Thursday night I was traveling through eastern Virginia and picked up a copy of my old hometown paper – the Daily Press.  Low and behold, there was an editorial claiming that the salaries and benefits paid to government employees are OUT OF CONTROL.

Some of you may wonder why this is so significant.  Many of us have known for years that the incessant whining of government workers – that they are overworked and underpaid – is so much hogwash.  However Hampton Roads, the primary market of the Daily Press, is a blood relative of Washington, DC.  There are military bases every few miles; with not only uniformed personnel, but tens of thousands of civilian employees.  Large pockets of non-military federal, state, and local employees also run around numerous bureaucratic hives.  Besides those that DIRECTLY feed at the taxpayer funded trough, there are tens, hundreds, of thousands more who work for government contractors.  Without the taxpayers’ largesse, these nominally private sector employees would be out of work.  Therefore, you may understand why I was surprised to read such an op-ed in THIS PARTICULAR paper.

Here is a copy of the editorial in Thursday’s edition:

At one time, being a public servant included the likely sacrifice of not being paid as well as those in private industry. The calling to public service — and the prospect of job security — offset the sacrifice.

The calling is still there for many. But it abides in the hearts of workers, so it isn’t something economists can measure.

But they can get at the economic sacrifice. And it no longer exists.

Government workers out-earn private sector workers.

That is part of the reason why the state, cities, counties and school boards are agonizing over how to bring their budgets in line with reduced tax revenues. Those budgets bear the pressure of salary scales for government workers that exceed those of the average private-sector worker/taxpayer.

This month, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics released its annual look at compensation by region, by employer, by occupation, by just about any way you want to slice or dice it. Here’s what it shows for Hampton Roads, as of July 2009:

The average full-time state and local government worker in our region earned $23.46 per hour. The average private sector worker made $18.87.

You might pass that off as an artifact of differences in the labor force of the two — that the private sector has, for example, more low-end service jobs. And there’s an element of that. But the BLS handily provides numbers by occupation, so you can line up apples with apples.

And when you look many of them, government workers have the advantage. Take secretaries and administrative assistants. In Hampton Roads, they make an average of $16.86 per hour in government offices, compared to $13.72 in the private sector. In our area, health workers get $29.63, on average, in government jobs and $23.80 in private industry. The one place government workers are at a disadvantage is in the top managerial ranks.

But wages don’t tell the whole story — about compensation, or about why governments are in financial distress.

It’s the benefits. The paid leave. The health insurance. And especially, the pensions.

The BLS estimates that nationally, private industry pays $8.03 per hour in benefits while state and local governments pay $13.65 per hour. Add together pay and benefits on that national scale, and government work earns a 45 percent premium over the private sector.

That helps explain the squeeze, as governments try to balance the promises they have made to workers against taxpayers’ ability and willingness to provide the money to honor those promises.

In Virginia, one of the most expensive of those promises has to do the retirement plan that covers state and local government workers and teachers. Because they don’t have to chip in at all and can retire early and collect for many years, that puts a huge obligation on state and local taxpayers and chews up state and local budgets. In Hampton, for example, it claims $19 million.

It’s difficult to dial back commitments already made, but these terms shouldn’t be granted to new employees. And even current employees could contribute something to their generous pensions.
The state and many school boards are deciding they can’t or won’t pay the full amount due their pension plans next year. That pay-me-later trick balances the budget, but it will bite the taxpayers who’ll have to make it up in the future because the pensions will be paid.

Rather than play budget tricks, state and local governments will get their compensation burden under control only if they use real tools and make real decisions. Stop giving raises that outpace inflation. Trim back health and retirement benefits. And require public workers to pay a fair share.

When the Daily Press argues that it’s time to cut back on government pay and benefits, we know that things have truly gotten out of control.  It’s time to force our elected officials at ALL levels of government to fix this problem NOW; or get new elected officials.

Last night’s “Repeal the Cap Rally”, hosted by outgoing Wicomico County councilman Bill McCain (D) was a rousing success – if you supported keeping the county’s revenue cap in place and opposed increased county budgets.  Approximately 75 citizens came out to express their opinion.  While there were a few of the usual “tax and spend” suspects present, only one spoke up – WET president John Groutt.  His response was mainly to call the rest of us “simplistic” and a bunch of “Tea Partiers”.  (I always get a kick out of leftists who call me simplistic because I don’t support their socialistic policies.)

A Model for Future Councils

While I have agreed with McCain on little during his term on council, and am not sorry to see him leave, he should be commended for last night’s get together.  Granted, it was 3 1/2 years in coming; but this was exactly what the city council needs to do.

