As the county's budget season draws to a close, OPEN AGENDA (S2 E20) discusses the lack of transparency in the process, questionable spending on capital projects, expansion of government, and the arbitrary means by which employee pay raises are being determined. We explore whether the county's financial future is being mortgaged leading to higher taxes down the road, and question why the County Executive will not allow department heads to meet with the county council so that budgetary needs can be better assessed. It's your money and concerned taxpayers should know how it's being spent. Tune in and be informed.
Open Agenda TV: S2 E20 Ballooning Budgets Likely to Lead to Higher Taxes in the Future
Show Transcript
Disclaimer: The following transcript was auto-generated and may contain spelling or contextual errors.
You're watching Open Agenda. Here's our
host, Joe White.
Welcome to Open Agenda. I'm your host,
Joe White. We're here to cover some of
the county council meetings and the
budget hearings for May 2025. And in
order to talk about some of that, I
brought in Dr. Joe Venosa from Salsbury,
Mike Goldberg from Delmare. Thanks for
coming in, gentlemen. Had no place
better to go today. Well, we uh we talk
about no place better to go. We sent Jim
Atkins over to see the last of the
budget hearings uh last week. So, I want
to bring him in later to actually break
down the budget, but I want to get a
little sense from you guys. I mean, what
are you looking for, Joe, as we get into
these last couple weeks before they even
vote on the budget? Well, I think if
you're looking at it from like, you
know, what I would call regular citizen
perspective, it's what does the budget
do for the people that are working in
the county? What does it do long term to
our fiscal health? And ultimately, are
the priorities that a lot of people
expecting to be filled, are they
actually being fulfilled? Okay.
Sometimes you get at the hearings and
you're just talking numbers and and but
but at the end of the day, it impacts
real people, regular people. If you talk
to a teacher and say like, you know,
what are you getting next year and can
that help you or not? Those are this is
where the budget becomes a real thing.
So, Mike, I mean, a little bit of
perspective with someone who's retired
uh you know, on somewhat of a fixed
income. Do you we we know we're going to
see the biggest budget we've ever had is
they're going to go up every year, but
do you do you feel like having been at
several of the meetings that the that
the priorities are straight so that we
don't price people right out of the
county? Well, you always get heartburn
at budget time because here's a handful
of people deciding how they're going to
spend our tax dollars. Now, are they
going to spend that money for the
benefit of their constituents? um for
the benefit of well employees but to
keep them there. We have to have
employees or are they going to spend
that money so as to further their
political ambitions? Well, I think uh
you know, this is where transparency
comes in because sometimes there's a
hard conversation and and and I think as
we'll find when we sit down with Jim
Atkins later is I I I really believe
we're we're being sold on there's a more
a more rosy picture and um and and
really are are we actually planning for
that next rainy day? Because I think you
would agree, Joe. I mean, rainy day is
probably coming, right? I again I'm
looking at this sitting as a state
employee right now where it's already
pouring and it's probably going to get
worse and so I really think that we're
sleepwalking into some bigger problems
that um are not necessarily politically
popular to address now but real leaders
lead and whether that's an executive or
a council member I think we're going to
sooner rather than later be confronted
with that. It may not be apparent in the
next 5 6 months. Maybe it will, but I
definitely think beyond that that point
we're going to see some stuff. Just some
of the notes I have. I mean, you're
talking another 7.5 million for Sharps
Point, which would bring that up to 10
million in the CIP. The U Sharps Point
dredging. We again, it appears we're way
behind. Um, it's in 4.1
million and that was bonded, not in PGO.
