ashe

I you own property in Ashe county, then you do have a say. If you don't then butt out. There are several posters on here that do not own property in Ashe , but keep trashing it.

The problem is that people are comfortable with the status quo. So if they don't know that the county is operating on a deficit, then they see no problem. Watch for the attitude to change when they finally raise the tax rate

And I forgot to mention that Framer is right on the money too about the donations. We never did get any answers to our question about the equipment on the parade vehicle that the Honor Guard Club has. Did our County donate that equipment to them? When was that approved? Who installed it all and where on whose time clock?

Anyone who owns property pays taxes on it and has every reason to complain about the waste. There are a lot of people who own property here but use very few of the County services. And they have every reason to complain about the waste.

Most of those county employees pay taxes too. They have a stake in the wasted spending also.

I have to put myself in a county employees shoes. They see each day more so then some of us how the county wastes money. They see each day how the county hands out money like candy to empty buildings, a lot near the airport, 6 employees at Ashe park. In their eyes for the county commissioners and the county manager to tell them they cant afford to give them a raise is just a slap in the face to them as well it should be. Did I mention the 1 million dollar piece of dirt in front of the court house?

I'm waiting with baited breath to see if the incoming members keep up the frivolous spending patterns adopted by the current mouth breathers. Fins is right, they will have no choice but to raise property tax rates, which will likely be hidden as much as possible in the tax rate adjustment following the revaluation. But they also need to cut out some spending on expensive projects that bring little to the county in return. The airport project, as Underdog has repeatedly pointed out, is a good example.

They also need to stop handing out "favors" in the form of donations to one organization or another. Personally, I think that any organization that asks them for money should be required to lay out their accounting books, bank account statements and any other financial records on hand to demonstrate their need and that they have been fiscally responsible in their spending habits.

As for the employees, I don't begrudge them increases. A lot of folks have trouble making ends meet these days with the rising cost of basic necessities.

King, if you can get a judge to keep that law put on hold on the drivers license fins and I will be able to continue to vote in 4 to 5 counties.

The truth is, you need to be able to vote here if you complain here!

Yepper. And that is the sad truth of it right there.

Unfortunately, most voters don't have a clue what the budget really is. All most care about is their taxes don't go up. Raises for them, or their friends and families that hold county jobs is a bonus, as long as taxes don't increase.

Yes Fins, I know. We have all been saying it for a long time. These Mouth Breathers have been coasting on cruise control (a term I have used here several times to describe it) and people kept reelecting them because they were saying that they wouldn't raise taxes. But they never cut back on the exiting programs, and they never eliminated any programs. There is a lot of unnecessary spending going on and on and on and on. But I really don't feel that the County employees are an unnecessary expense and they do need to be treated fairly by the system and should not be made to suffer through the fault of the mismanaging Mouth Breathers. Another example that I pointed out is the 10 gallon bucket with the one quart per day leak. If you only put in a pint per day, eventually it will run out of whatever is in it. The Mouth Breathers, as painful as it may seem to the residents, need to face the fact that taxes have to be raised even if we are to maintain things where they are. There are past debts to be paid. There is inflation which is inevitable even though the amount of it doesn't remain constant. That is reality. And to minimize the taxes, programs need to be monitored for fraud, waste, duplication of services, unnecessary services etc. We have all said that all along here. And I think that s little s the employees have been given in the last several years, their pay rates should be at the bottom of the list for any cuts.

Agent, understand that I'm not at all suggesting they are over paid or that they don't deserve more. My point is you can't increase spending when you are running a deficit. Check the previous year. I believe one of the budgets had a bigger increase than that.

One more thing that came to light after many on this site asked is who paid for the signs. We found out who did and we found out no one from the county put them up.

Actually the county employees have not gotten raises. Those that have meet the years of service requirements get longevity increases which are designed to keep the experienced personnel and avoid excessive turnover and training expenses.

Other than the longevity increases, the employees did receive a 1% cost of living increase this year, but over in the past 10 years have only received a total of around 6% in cost of living increases. Compare that to the inflation rate of basic goods and services and some of them are not making enough to pay the bills without a second job, and some even have third jobs.

Exactly, dog.

Something else, I'd like to point out, after I went back through that article. Some have claimed that the discussions on this site have no affect on what happens. Well, once again, that's been proven not true. While the sales tax did go get voted through, several myths were debunked here. In the article, the supporters of the tax had to admit that the sales tax couldn't be earmarked for a specific use, even though they originally claimed it was for the hospital. They only admitted that after that fact was disclosed on this site. And you could tell by their answer, that they really did not like having to admit this to be true regarding a sales tax.

Fins (view profile)

I fault the pay increase when they were already running a deficit. The mouth breathers didn't have the balls to raise taxes, or tell people they needed to cut the budget, not grow it.

The first question they ask themselves when making a decision is will the voters approve of this decision and I get reelected, when they should be asking will this decision be the best for Ashe county.

Do you need someone to explain the point to you?

Usually a county will get a jail,library,or some other big price tag item. When it is about to be paid for they jump onto the next project.In Wilkes they finished paying off or were about to get the 15 million library paid for.Went right to building a 18 million jail. Seems they desire debt.The amount of $ being spent in these rural counties are not well spent. Tax dollars you pay in county and lack of services rendered do not equal out. You could live in Charlotte or Raleigh on property tax dollars being collected.

I fault the pay increase when they were already running a deficit. The mouth breathers didn't have the balls to raise taxes, or tell people they needed to cut the budget, not grow it.