12:06 pm Reader points finger at commissioners for being part of the problem, not solution
Editor:
There is an old adage that says, “If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.” In December the following commissioners voted to give away over $46,000 of taxpayer money as bonuses without reserve and against the insistent advice from Mayor Humphrey: Buford Peters, Tom Bowers, Bill Armstrong, Sonja Culler, Pat Hicks, Steve Lowrance, Gebe Ritchie, L.C. Tester, Steve Chambers, Russell Kyte, Lawrence Hodge, Joel Street, Richard Winters, Harry Sisk, Jo Ann Blankenship and Ken Arney.
Tom Bowers cited that it was “extra money in the budget” while Mayor Humphrey reminded the commission that not only was there no “extra money in the budget,” but that the county was more than one million dollars over budget last year and will be the same this year.
In the last budget meeting it was discovered that Mayor Humphrey was right! Not only did the county not have “extra money,” instead, it did not have enough money in its budget to pay the commissioners’ and committee members’ salaries for the rest of the fiscal year. This resulted in a shortfall of $25,000 in the county’s funds.
In this month’s commission meeting (January 2012), after the commission was unable to devise a way of finding the $25,000 that they were short, Nancy Brown made a motion to reduce the commissioners’ and committee members’ pay. She suggested that the commissioners take $30 less for the commission meetings and that the committee members take $15 less for the committee meetings for the rest of the fiscal year (next 5 months). The commissioners voted on this with the following commissioners voting against it: Buford Peters, Bill Armstrong, Gebe Ritchie, Steve Chambers, Russell Kyte, Lawrence Hodge, Harry Sisk, Richard “Dickie” Renfro and Ken Arney. The following additional commissioners voted to pass on the vote: L.C. Tester, Jo Ann Blankenship, Charlie Bayless and Joel Street (who at the end of roll call changed his vote to an approval). Since a pass on the vote is not a vote in favor of the reduction in pay, the above commissioners voting resulted in not approving the reduction in pay. It looks like the taxpayers will be forced to make up for the commission’s indiscretion of giving away our money and not having enough to cover the shortage.
Since the commissioners listed above, who did not vote in favor of the pay reduction, were not part of the solution I can only be reminded of the old adage: “If you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem.” To me the actions of these commissioners fit this saying perfectly. If you take note to the list of commissioners who voted to give away the money, you will see that many are the same commissioners who did not vote in favor of correcting the shortage problem by taking the reduction in pay to make up for their mistake.
I urge the residents of Carter County to make a mental note of your commissioners and their actions and inactions when it comes time for the 2014 election. Remember their self-serving actions and how it affects our taxes and a community as a whole. I urge everyone who can vote to go to the polls in 2014 and vote accordingly. Let’s become part of the solution.
Jeffrey Hughis
Elizabethton
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