Well … not exactly.  The entire council, AND county executive Rick Pollitt, should host such a meeting every quarter.  They could do it from the council chambers.  The council chambers are already wired for PAC-14 broadcast and for Wi-Fi.  Those who couldn’t attend could watch the proceedings live and it could even be arranged for the participants to take call-in questions.  We could even live blog the event, possibly collaborating with other local bloggers.  The costs would be minimal and the potential for increased citizen involvement is immense.

Some may be asking, “What’s the point?  Isn’t this just like public comment at council meetings where a few people come an gripe?”.  No, that’s why I argue that this type of meeting should be a model for future councils.  Here you had an opportunity to actually interact with elected officials and they actually answered questions.  Can you imagine what would happen if Salisbury city councilwoman Louise Smith had to do this?

However, to make this type of meeting a consistent success the presence of Pollitt is necessary.  As I pointed out last night, McCain and his colleagues on council are part time citizen legislators.  It is Pollitt who drafts the budget.  It is Pollitt who proposes almost all legislation.  While some of us may consider it fun to complain to the council, we must no longer allow Pollitt to use the council as a political shield before taking a stand on any issue.

MCCAIN’S TWO MISTAKES

As I noted above, McCain should be commended for hosting this event.  While I frequently disagree with the councilman, I also respect him because he has consistently been willing to stand up and be counted on issues without the need to hedge or straddle the proverbial fence.  However, McCain made two glaring errors that need to be addressed.

Early in the meeting McCain emphasized that he was not calling for a repeal of the county’s revenue cap, NOR HAD HE EVER DONE SO.  This isn’t exactly true.  I have watched McCain, on several occasions, state in council meetings that “something had to be done about the revenue cap”, that “it had to be modified”, or that we needed to look at other options such a changing it to a tax rate cap.  In addition, McCain offered to work towards repeal of the cap in a meeting with the county’s legislative delegation a few years ago.  While I wasn’t at the meeting, several sources have confirmed this.

McCain may argue that the quotes noted above weren’t a call for repeal.  A rose by any other name Bill.  This is the same song and dance performed by McCain’s buddy Rick Pollitt.  Pollitt argues that he wants to “modify the cap” or “change it to a tax rate cap”.  The end result is the same – HIGHER PROPERTY TAXES for Wicomico County taxpayers.

McCain second error was one that really wasn’t his fault.  McCain stated that one solution that already had been implemented by Pollitt was zero based budgeting.  It is true that Pollitt PROMISED zero based budgeting this year (the LAST budget of his term).  However, Pollitt’s definition of zero based budgeting is some kind of Obama / O’Malley version where you only zero out any “extra” expenditures above the baseline.  It’s a far cry from the practice as used in the private sector or in fiscally responsible states like Texas.

 DO WE NEED TO REPEAL THE CAP?

As someone who has always been opposed to the revenue cap, you might think that I believe it should be repealed.  I don’t.  My opposition has always been due to my innate resistance to legislation by initiative.  We have the cap in place.  It has not worked as well as it should, but that is because politicians like McCain and Pollitt simply want to nibble around the edges of the county’s spending in a fervent hope that the citizenry will eventually “see the light” and agree to repeal the cap.

Ultimately, people like Pollitt and McCain have to understand what local resident Ed Nelson eloquently stated:

“The Nelson household has to live within a budget”

The county has to learn that their resources are just as limited as the Nelson family’s (or yours or mine).

Since county politicians couldn’t grasp that concept, we now have the revenue cap.  We need to keep the cap in place until we KNOW that our elected officials will no longer view the citizenry as a money tree to be shaken every time they need to fund a new project or bureaucracy.  As AFP member Matt Trenka puts it:

“If you want to control what the government spends, control what it collects.”

Trenka is right.  Only the federal government can finance operating deficits.  If we control what the county (and state) collect, we can control how much they spend (if not always what they spend it on).  It’s the old, “starve the beast” analogy.  Sorry Rick, you’re the beast.

Rather than consistently strive for efficiency, the Pollitt solution has been one of threatening to cut essential services.  This has been in the hope that enough citizens will become frightened enough to agree to a repeal of the cap.  Judging by Wednesday night’s crowd, they ain’t buying it.  Instead, the consensus seems to be that Pollitt had better sharpen his pencil and quit nibbling around the edges.  There are solutions.  They just aren’t necessarily the one that the “tax and spend” crowd wanted to here:

AN ELECTED SCHOOL BOARD

Bill McCain is the only person I’ve met who is publicly opposed to an elected school board.  He argues that it would “introduce politics” into our educational system.  Not surprisingly, Bill is wrong.  However, you have to respect a guy who always stands up and says what he believes.

If McCain doesn’t believe that politics have already been introduced into the school board, he is far move naive than I would have thought.  It’s also obvious that he’s never read any Aristotle.  Politics is alive and well at the WCBOE.  Whether it’s the slavish acceptance of every nugget coming from the superintendent to the board’s refusal to stand up to the four unions representing almost all of the board’s employees, there’s plenty of politics.  The only difference is that the only folks who don’t have a say down at the board of ed are the people who actually pay the bills.  An elected school board would (at least in part) address that issue.

