Hey, About That County Budget Tax Trim
While the city council’s recent flash of fiscal responsibility and its predictable propensity for doling out taxpayer largess, coupled with the squabble between county commissioners and school board members over restricted CMS funding, have taken center stage in the latest budget sagas, nearly lost in the shuffle has been the ruse of what county leaders are claiming as a tax-cut budget.
Indeed, while the $1.4 billion behemoth commissioners approved lowers the overall county tax rate by 2.44 cents, the budget also includes not one, but two tax increases for residents living in the wilds of Mecklenburg’s unincorporated area. The first hit comes courtesy of a brand new fire service district tax, which ranges from 5 cents in the so-called extra territorial jurisdictions of Charlotte, Cornelius, Davidson and Huntersville, to 7 cents in Mint Hill.
Then there’s the law enforcement district tax, which bumped from 18.66 cents to 19.37 cents. Combine that with the new fire district tax and it sticks property owners in unincorporated areas with a tax hike of 5.71 cents. Even when the overall and much ballyhooed 2.44-cent cut is dropped in the mix, those property owners are still being hit with a 3.45-cent tax increase.
And let’s put some perspective to that 2.44-cent tax cut, which comes in the wake of a horribly flawed revaluation that saw tax bills skyrocket for a majority of homeowners. There’s a reason the county found itself with upwards of $45 million in allegedly unexpected revenue leading into the budget cycle. It was a blatant money grab that would make a loan shark blush.
Republican Commissioner Bill James voted for the budget, which received unanimous board approval, but he didn’t exactly give a glowing thumbs-up.
“If it were up to me, we’d have a 10-cent tax cut,” James said. “But the reality is, budgets are compromises among individuals about philosophy, viewpoint, how much spending should be or shouldn’t be.”
So where did the spending go?
Close to $4.5 million is embedded in pay hikes for county employees, who are eligible for salary bumps of up to 4.5 percent. Commissioners also are in line to pocket a nice slice of cheddar, with their annual pay package hitting $34,480 ($40,773 for the chairman), to include a technology allowance of $2,900, a travel allowance of $3,528 and an expense allowance of $4,320 ($4,680 for the chairman). The approved budget also allocates $2.1 million to restore the county’s full 5-percent match to employee contributions to 401k accounts.
The library system (with a 5.9-percent funding increase) and Parks and Recreation (with an 8.4-percent funding increase) were big winners, after seeing their budgets cut in prior years. The library system received $25.7 million, up $1.4 million, to include $811,000 to restore Sunday operations at Regional libraries. Parks and Recreation received $27.8 million, up $2.2 million, including $727,000 to develop and operate two new parks and expand a youth employment program from 30 to 45 kids.
About $13 million from the budget is funneled to programs and services that rank in the bottom three priority levels established by the county, including such gems as $138,713 for “citizen involvement outreach,” $251,530 for the always-popular Centralina Council of Governments, and about $2.4 million for indoor and outdoor pools.
Speaking of taking a dive, the county is still shelling out big bucks for the US National Whitewater Center, to the tune of a cool $1 million in this year’s budget. And, hey, good news to keep the boondoggles coming; the budget includes about $4 million for future corporate bribes business investment grants.
Millions more are allocated to programs and services that are completely discretionary. Recall, for example, the C.W. Williams Community Health Center, which had Democrat commissioners in a tizzy and Harold Cogdell on the hot seat when he orchestrated the ouster of Jennifer Roberts as board chairman. Quite the dust-up, which makes it all the more surprising that nearly $400,000 landed virtually unnoticed in the Center’s lap again this budget cycle.
Some other notable doozies:
– $199,000 for the Charlotte Regional Partnership
– $250,000 for the ACC Football Championship
– $15,500 for 100 Black Men of Greater Charlotte
– $50,000 for the Latin American Coalition
– $25,000 for the Caucasian Suburban Association (OK, that’s a completely bogus creation of my imagination, but just sayin’)
– $50,000 for the Urban League of Central Carolinas
– $350,000 for the Arts & Science Council
– $200,000 for the CIAA Basketball Tournament
And the county could only squeeze out a 2.4-cent tax trim after battering homeowners with a cyclone reval? Puhleaze.
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