Is that right? So, the recommendation
between what was originally submitted
was that Sharp's Point um would go to I
did not bring my CIP with me, but we
would increase it to $7.5 million and it
would all be PGO because um we did not
feel that we could wait till November
for the cash that we needed the cash
available in July and that's why it's
PGO and that's why some of the things
were also shifted ground um in the
bonding cuz it it's currently in under
this in the CIP
uh as $4.1 million under general
obligation bond and in the stuff that I
provided for you guys on Tuesday, it's
as $7.5 million of PIGO. PGO. And then
there's some PIGO projects that I have
had almost no discussion. Um, and and
PIGO is basically the county funding a
capital project out of fund balance. And
as we covered, Mike, just a few months
ago, we didn't even have the the
financial audit from year 24. So, we
really don't know what our performance
is for fiscal year 25 is it's kind of
closing out, right? Well, there's no way
to plan for the future if you don't have
a financial history.
And there's very little transparency.
Let's face it, you know, the the county
council has more information than we the
public do, but it's really the uh the
county executive who has uh and the
director of finance who who know the
details and I I'm I'm just greatly
distrustful of the whole process. One of
the reasons I'm distrustful of it is
because the the the the budget begins
with the county executive and the county
council, they cannot increase a budget.
All they can do is take away from it.
Now, conversely, if you take a look at
the state or the national levels, uh all
budgets, uh all bills for revenue
originate in the legislative body. Well,
there's there was a couple other issues
that were raised by members of the
county council and and and some that we
raised um and the the uh auditor, the
internal auditor raised that have not
been addressed despite this, which is
the the Pecard audit. So, you know,
we're we're worried a little bit about
spending and and increases and that sort
of thing, but there's been no further
discussion about whether or not the PE
cards, which are like the the debit
cards used by departments, some of which
were used to spend thousands of dollars
on on gift cards. It's interesting, you
know, cuz the joke always, right, is
that, you know, this part of Maryland is
always a few years behind other places.
I can remember when I was in graduate
school in Ohio that they had a series of
scandals where administrators were using
PECards to charge for things that had no
relation to academics. And so we got rid
of them uh because there was really a a
a very flimsy way of accounting for what
was actually being, you know, spent. So
it blows my mind that we we still
actually have them. Do you know one of
the revelations that came out of the
audit was we have twice as many PECards
than we had 2 years ago. So you're, you
know, you're talking about coming from
central Ohio where they eliminated 20
years ago and and in Baltimore County,
they just greatly decreased them. No,
let's let's have more. But is that now
who ultimately makes that call? So
there's supposed to be a policy in the
finance department which runs through
the executive's office. So is it fair to
say that Pam Ol is doubling the amount
or is it the executive? How? It's hard
to say, but the auditor's report
basically said that we should be putting
more controls on these. And whether you
agree with having them at all or not,
there's actually not any more controls,
there's less controls because there's
more of them. So, we actually don't know
how much money is going out because of
these PE cards necessarily. No, I mean
one of the things when I was doing my
review through the the online database
which is uh called open checkbook is you
just see the if you compare prior to
this county executive to this one the
amount of uh local meals paid for uh the
I mean it's it's not four or five times
more. It's like almost none. Mhm. To
that it's very regular to the to the
tune of about $20,000 a year and and
we're talking one one area. Yeah. So,
imagine what it means for these other
areas. Well, if you we're going to talk
about dump trucks later. Yeah. If you
buy a dump truck and you don't know who
paid for it, what it's used for, and who
owns it, which department owns it. Now,
and just to clarify, they haven't
purchased a dump truck with a PC card to
our knowledge. No, no, no. Okay. But
we're also, I mean, and we'll talk about
this later, we're spending upwards of
$10 million to remove soil out of our of
our soil holding, you know, from
dredging the the river because we don't
have the equipment, but we sure do have
two more dump trucks. And as we showed
in some video from Safari at the Quarry,
some of the dump trucks have been used
to set up private Jeep events. So, how
do you have any faith that it's being
used? You you can't have faith. And I
think we have a fundamental problem in
our county charter and we've talked
about this infinitum adnauseium. There
is too much authority that is vested in
a single person and that is the county
executive. We do not really have a
system of checks and balances because
the uh uh the county council they have
very little ability to provide the level
of oversight in a corporation. You're
going to have a strong board of
directors who's going to keep an eye, a
very close eye on the performance of the
chief executive officer and his
subordinates, his or her subordinates.