However, we must be careful for what we wish for.  An elected school board is not a silver bullet that will automatically yield fiscal responsibility over at the WCBOE.  If you look around the country, it is the teachers’ union (and other unions representing school employees) who typically have the greatest say in who is elected to the school board.  They know where their bread is buttered, and that’s where they concentrate their political efforts.

Here in Wicomico County we have a fairly weak (politically) teachers’ union.  My guess is that this would no longer be the case if we had an elected board.  That said, I believe it is a risk worth taking.  An elected board would not have taxing authority.  I would also argue that direct election could not yield a worse result than what has been delivered to us via the local Democrat and Republican central committees.

OPEN UP UNION NEGOTIATIONS

I don’t attend board of ed meetings as often as I should.  However, when I do, I am one of only two or three people there who are not employees of the WCBOE.  One thing that disturbs me about BOE meetings is that so much is closed to the public.  I understand that certain things have to remain closed.  One area that does not have to be closed to the public are the board’s negotiations with their four unions.

Superintendent John Fredericksen and his sycophantic lackeys who make up the majority of the school board have always argued that these meetings have to remain closed to the public.  I couldn’t argue because I had no proof to the contrary.  Now I do.

The Calvert County school system recently opened up their union negotiations to the public.  It would be interesting to see the unions make some of their demands in the cold light of public witness.

PENSION REFORM

The biggest problem facing states and municipalities around the country are out of control pension and retiree health care costs.  Ironically (or should I say SADLY), this is an area that our county executive has failed to discuss with the public.  I can only expect that he’ll wait until the check is due and there is no money in the bank before we see this issue tackled.

HIRE AN INTERNAL AUDITOR

The Wicomico County charter requires that the county council hire an internal auditor.  The council hired one a couple of years ago, but then dismissed her last year.  Speculation as to the why abounds, but it would be imprudent to speculate as to the real reasons.

The charter also states that the internal auditor be a CPA and it also states what that person will be paid.  One reason given as to why we don’t currently have an auditor is that CPA’s can earn more money than what the charter allows this position to be paid.  As I noted above, I have problems with legislation by initiative and this is one reason.

As Mr. Johnny Millier (of VOICE) noted last night, a good county auditor’s office can be worth their weight in gold to the taxpayer.  A well regarded example is the Anne Arundel County Auditor’s office.  Their auditor, Ms. Teresa Sutherland is not only a CPA, but a certified fraud examiner (CFE).  I was unable to confirm her salary before this post went up, but I suspect that she is paid quite a bit more than what Wicomico’s charter allows for.  It should also be noted that the office of the Anne Arundel County Auditor has a staff of eight persons.  Granted, I doubt that anyone could justify that large a staff for this county, but I doubt that only one person could do the job properly without some staff.

Imagine how much money could be saved every year with a good county auditor.  The WCBOE alone could probably yield millions in savings.  Imagine how much could have been saved if we had a good county auditor 10 years ago and they caught the problems at the landfill.  That one item alone would pay for the who office of a county auditor for a bit.

A BUSHEL OF ONE TIME SAVINGS

There are obviously other areas where the public’s tax dollars could be saved; if only our county executive would get off the dime.  Some that were mentioned last night include:

• Eliminate the county executive’s “Public Information Officer”
• Demand that the WCBOE rescind the increase in retiree health benefits instituted last year.
• Verify that all measures cited in the 2002 “Parsons Study” have been implemented.

There are many, many more.  There are also some actions that could be taken which could yield the taxpayers substantial one-time savings and lead to ongoing savings as well.  These include:

• Demand that the WCBOE return most of the excess in their “Rate Stabilization Fund” to the taxpayers.  There is something in the neighborhood of $7 million in that fund.  That’s what they’re using to pay for increased retiree benefits.  Yet, that money is the taxpayers’ – by law and by right.  I don’t recommend taking all of the excess.  That would be imprudent.  However, returning $4 million – $5 million to the county AND eliminating the increased retiree benefits would be prudent and bring the county a substantial one time savings.  Perhaps this could even be used to help fund buying the Sheriff’s deputies into the LEOPS.
• Tighten up how much surplus may be kept by the county’s Liquor Control Board.  The county council determines how much surplus may be kept by the county’s dispensary system.  Why should Wicomico residents have to pay higher taxes, or higher tuition at Wor-Wic community college, when the council can demand that the WCLCB keep less of their surplus and return it to the taxpayers.  Remember, they only ceased flushing dollars down the political toilet last year after a great deal of sunshine was shone on their profligate practices.  Until they can show that they can operate efficiently over a period of time, they need to have a very short leash placed on them.

