Summerfield budget story had holes
The following is a Counterpoint:
By Becky Strickland
I do not know whether your Summerfield reporter was distracted or whether she was edited by you, but her article in the June 4 edition of the Guilford Record supposedly covering the 2008-09 budget presentation to the Summerfield Town Council totally missed the mark and is factually incomplete.
While the state of the economy was the main impetus behind a push by me to reduce the proposed property tax rate to 2.5 cents by cutting funding priorities, what Kavita Pillai materially failed to report was my recommendation that the first “cut” be from me; i.e., from governing body expenses.
The budget discussion, which lasted more than three hours, was premised entirely on my and Councilwoman Alicia Flowers’ willingness to relinquish our monthly stipends, and reduce education and publications items (amounting to an estimated $20,000 of governing body expenses in toto) — if other departments/committees would produce similar pro rata cuts from their budget requests in order to reach the $100,000 needed for an additional 1-cent reduction in proposed property taxes.
Ergo, the crux of the entire discussion was that some elected officials were willing to forgo their salaries to help decrease property taxes for Summerfield residents in these dire economic times when gas is almost $4 per gallon, houses are not selling, and lots remain vacant. Flowers’ and my concession, however, was not well received by the majority of the council, who were and are ready to pass the budget as presented that night. The official minutes of the meeting, the audio recording, are all-telling.
Efficient and effective governing starts at the top. In hard times leaders have to be willing to give up something to get something. Nothing is free. If the government provides it, then the taxpayers pay for it.
The citizens whom I represent deserve to know what actually transpired at that meeting and how strongly at least two council members feel about taxing them and spending their money — facts clearly related but which your reporter so conveniently omitted for whatever reason.
If elected officials at any level of government are willing to volunteer their time as opposed to being compensated in order to try to help their citizens with basic needs and bring home buyers into the area, surely that is newsworthy by any journalistic standard. So just what would the News & Record standard be?
The writer is a Summerfield Town Council member.
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