We don't really have that in Wcomakico
County. And it's u the problems are
going to grow as you know the uh um the
the the loose manner in which the county
is managed. It's only going to get worse
um when when you don't have folks are
going to find out when their when their
tax bill goes up and then and then
they're going to want to know what
happened when we could find out what
happened right now. So, well, uh, let's
bring in Jim Atkins. Joe, you stick
around and we'll we'll sit and talk with
him. So, when we come back, we're going
to bring Jim Atkins in from Mardella who
attends almost every single budget
hearing and uh, county council. We're
going to get a sense of just the
attitude of the county council as they
go inch closer to taking a vote on the
budget. So, stay with us. We'll be right
back. Welcome back to Open Agenda. I'm
your host, Joe White. So, the county is
wrapping up the budget season, but to
talk about some of the details that we
have heard likely will pass through the
budget via the the hearings. Brought in
Dr. Joe Vinosa from Salsbury, Mr. Jim
Atkins from Mardella. Thank you. Thank
you both for coming out. Uh listen, we
all attend a lot of the meetings. We all
don't get to attend all of them, but we
watch on Pack 14. Uh there's been
probably more budget hearings this year
than at least last year that I can tell
you. Uh let's let's start with the
operating budget before we get into the
capital budget. And Jim, I want to start
with you. You were just at the last
budget hearing which was on last
Thursday, the 22nd. Um, what's the
general sense of uh the the the county
council's willingness to pass the
proposed budget that the county
executive proposed back in April?
I think that the the council is really
taking a uh a hard look at some of the
things that have been done in the past
as far as approving funds for projects
when there are not plans, drawings
ready for that project. and just kind of
writing a blank check. Okay. They have
uh have tightened that up a little bit.
I really think and I for good part. The
the one thing that stuck out to me was
the EMS director position. Now, this
isn't the operating budget, but there
was a new position that the county
executive proposed in the operating
budget for fiscal year 26. Yes. and that
was proposed for supposedly going into
SWAT analysis as far as whether or not
the county was going to have a
countywide EMS program to supplement the
volunteer fire companies. Uh to also try
to get some clarification as far as the
Salsbury Fire Department coming out into
the county and servicing the county and
getting that straight. If the council
does not want to see this position, then
our then EMS in the county like and us
looking at that is going to stop. So
this is the next step regardless of
whether we do one in oneonone or chase
or whatever. So at some point in time if
we are going to absorb EMS or start
looking at what that looks like, this is
the next step. The council asked the
executive and the director of
administration if that was a function
that the deputy director of
administration when hired would be able
to do. The executive's office gets a
assistant director of administration,
let them take the lead on that um like
they were going to do before. So I I
don't see any need. you know, she's I
was gonna ask the same thing if the
assistant director of administration
could look at this throw the ball on. Um
yeah, I actually was going to have um
well, no, HR was actually looking to do
a risk manager position as well. Um and
we cut that actually and said we're just
not ready for that yet. They're going to
the assistant director would take on
that as well. So, I think it would be a
good mix. And they both stated that that
was something that that person could do.
So instead of adding a was it 85,000.
Yeah. They got a commitment that it was
a job that the assistant
administrator could do at that pay
level. So So if I'm Joe public and I'm
watching events, my expectation would be
that the next assistant director that
might be hired at some point would have
the qualifications necessary for this
duty as well. Yes. that they would have
fire and EMS background and be able to
to have some type of planning planning
background so you could figure out what
was going where. But more importantly,
you talk about the SWAT analysis and for
anybody who was not aware, the SWAT
analysis took over a year to do and and
the results just came out like last
February
and uh basically it asked it it got the
the volunteer fire departments involved
at least in the the the identifying the
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities,
threats part of a SWAT analysis, but
they they really came up with adding a
ALS and a BLS uh type of EM MT a
paramedic at every fire department in
the county which would ultimately cost
the taxpayers about
$750,000 per year in salaries alone.
