Sep 08 2008
Chowan County- When Financial Reality Attacks
Peter Rascoe had a rough first day on the job. Shortly after taking over as Chowan County manager, he learned that the county couldn’t pay its bills. It had only $723,335 in total cash and investments on hand, had burned its way through a $29 million reserve fund, and faced a $4 million budget shortfall.
The situation has local residents up in arms. Hundreds of citizens attended a heated meeting of the Chowan County Board of Commissioners Aug. 14 to protest leaders’ handling of the crisis. Commissioners voted the same day to cut services and raise taxes, including a 9-cent property tax increase, to help balance the budget. They also voted to put a quarter-cent sales tax referendum on the November ballot.
I don’t even know how to react to this. Obviously, the elected officials who did this ought to be pilloried in front of the courthouse so cabbage and tomatoes can be projectiled in their general direction.
I don’t know what newspaper covers Chowan County, but somebody there was asleep at the printing press.
But as painful as it may be for Chowanites to hear, a great deal of blame has to go to the people who elected these morons and forgot to hold them accountable. Double blame goes to the “Gimme Gimme” crowd who thinks that government is freakin’ Santa Claus and that every day can be Christmas, as long as someone else’s tax money is being used to buy the presents.Â
Unobserved republics don’t remain republics for long, folks. Let that be the moral of this story