I realize that many of you will disagree with some of the solutions offered above.  A few of you may even disagree with all of them.  However, I would hope that none of you would disagree with the following:

• Bill McCain, and all of the citizens who attended his forum last night, should be applauded.  If the current council (and their successors) would adopt a plan of holding similar meetings every quarter, they would find that there are solutions to be found for almost any problem they are likely to encounter.
• Waiting until an election year to begin tackling problems only leads to one thing – the problem is never solved.  This lesson is one that needs to be driven home to Rick Pollitt more than anyone.

For other perspectives on last night’s meeting, check out Julie Brewington’s coverage at Right Coast Girl and Michael Swartz’s over at MonoBlogue.

photo courtesy of Jullie Brewington at Right Coast Girl

Junkets to Disneyland.  Junkets to Las Vegas.  Junkets to DisneyWorld.  These are just a few instances of where Wicomico tax dollars go thanks to our infamous Board of Education (WCBOE).

Oddly enough, I don’t believe that junkets such as these are the worst examples of the WCBOE’s travel / entertainment profligacy.  I don’t doubt that many of these trips afford some marginal benefit to our public schools.  Some may even be necessary.  Some examples, such as employees going to Hooters on the taxpayers dime are actually amusing.

No.  What frustrates me most is the attitude shown by superintendent John Fredericksen and his merry little band of bureaucrats towards the taxpayers of Wicomico County that I find most disturbing.  To Fredericksen, et al, we are a giant cash register; nothing more.

Eating out at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.  Fredericksen going out to lunch with county parks director Gary Mackes or county executive Rick Pollitt and then charging it to the taxpayer.  The response is that this is allowed in the private sector.  This is true.  However, the private sector does not take funds from citizens by force.  Those same people in the private sector don’t have lifetime job security or a retirement package like WCBOE employees.

HIDE THE EXPENSE ACCOUNT

What is even more despicable is Fredericksen’s belief that he can hide this information from the public.  Last summer, Wicomico County councilman Joe Holloway requested information on the WCBOE’s travel expenses for the last two years.  Here is Fredericksen’s response.

Note that Fredericksen (in his most obtuse bureaucratic lingo) says that he would love to comply, BUT, before he could “assist our County counterparts”, Fredericksen must explain that it’s going to cost a small fortune to provide the information to Holloway.

Now, that might be a valid concern – EXCEPT …  Fredericksen wasn’t being exactly truthful with Joe Holloway.  Holloway is tighter with the taxpayers’ money than he is his own (and Joe can pinch a penny).  So, after receiving Fredericksen’s response he didn’t push the matter any further.  Until … at a council meeting in the Fall of 2009 the usual suspects from the WCBOE showed up for a budget transfer.  WCBOE comptroller Bruce Ford had a printout of some expense categories.  Holloway asked Ford how difficult it was to get that information.  Ford replied that all you had to do was enter the account code(s) and the time period and VOILA!

Well, maybe VOILA! for Bruce Ford, but if you are a member of the Wicomico County Council Fredericksen will still stonewall you for a month or two.  But, Holloway did finally get a printout.

Now this may seem like much ado about nothing to members of the government class; but us ordinary citizens are stupid enough to actually expect straight answers to straight questions.  Sorry John – OUR BAD!  I assumed that Fredericksen possessed at least average intelligence.  If so, he should have figured out by now that obstructing the public and our elected officials makes a concerned citizen believe that he’s hiding a whole lot more than a few junkets and that he might be playing a little loose with his expense account.  Furthermore, he makes us want to dig HARDER and DEEPER.

JUNKETS

As I noted earlier, some of these trips may be necessary.  I’m sure Fredericksen and his merry little band will insist that every one was ABSOLUTELY VITAL to the education and well being of our children.  I’m reminded of a congressman I used to work for.  Every time closing Ft. Monroe was mentioned he would stand up on his soapbox and insist that “Ft. Monroe is one of the lynchpins of our nation’s defense!”.  Sure it was.  They had some great waterfront property and a band.  The real work of Training and Doctrine Command (headquartered at Ft. Monroe) was actually done other places (like Ft. Leavenworth).  Just as the generals likeD to live on the water, the WCBOE thinks that every junket is necessary.

Perhaps Fredericksen could explain to the taxpayers of Wicomico County what wisdom he gleaned from his little sojourn to San Francisco.  One thing is for sure; he didn’t learn to be honest and straightforward with the people who actually pay his salary (or our elected representatives).  MayBE John learned some more of that bureaucratspeak?  C’mon John – you didn’t even provide copies of all of the receipts for your trip.