Yes. So the the county executive
proposed that we basically put the boss
in place before we even knew if we were
going to be able to spend the money or
we could even hire would be 28
positions. Well, not only that, but
whether or not
the fire departments, volunteer
companies, and Salsbury fire departments
were willing to give up that territory
because that is the the 11 volunteers
and the three paid companies all have
territory which is assigned to them that
they're responsible for. So basically
we're again we're talking about adding
another kind of cumbersome
administrative position without
consulting the actual fire companies and
the people that are actually doing the
work. Well, they did consult them
through the SWAT analysis. However,
ultimately if the county and the
taxpayers are going to pony up another
threequarters of a million dollars each
year in operating expenses, they're
going to want some control
over those those ambulances in the fire
departments. and and growing up in the
Parsonsburg Fire Department, I can tell
you it's just not it's not seen as a as
a as a benefit just to have a a county
administrator come in and start to tell
you what you're going to do with your
ambulances because the fire departments
own the ambulances, not the county. And
that also raises the question of what
would prevent a future executive or
administrator to just move resources
when needed. like what happens if you
have, you know, an EMS person at one of
these smaller volunteer fire companies,
but it's maybe at a in a period where
there's a need for two somewhere else.
Like, who has the authority to move
those? It would have been that
administrator, right? Well, that's
that's so so yeah, if you're if you're
happy with this county executive, fine.
Maybe you're you you like that. But
yeah, you're right. in the future,
somebody who's maybe elected from um
maybe even from an area that doesn't
need two, but they're like, "Well, I got
elected, so I'm going to put two in my
hometown." Well, that's what's kind of
interesting because like these volunteer
fire companies, they are very
independent. They are very territorial
because because there is a history and
and a culture there. So when you have a
kind of top-own government apparatus
come in whether it's the executive or
people in her office say well we're
going to now control sort of where these
positions go perhaps or how much we'll
invest in each company. I mean I look at
that as like kind of a threat. The
biggest problem right now in my opinion
is currently you have these volunteer
fire companies who can't find paramedics
to staff their departments and not
unwarranted. The pay is warranted and
they should be paid, but they're not
being paid what they can make across the
bridge. Right. And when you work a one
on and three off schedule Mhm. It's not
uncommon for the paramedics in this
county to be up in Baltimore and Rundle
County on their three days off from here
to work another job. They're working
another job and they're making a lot of
money. Well, I think one other aspect
that's a challenge especially for some
of the more rural the fire departments
is there's not enough calls to to really
keep the interest. I mean, someone who
gets into being a paramedic wants to
help people and save lives. You don't
really want to sit days on end without
any calls even though you're needed when
you're needed. Yes. You have you have
two levels. You have
the gunho. They want to be busy all day
long.
Paramedics that would work in Hebrron,
Delmare, Futland, Parsonsburg,
Parsonsburg, very, you know, companies
that run a lot of calls. And then you
have the paramedics that are at the end
of their stage of being a paramedic that
like to work in stations that maybe get
one call a day, two calls a day. They
don't want to run all day. They've run
for 20 or 25 years. They they want to
walk now. So, you know, you run into
that that also. Well, so we're talking
about pay and and that and that sort of
thing when it comes to the paramedics,
but also there was a lot of discussion
about the pay increase, not just the
raises, but the cost of living
adjustment, which the county executive
in her budget proposal broke those out
separately. The cost of living would
come in the first pay period in July,
and the the the raise, the actual raise
would start in January, which is mid
midway through the fiscal year. Uh but
part of that was also the the department
head raises which could range anywhere
from zero to 31%. So um prepare a budget
amendment with director and deputy
director at 9%. Yeah. Do we have a
consensus or not? Mhm. Okay. All right.
