raises and title upgrades) simply forgot to budget for certain expenditures (like Retiree Healthcare). It’s the $28,750 appropriating EVEN MORE tax dollars for City Attorney Paul Wilber that would shame almost anyone (except Tilghman and her rubber stamp).

Let’s not forget that the city just awarded Wilber an additional $40,000 just a few weeks back. Let’s also not forget that tax money going to Wilber is SO WELL SPENT!

Just last week, Louise Smith, et al had Wilber sit in on the public hearing for the budget. That was over $300 spent for NOTHING! It was a public hearing. No legislation would be considered. Since Smith doesn’t allow questions to be answered from the public (unless it’s to her advantage), Wilber certainly wasn’t needed for that.

Now I’m sure that Tilghman and her crew will say that it was VITAL to have Wilber there. Even if it wasn’t, it’s only a few hundred dollars.

That’s the problem with the Tilghman administration and a council majority that feels the need to approve every piece of legislation from the Mayor rather than actually legislate (in a responsible and thoughtful manner) and provide oversight. Remember, that was over $300 wasted on ONE ITEM, on ONE DAY! The hundreds add up to thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands.

To add insult to injury, look at Wilber’s record as attorney for the city. In two of the highest profile cases that he’s handled (supposedly for the taxpayer), Wilber lost. Not only did Wilber lose, but in one case he lost to a group of homemakers and retirees (the Old Mall Re-zoning Appeal) and in the most recent (defending abominable behavior by the city’s Historic District Commission) he lost in both the Circuit and Appeals Courts to a slumlord who was reportedly appearing pro se (acting as his own attorney). That last one is reported to have cost the Salisbury taxpayers somewhere between $60,000 – $100,000.

Don’t expect to read about that in the Daily Times.