I wonder what (now) WCBOE president Mark Thompson learned from his trip to the left coast?  Well, we don’t know exactly what he did (since we don’t have copies of his receipts either), but he must have enjoyed himself.  It’s my understanding that this is his SECOND trip to the wide open west on our dime.  One thing is for sure.  IF they had a seminar on not lying to the press, Thompson must have skipped that one for the beach.  We need only look at how he handled the “Dirty Book” affair.  It would be generous to say that one out of three statements he made on that matter were even close to factually accurate.

Now here’s one a little closer to home.  Your tax dollars paid for three “educrats” to go to St. Michaels and soak up the hospitality of the Harbourtowne Golf Resort.  As with most of these sojourns on the backs of the taxpayers, there’s not a whole lot of detail.  As best as I can de-cipher the receipts, three bureaucrats were supposed to learn how to better negotiate with the WCBOE’S four “bargaining units” (that’s educrat for unions).  Judging by their performance at the negotiating table, the unions should have footed the bill for this one instead of the taxpayer. – Oh wait!  That was part of their contracts as well (bureaucrats must attend seminar on how to suck up to unions while screwing taxpayers; at taxpayer expense of course).

Given that the “conference” was in St. Michaels, they could have driven back and forth.  Yeah, but it was ONLY the taxpayers’ money.

Did Fredericksen, Thompson, and board member Michelle Wright learn anything by attending the Maryland Association of Boards of Education (MABE) conference?  Couldn’t tell you.  Did they learn anything about looking after the taxpayers?  Sorry, I don’t do comedy very well.

There are lots of examples of more travel by lots of different educrats.  You can download the file here (it’s over 4MB).  Check ‘em out.  Remember – this is a small sample of over 5,000 transactions over a two year period.

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TOMORROW – Part II of The Big Field Trip, where we will be discussing the propensity of educrats to let you buy them lunch and dinner whenever possible – particularly when they are in Salisbury.  Just remember one thing – IT’S FOR THE CHILDREN.

Red State has a great piece about Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) (along with Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN)) being the only person to stand up and fight the extension of the Obama PORKULUS.  Bunning deserves our gratitude.

While his colleagues were watching the Olympics or fundraising, it was Bunning who stood firm and kept objecting to attempts by the Senate majority to sleaze through more wasteful spending.  I wonder where his colleague and fellow Kentuckian Mitch McConnell was?

At 10 AM this morning, the Wicomico County Council will meet and hold a public hearing on County Executive Rick Pollitt’s proposal to spend $300,000 per acre on additional parking for the Wicomico Youth and Civic Center.  If they adopt this scheme, they will later come back to borrow additional funds to clear and pave the lot.

The time is now to say NO!

Does the Civic Center need more parking?  Yes.

Do we need to spend this money now?  No.

Pollitt makes an eloquent case for his folly.  The Civic Center needs a additional parking.  The money will come from state, not local, coffers.  He even admits that we will probably be overpaying for the property, but …

Sadly, Pollitt once again shows that he just doesn’t get it.  This is the TAXPAYERS” MONEY.  Yes, we all understand that the funds for purchasing the land will come from a “particular” state program.  However, does Pollitt REALLY want to be held to his own logic?

Remember that state funds pay all of the associated purchase costs. Some say, "It is still our money."

No, it is not. Not unless you bought or sold property in an agriculture district recently. Program Open Space is funded by a state transfer tax paid only by parties so engaged. It is not general taxpayer money. Nor can the money be used for general government purposes. It cannot be used to pay teachers, equip police or pave roads. It can only be used for projects such as the one we’re discussing.

According to Pollitt, we have no “skin in the game” and shouldn’t worry about this.

Well, using Pollitt’s logic:

• Amusement tax monies should only be used to benefit, of with the consent of, those who attend movies, or go to a Shorebirds game.
• The use of room tax funds should be governed by those who stay in hotels or motels in the county.
• Those who rent should not have a say in how property tax dollars are spent.
• Since children seldom pay income tax, should they benefit from the use of county income tax dollars which help to fund public schools?

Ridiculous?  Of course these questions are ridiculous.  They are just as ridiculous as Pollitt’s eloquent, but specious, argument that we shouldn’t care how state tax dollars are being spent because we didn’t pay directly into the fund from which this “grant” comes.

Attend this morning’s meeting.  Speak out against another one or Rick Pollitt’s follies.

Wicomico County Councilman Joe Holloway isn’t very popular with the bureaucrats over at the Wicomico County Board of Education (WCBOE).  He politely asks for information on their spending habits, they attempt to stonewall him, Holloway keeps fighting for the information, the bureaucrats are embarrassed.  At least the taxpayers get to find out how their dollars are being wasted.

Speaking last night at the monthly meeting of the Wicomico chapter of Americans for Prosperity, Holloway gave a brief re-cap of his term on the county council.  Holloway made one thing crystal clear – despite the protestations of people like Wicomico County Executive Rick Pollitt and several members of the county council, Wicomico County doesn’t have a REVENUE PROBLEM.  Wicomico County has a SPENDING PROBLEM.