Thank you. Says no. instead of these
large increases on the department heads
that they would be basically capped at
at a 10% increase. Most of it was around
nine. Mhm. And that the money that was
saved by doing that versus the large
increases would be spread out amongst
the county employees. the the budget for
the raises is not going to be even
across all departments, but at the same
time, there's not an employee valuation
for for performance. That's correct. Are
they really are they only relying on the
Bolton study that they've done most
recently to to find the low, mid, and
high point of every position? I never
really was a fan of the Bolton study to
begin with when it originally came out.
I thought that was how we addressed it.
I didn't think it it met the needs of
the county at all. Well, it seems like
the administration in the county wants
to keep referring back to the Bolton
study and the council keeps wanting to
say the Bolton study is not the way to
do this. That it's, you know, it's a
contradiction. There's different ways to
give people raises. One of the things
that the council did ask the executive
and and the director of finance about
was next year as they get ready to
propose these budgets instead of saying
for an example we want
5%. For each department head to come to
the council and justify
what percent they want for what
employees. And I would really think that
if you're going to have these type of
increases on certain departments, it
would be good maybe even have closed
sessions ahead of time where we meet
with the department heads and they
justify why these particular increases
should occur. You know, absolutely. So,
you know, maybe not a true evaluation,
but maybe a justification about why this
person is going to get 6% and this
person is going to get 3%. Well, this
seems like a really practical solution
to some of these discrepancies is why
not have the department heads come
before the council, not have to go
through the executive and say, "Hey,
listen, as you said, this is what we
need in roads. This is what we need in
it." Um, because that way you're
actually hearing from the people that
are on the ground doing it rather than
trying to get some sort of baseline
aggregate that the executive wants. I'm
going to be honest with you. I mean,
that sounds like a great idea. I see
zero percent chance that this county
executive is gonna allow the department
heads to come speak directly to the
county council. There's no way. I agree,
but I mean I would love to be wrong.
This is not not one of those times where
I would allow it, but in a perfect world
with transparency, it would be I think
something that the public would really
benefit. One example that did happen was
the state's attorney Jamie Dykes did
come before the council and and she's a
constitutionally elected and and Julie a
lot of times will lump her in as a
department head. Yeah. Like the same as
as as others and it's really not not
accurate. But uh she did she brought up
and we covered it in the show a couple
weeks ago the concern that the county
executive had funded uh three of her
open positions for for prosecutors at
the low wage on Bolton. She asked for
them to at least be put at the mid wage
and she had already hired two of those
three people. Are they that flexibility?
Yeah. know they uh that was decided at
the budget meeting that uh Jamie had
asked for was going to be followed and
accepted, you know, to get them back at
the mid-range where she was able to hire
people and that are qualified to do that
job and manage her department. Yeah,
manage her department. Well, this is
good. So, what this means is that the
executive has backtracked on defunding
law enforcement, at least in this
particular instance. It was nice to see
that our state's attorney and she has a
different platform because she's she
can't be hired or fired by the county
executive. She she felt that she could
speak freely. It would be nice to have
more of the department heads to be able
to truly do that. So the the operating
budget is what we just covered. I I want
to take a little break and we come back
I want to talk about the capital
projects both that are going to be
bonded and the ones that are going to be
paid out of fund balance. Uh gentlemen,
stick around for a little bit longer.
Sure. So stay with us. When we come
back, we're going to talk about some of
the capital projects that are likely to
be funded. Stay with us. We'll be right
back.
Welcome back to Open Agenda. I'm your
host Joe White. So still in the studio
with me is Dr. Joe Venosa, Mr. Jim
Atkins. Thank you, gentlemen. And I want
to spend some time talking about capital
budget uh projects specifically. Uh Jim
touched on it earlier and kind of let's
wrap this up a little bit with the
Verizon building because this is the the
topic we covered two weeks ago. There
are no plans. Are no plans. We've spent
some operating money right now to get
plans and and the county council's asked
for plans as late as last December, but
no plans have been produced. Just a not
an arbitrary number, but a number
without line items. Right. Exactly. Or
or what they planning on doing. I mean,
there's been talk about refurbishing an
elevator. There's been talk about adding
another elevator, but there's there's no
plans, drawings, or anything submitted
to the council. The only thing that's
been submitted to the council is the
request for $2.75 million. Not a small
amount. Now, so for the folks out there
at at home and beyond,
the executive office is asking for $2.75
million for ostensibly nothing detailed.
