Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 4 · column 1 of 3 · from the scan, no model involved
Tough choices ahead
The first draft of the county budget for fiscal 1993-94, presented to the supervisors this week by County Administrator John McCarthy, will come as a shock to some.
The budget’s nearly $750,000 increase, topped off by a 24percent tax hike, is certain to be a shock to a county that has, for the past few years, dodged the seemingly endless tax increases suffered by most of our neighbors to the east.
Some of our good fortune is due to our smaller population and need for fewer services. It can also be partially laid to prudent fiscal management by the county’s officials, both elected and appointed.
However, at least part of the tax increases suffered by some nearby localities can also be laid to an unfortunate tendency to delay, as long as possible, what finally become essential or mandated expenses. Unfortunately, that delay has hearty always meant that the expenditure, when it can no longer be delayed, almost always costs the taxpayers more than it would have had it not been put off.
We understand that elected officials aren’t eager to spend their constituents’ tax money. And that’s the way it should be. Government should be conservative in both its revenue collection and its expenditures.
However, there are also certain services deemed essential to the public welfare; there are other services and programs that the taxpayers, through a variety of means, have indicated that they wish to have supported by their tax dollars.
Several of the increases in the budget certainly appear to be necessary and prudent expenses. Sheriff John Henry Woodward’s request for an additional deputy, for example, would assist his department in providing essential and timely services. County residents should expect to see the costs of law enforcement continue to rise as urban crime pushes further out into the countryside.
The landfill expenses are mandated by state and federal regulations, and will be a necessary expense for years to come, even if the landfill closes. Taxpayers should also expect continuing increases in this area, as more stringent regulations and their associated costs drive the price of garbage disposal ever higher.
We don’t mean to sound the chorus of gloom and doom. But we think that the supervisors should carefully weigh current costs against the costs of postponing. Funding some of these projects now, and biting the tax bullet which that involves, may be the more prudent course for the long term.
95.2%