One piece of evidence for this belief is some spending at the WCBOE recently uncovered by Holloway.  It took months of requests to the board and stonewalling by Superintendent John Fredericksen, but last night Holloway shared just a few examples of where Wicomico tax dollars are going:

• Hooters (that’s right, the bar famous for chicken wings and busty barmaids)
• Ruth’s Chris Steak House (Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity love the place, why shouldn’t we pay for lefty bureaucrats to enjoy it as well)
• Junkets to Las Vegas, including tickets to a Toby Keith concert
• Fager’s Island (another high end restaurant in Ocean City)
• Starbucks (bureaucrats are too special for regular coffee, plus why worry when the taxpayer is footing the bill)

Holloway has requested copies of receipts for these and many other examples of apparent wasteful travel spending by the WCBOE.  In addition, there are left coast junkets by Fredericksen and WCBOE board president Mark Thompson.

It should be remembered that Holloway asked the WCBOE to pay for a budget transfer last year with money out of its travel budget.  The BOE’s response was to take money out of SPECIAL EDUCATION rather than use travel dollars.  It’s obvious where the priorities of the WCBOE are – and they clearly are NOT “FOR THE CHILDREN”.

Holloway also noted that the Daily Times also received copies of the same information in Holloway’s possession.  We can only wait to see if the WCBOE’s pals at the Daily Times ignore the issue or attempt to put some lipstick on this bureaucratic pig. (Remember – WCBOE “Public Information Liaison” Tracey Sahler is the spouse of Daily Times Managing Editor Erick Sahler and recently received a 33% pay increase)

A little background -

Holloway is serving his first term on the council.  During that time, Holloway has been a leader in ferreting out wasteful spending by the county government and the WCBOE.  Sadly, he is usually ignored or ridiculed by both the press and a majority of his council colleagues.

Holloway, along with Councilwoman Stevie Prettyman, has been one of only two members of council to argue for tax relief during this council term.  Holloway has proposed a reduction in the county income tax.  Prettyman has argued for a more robust homestead tax credit for Wicomico homeowners.  Neither proposal could get sufficient support from the other members of council to move forward.

Holloway was one of three council members (along with Prettyman and Councilwoman Gail Bartkovich) to call attention to wasteful practices by the Wicomico County Liquor Control Board (WCLCB).  Sadly, a proposal by Prettyman and Holloway to abolish the WCLCB could not garner sufficient support to move forward.

Appearing last week on FOXNews, former Virginia Governor George Allen outlines how profligacy at the US Postal Service is simply a small example of what we’ll see under ObamaCare.

When you hand over 1/6 of the nation’s economy to a group of people with no accountability (government employees), what else do you expect.  As governor, Allen and his team forced state government to be responsive to taxpayers.  Little wonder many civil servants whined about his administration for years.  Do any of us believe that federal employees will be responsive to our health care needs?

On Tuesday, November 10th, the Wicomico County Council will hold a public hearing on County Executive Rick Pollitt’s proposed budget amendment.  Nominally, this budget amendment is to correct a revenue shortfall caused by a loss of over $6 million in state aid to the county.  In reality, Pollitt’s amendment is designed to force citizens to repeal the revenue cap and will result (within 7 – 19 months) with a tax increase for Wicomico homeowners and businesses.

If you don’t mind paying higher property taxes, you should attend Tuesday’s hearing and say so.  However, if you agree with me that the revenue cap should stay in place then you should go to Tuesday’s hearing and DEMAND that the county council vote this measure down and call on Pollitt to RESTRUCTURE the county government to live within its means.

I THOUGHT YOU WERE AGAINST THE REVENUE CAP?

I am.  Regular readers have heard me say time and again that I am opposed to the revenue cap.  However, I am opposed to the cap on principle.  I do not believe in legislation by initiative (which is what the cap was).  I also believe that we hold elections to elect a county government.  If our representatives do not do a good job (spend too much of OUR money, raise taxes, etc.) then we have the opportunity to replace them.

HOWEVER – We have the cap in place.  Do we wish to repeal that cap knowing that Pollitt has made no effort to restructure county government so that it may function within the terms of that revenue cap?  Repealing the cap now will simply result in giving bureaucrats an excuse to spend more money.

RICK POLLITT’S PLAN TO RAISE YOUR TAXES

County Executive Rick Pollitt has been semi-honest about this issue from the start.  He has always stated that he was opposed to the revenue cap.  I say that he has been “semi-honest” because he also claims that it is not his intent to raise taxes.  That is precisely what he intends to do.  If the cap was repealed tomorrow, the property taxes paid by Wicomico taxpayers would be higher than what they would be under the cap.  Whether Pollitt likes it or not – that is a TAX INCREASE!