Well, and and and just the building.
Mike Goldberg talked about this a couple
weeks ago. You know, there's a there's a
certain amount of money that you would
ever put on interior improvements and
and and 2.75 million on a building that
you spent a little under four million
for is not the right equation. I mean,
this is somebody used to do this due
diligence work underwriting loans and
that sort of thing. Sure. Um, yeah, it's
it's it's a lot. And that's not even
that's a whole different thing to some
extent. This is essentially give us
$2.75 million with no explanation and
we'll see what we're going to do with
it. let us put the financial let's let's
pass a budget. Yeah. And let's then come
back with a wellthoughtout financial
plan that's going to um tackle this to
the best of our ability. But even to me
more concerning about that is if you go
back and look at the videos from January
of 24 and February of 24, this building
was sold to to our county council uh by
the broker and the executive's office
and the health department office as
basically not turnkey but structurally
ready. Yeah. Um Verizon, we talked about
the 2.7
um you know removing that. I'm assuming
council going to do I assumed council
wanted that that's I was that you were
removing the uh the 2.7 and thus we
won't have the debt service. So that's
what helps also swing the debt service
numbers. It's a two-story building and
and you know for ADA requirements you
have to have an elevator for human
beings to go up and down. But the
building was never purchased with the
intention of moving large pieces of
equipment. It's not like it's a
hospital. We're not moving a gurnie with
a with someone lying in it. So, you
know, it's a lot of money and in a
vacuum, I guess you you you could you
could argue that well, this just needs
to be done. But we've also we're
earmarking money for the library. And
then the library, the shoemaker library
also to go from um PGO to bot. Do we
know the status of the library grant?
I do not. Okay.
I I asked Seth. He says it looks good,
but I just didn't know if there was I I
I think it was on like at the governor's
level to be signed, I think, but I don't
know I don't know the I I forget what he
said exactly, so please don't quote me
on that. Um there is something on the
agenda uh an agenda request for the next
meeting. Um so he could potentially even
be here at the next meeting. All right.
Uh and and then we've already earmarked
money for the civic center renovations.
The civic center marquee, it was on the
CIP as um other civic center restoration
and now it's PGO on the proposed budget,
but then it wasn't in the list of your
changes. Then I missed it. So, so um
it's I believe it's it's PGO close to
$10 million for Sharps Point to to get
to get soil out of there even though
we're getting two brand new dump trucks
to haul that material back and forth. I
think roads is getting those but yeah,
we need that anyway cuz we got to get
that material out of there. They're two
related but not necessarily jointed the
hip concepts. For folks out there, I
mean a capital project, they have a they
have a plan. We call it the CIP. That
document only really is tied to the
budget for the year we're in. It's kind
of a planning document above that. Well,
as the uh as the executive and the
director of finance
identify it, this is is a five-year wish
list, but in year one, it is actually
what's in the book. Yes. Yes. Because as
happened in many projects in this
county, once it gets they ask for a
certain amount of money, once that
project gets started, Yeah. All of a
sudden, the amount of money they ask for
isn't enough. So, you've had got a half
finished project. So, you're forced to
fund the rest of it. It's the Vietnam
War argument. We're already in it. Let's
keep going. Give us more money. Finish
it. Yes. Well, so I mean, talk about the
library. We've already spent $300,000
plus dollars in fiscal year 26 money. we
last year. Yes. To to come up with plans
and that that that grant the seven plus
million dollar grant from the state
still has not been approved. Has not
been signed by the governor and sent
down. And that was asked at the budget
meeting where we stood as a county on on
that. Where did where was it? And the
reply was it's on the governor's desk
waiting for a signature. So the
assumption is that that will happen
imminently. Well, yes, but but it was
also from from from their end, but
instead it was imminent back in
September. That's true. When we need
when we needed, was it 50,000? No, it
was 300,000 $340,000 at that one time.
They need it right away. Mhm. To get
these grants going. Correct. And and now
we're So over the last six, seven
months, we've heard repeatedly that it's
imminent. It's coming. It's just a
matter of being signed. Yes. It's on the
desk waiting to be signed. and the
state's in a budget crunch and but the
library is going to happen and I hope it
does but I I would argue and and this
would be my argument. I think the county
we live in is in a budget crunch. I just
don't think we've realized it and I
think there's so many things we could do
about it. Well, this is what this is
what worries me to to your point is very
few people at this point doubt that
we're in a national economic crisis on
many levels. The state is certainly in
one. I see that as a state employee, but
the way you kind of see the county
operate, it's as if it's a boom time and
that there's no worries about tomorrow.
And that's that's that's the fear is
what are we doing now that we're going
to really pay for? Well, the the the
problem in my belief is that they look
at the savings account of the county.
The county has
approximately 80 $81 million Yeah. It's
in in the surplus. Okay.
In this year's
budget, there is about 20 million of
that being spent. So, at the end of
2016, there will be about 60 $662
million left. Okay? Which we'd all love
to have $62 million,
but Joe's talked about it
before. You've got a water and sewer
project coming through in this county.
Yeah. the sanitary district. Sanitary
district, $62 million is going to be
gone quicker than you can blink an eye
by the time they get the county where
the county needs to be. Mhm. And you
just can't say, "Well, we got all this
money. Let's spend it because it goes
quick." Yeah. There's there's something
else coming down the road. We looked at
the Parsonsburg sewer extension for the
Westside Regional Project. We are
looking at requested for concept and
designs and that will span multiple
years.
additionally funds each fiscal year
budgeted to be used for small sewer
extension projects in areas with failing
septics. So the water sewer master plan
and again what our main goals are coming
in with the sanitary district as it were
is the Salsbury septic elimination
project the where we are already in the
hopper with the Parsonsburg to
Pittsville and then the Westside
regional wastewater systems. The 850 up
front is for that again forward funding.
you know, we're going to go for every
dollar we can in state revolving fund
reimbursement and bay restoration fund
reimbursement, but you do have to
forward fund. So, you're talking about
the SRF application processes, um, the
consulting, the design work, and all
that before you get to construction. If
we back up even just to March, I mean
talking less than three months ago when
our county executive was talking about
breaking our revenue, her director of
finance, Pam Olan, stated income tax,
the piggyback tax, which we're at the
highest level that we can be at, right,
in the state, 3%. Is not uh something
you can count on. Now, I I would kind of
disagree because they're always about 18
months in the rears, but if we're three
months past of when we were going to
break the revenue cap, and you're
talking about spending 20 million of
this uh the fund balance, and they call
that PIGO, that's like a PGO capital
project where we have it's a capital
project, but we're not going to bond it.
We're going to use it out of our savings
account that just just starting to fund
the sanitary district. That's that's
just a drop in the bucket. Well, could
could the uh I don't want to use the
term conspiracy theory because I don't
think that's necessarily the right term,
but but could the real ulterior motive
of the spending habits of the executive
and and people in that uh orbit be that
they really do want to just spend down
what we have in our surplus so that they
get to a point where they almost force
us to vote for busting the revenue cap.
I don't I don't think it's that
sophisticated. I think this is more
fulfilling campaign promises with
someone else writing the check. Well, I
Right. But is one is not one of the
campaign promises from what it seems
like the push to break the revenue cap
and get rid of it. Not from a
conservative platform. Forget
conservative liberal moderate. I'm just
talking about county executive ran on a
conservative platform, right? I mean,
I'm not saying she is one. I'm just
saying that's what she ran on. Five of
our seven county council folks are, you
know, self-identified conservatives. I'm
not saying that they are. Yeah. But I'm
telling you as as if you're a business
owner, if you own a $200 million
business in Wakcomo County, okay, and
you see the outlook from the state and
from the national Mhm. realm. Yeah.