Since Pollitt has taken office he has refused to re-structure the county’s government.  Pollitt likes to claim that “he wasn’t elected to ‘dismantle’ Wicomico County government.  No one has asked him to.

When leaders are faced with a fiscal crisis similar to the one currently faced by Pollitt one of the first things they do is go to zero based budgeting.  Pollitt has refused.  He now claims that he’ll be doing this NEXT YEAR.  Sorry Rick, next year is too late.

Under Pollitt’s “leadership” we have seen a “nibbling around the edges” approach to fiscal management.  Cut a little here, trim a little there.  When warned by the county’s contingent to the Maryland General Assembly that FY 2010 would be tough, Pollitt dismissed their call to action.

In a response to questions raised after last year’s legislative breakfast, Pollitt stated:

“At the December 6th (2008) legislative breakfast, a couple of people expressed concerns about the financial management of the County.  Given that other counties in Maryland were instituting cost cutting measures now to ensure a positive outcome for FY2009; I was asked why were were not.

The answer, simply put, is that we have followed the progress of our budget closely and we are confident that today’s conditions do not warrant such a step. …”

In preparing the FY2010 budget, Pollitt refused to take into account the high probability that Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley’s revenue projections were not realistic and that cuts in the state’s aid to counties would be coming.  Pollitt has also refused to demand cost cutting measures by the county’s Board of Education – which receives 53% of every county tax dollar.

OK – Maybe Rick isn’t doing as good a job as we hoped, but how is that a PLAN to raise our taxes?

Quite simply, Pollitt is playing a “fiscal trifecta”.  By using all available reserves and contingencies, not making full pension plan payments, and refusing to restructure the government he is setting the stage for a demand that either the revenue cap must repealed (with the automatic increase in taxes) or the county will face bankruptcy.

To accomplish this, Pollitt is using an tried and true ploy – the POLITICS OF FEAR:

UNLESS THE CAP IS REPEALED – your children won’t be educated.

UNLESS THE CAP IS REPEALED – your kids won’t have any parks to go to.

UNLESS THE CAP IS REPEALED – the ferries won’t run.

UNLESS THE CAP IS REPEALED – our roads will be a minefield of potholes.

UNLESS THE CAP IS REPEALED – prisoners will have to be released from our jail.

UNLESS THE CAP IS REPEALED – Anarchy will reign!

You get the point.

WHAT’S THE SOLUTION?

First, each one of us needs to make a decision:

• Are we willing to pay higher taxes to fund necessary services AND the bureaucratic profligacy of the Wicomico County government and the Board of Education?
• Are their some services that we are willing to do without or see curtailed?

I can’t make your decision for you.  However, here is my solution:

IF the Wicomico County government AND the Board of Education were managed efficiently then I would be willing to pay higher taxes.  HOWEVER, they are not.

This past spring we witnessed the WCBOE increase the taxpayers’ share of providing health care benefits to retirees.  While unemployment is rising, the WCBOE chose to hand out pay raises to many of its employees.  The county chose to furlough employees rather than reduce its workforce. (If the county can afford to give out furlough days, then it can obviously get by with less people on the taxpayers’ payroll)  We have seen the number of paid holidays actually INCREASE under Pollitt’s “leadership”.

Therefore, before I am willing to pay higher taxes I would like to see the following:

1. Before we talk about closing offices 1 – 2 days per week Pollitt could eliminate MOST paid holidays.  No birthdays off with pay.  No pay for Labor Day, Columbus Day, Martin Luther King Day, President’s Day (you get the point).  How much would that save?  While I bear no ill will towards our county employees, they should be happy to have jobs.  If they don’t like working under an efficiently run regime, I am quite confident that many of their unemployed neighbors would be happy to take their places.
2. Demanding more efficiency from department heads.  Recently, half of the county planning department was in court to watch a trial.  Why?  Beats the hell out of me.  If these folks don’t have work to do, why are the taxpayers paying them?  Why did the county fill two building inspector vacancies during the biggest construction downturn in memory?
3. Reducing or eliminating comp time and overtime.
4. Stop taking property off of the tax rolls.

If we have to reduce services, that’s fine.  I realize that every county service has some constituency.  I don’t use the ferries very often.  My father does.  I rarely use the parks.  To the best of my knowledge I’ve never used the services of the Health Department.  However, I do use the library.  Pollitt’s approach of “nibbling around the edges” isn’t designed to fix a fiscal problem as much as it’s designed to get various constituencies in an uproar because their favorite service is being cut.  Every department, every service, requires some level of overhead.  Therefore, we could save more money by simply eliminating some services (or finding other funding sources for them).