Politics and economy both. Yeah. You
would say, "Hey, listen. If we need
something, we need to do it. But let's
not get rid of all of our eggs out of
the basket. Now is not the type time to
take a big reach, right? because it's so
quick to get into a problem. And you
look at the history of this county just
25 years ago, we had ballooning property
Yeah. property tax assessments. We did
not have a revenue cap then, right? We
got the revenue cap at a time we went
into a recession which caused us to have
furls. Okay. You would say that these
things have been resolved, but now we're
going to self-inflict them. Well, that's
that's what I'm saying. It seems like
we're we're we're being forced to spend
now so that when we are in the next
budget crunch, which I think is coming
sooner rather than later, then you're
going to have this added pressure of,
well, now's the time to get rid of it.
Now, you know, now's the time to invest
in other ways. That that's my concern. A
year from now, our county executive will
be proposing the last budget that she'll
propose before the next election. It
would be highly convenient if we can
mask the budget problems for that much
longer. It will make getting reelected a
whole lot easier. I agree. Yeah. A lot
of our county council has has indicated
that they're moving on to other things,
retiring or moving on to other public
office. This is what scares me with
overly ambitious politicians is because
I wouldn't mortgage my future for today.
But if I'm only worried about getting
elected in the next election cycle, it
might make it a little bit easier to do
that or actually a lot easier. Sure.
Yeah. See, and you have to look at
if as many as five of the seven council
members are looking at possibly moving
on. Mhm.
So, if you look at the fact that you may
have five new council members next time
who have no experience with dealing with
the budget. Mhm. Yeah. What's going to
happen? the first budget under the
next I could tell you what's going to
happen. Um I you know whoever is the
executive is going to run rough shot
over that new council. But even before
you get to that point I think the
elements in our community that really
want to get rid of the revenue cap and
that really want to just you know invest
in their pet projects. They're going to
try to compromise anybody running
whether they're conservative liberal or
not uh to make sure something is passed
in the near future that that gets rid of
that. I if I was looking at my crystal
ball only because our current county
executive has stated on numerous radio
interviews that she's going to run with
a slate of candidates. Yeah. Once you
come in with the next group, it's very
easy just to blame the old group on on
all the woes and because they're not
there, they can't be held accountable
anymore at that point. Sure. Yeah. Um
but the rest of us will be paying the
tax bill. Yeah. You know, absolutely.
Uh, I think it's a great opportunity
that we have the surplus we do. I I
think we should be proud of that. And I
do think the county executive should be
proud of the fact that she's part of of
a county that is in the surplus. I don't
think she's actually given it to us, but
she's there. She's benefiting from it.
She's benefited from it. And look, we
all benefit from it. But I think we
should should nurture this thing really
well to the point that hey, you know, uh
looking at spending $10 million at a
sharps point to move soil that hasn't
been moved in seven years and we're
having to move it quickly and at a high
cost because it needs to be moved now
and not notifying the people at Sharp's
point about it. Well, not no
transparency there. But the conversation
came up the other day about two new dump
trucks being purchased, but we don't
even know what department they were
purchased in. They're call and what
who's going to use them and how often? I
heard you say, you know, who's using
these dump trucks? Well, who's paying
for these dump trucks? Um, how do we are
how I'm sorry. How are we in a position
where we're buying new dump trucks and
we don't actually know how much they
cost and who's using them? Well,
somebody knows how much they cost and
nobody's using them. The public doesn't
know. Yeah. Why is that not at the table
at a council meeting? That's what I want
to know. Right. Thank you very much,
gentlemen. Thanks for watching this
episode of Open Agenda. We'll be back
next week with another new episode.
I know what I'm doing, man.