That said, some expenses can be cut in almost every department without cutting services.  I have always been interested to know how much money the Wicomico County Public Library pays to underwrite (sponsor) certain programming on SU’s public radio stations.  I’m a fan of WSDL, but that doesn’t mean I want tax money going to it.  While I know it isn’t much, it’s those little bits here and there that not only ad up to real money, but reinforce the notion that EVERY DEPARTMENT must strive to spend the taxpayers’ money wisely.

I’m reminded of Councilman Joe Holloway speaking out against wasteful spending a few years ago.  He used a $23 pen given to him by the county’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism as one example.  What was the response of the Tilghman Times and certain free spenders in county government?  They cried, “Much ado about nothing”.  Of course, they deliberately skipped over Holloway’s arguments for a tax cut and his argument against spending tax dollars to take more land OFF of the tax rolls.

LAST, BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST -

Reform the Wicomico County Board of Education!  Just last week I witnessed the WCBOE refuse to cut their travel budget instead of transferring money from SPECIAL EDUCATION.  The next time John Fredericksen or any board member tells me that “educating our children is their first concern”, I plan on calling that person a liar to his or her face!

The WCBOE and Pollitt claim that they are working to save $29 million over the next four years.  Does anyone really want to bet on that one?  If Pollitt was serious, why hasn’t he been demanding some fiscal sanity from the WCBOE before now?  The answer is a simple one.  He’s claiming to demand it now so that he can get re-elected, repeal the cap, raise taxes, and then keep feeding that bureaucratic beast down the street.

If Pollitt were serious about reforming the WCBOE he would demand most of surplus currently residing in the WCBOE’s “Rate Stabilization Fund”.  It’s reported to be over $5 million.  Applying that money, along with actually making some real changes in county government would cause the county government to finish the year in surplus.  He certainly isn’t hesitating to deplete ALL of the county’s insurance fund surplus.

Pollitt and the bureaucracy need to grasp the fact that they work for the taxpayer, NOT the other way around.

WHAT’S THE BOTTOM LINE?

The council should not adopt Pollitt’s proposal.  They should send it back with a note demanding that he heed Councilwoman Stevie Prettyman’s call to restructure.  Pollitt’s attempt to practice the politics of fear and pit one group against another in an attempt to get the cap repealed and raise taxes is simply too transparent.

If we need to pay higher taxes, fine.  But before we do, I want to know that the tax dollars we are currently paying are being spent as efficiently as possible.  That obviously isn’t the present case.

If we have to pay higher taxes I want those taxes being spent by people who recognize that we are not a bottomless well to be drawn from so that bureaucracy can be perpetuated.

Rep. Frank Kratovil (D-MD1), aka Flip-Flop Frank, surprised the world by voting against the initial stimulus bill.  The man was to be commended.  Until ….

You’ve got it!  Unable to abandon his lefty, O’Malley-acolyte roots Kratovil voted for the final conference report on PORKULUS.  This, in itself, was not surprising.  This type of behavior was something that many of us predicted throughout his campaign.  A true son of MoCo and PG County, Kratovil basically believes that his Eastern Shore constituents are just a bunch of hicks that can be snowed by smiling pretty, shaking a few hands and throwing a few bacon scraps our way.

What really amazed me, was Flip-Flop Frank’s reasoning:

Congressman Kratovil and his Blue Dog Coalition colleagues fought to streamline the final stimulus package so that it focused on critical investments in areas like transportation infrastructure, and rural broadband. Some of the programs that will now receive funding on account of Congressman Kratovil’s efforts are:

• Transportation infrastructure investments to improve roads, bridges, flood control, clean water projects, and other infrastructure projects
• Education infrastructure for school modernization, renovation, and repair
• Grants to states for job training and workforce development
• Critical Investments in rural communities such as broadband services and wastewater projects

This sounds great.  I almost would be IF any of it were true.

Flip-Flop Frank (F3 for short), in Congress for less than six weeks, attained key projects.  Sure he did.  I had no idea that F3 was even on the conference committee.  Way to go Frank!

What did F3 have cut from PORKULUS?

As opposed to the original bill that Congressman Kratovil opposed, the final package no longer includes some of the more egregious discretionary spending such as:

 

• Funding to sod the National Mall
• Funding for smoking cessation activities
• A tax break for movie producers to buy motion picture films
• A polar-ice breaking ship for the Coast Guard. ($88 million)
• Money for the Centers for Disease Control for screening and prevention of STD’s

Of course, ACORN is still getting $1 billion.  Millions are being spent on new cars and yes, golf carts, for civil service class.  And the list goes on.

Great job Frank!  I know that I sleep better at night with you protecting the federal treasury.

Tertium Quids notes that the federal highway trust fund is running on empty (it will run out of money in FY2009), while the earmarks just keep on coming:

…(proving, again, that when earmarks are on the line, partisanship, principles and common sense don’t stand a chance).

And the GOP still can’t figure out why we lost in 2006?