During the called meeting of the County Legislative Body this morning it was stated by the Finance Director that if the county entered into the proposed loan for up to four million dollars it would in no way cause a need to increase or create any new taxes.
She explained, in response to a question by Commissioner Pope, that when Commissioner Greene was on the Commission he set up the bonds so they could be paid off early not realizing that there was a penalty for paying them off early. Having watched Commissioner Greene at work I find it very odd that would have been over looked as he was most through in financial matters. The Director went on to explain that the "excess" money used to pay off the bonds was going into the general fund and that excess could be used to pay for the new loans. No explanation was given as to the meaning of "excess funds".
Here's my problem with the Finance Director's explanation. First of all I am in full support of putting a wastewater treatment system out at the interstate, I have been for over ten years. There is no separate income for the debt service and since the amount that was apparently designated for debt service has been going into the general fund taking that money out of general funds would now mean taking it from other expenses since the county has run a deficit of over a million dollars a year for the past several years. Let me try and make an example of the situation. If you have twenty dollars in income and spend five dollars on your credit card debt that leaves you with fifteen dollars to spend somewhere else. Now you decide to buy a car and you have to pay ten dollars on it each month. So now you are required to pay five dollars on your credit card and ten dollars on your car debt which leaves you with only five dollars for everything else. Each time there is a new obligation created there is taken away an equal amount from general purchases.
Now one other question that I need some help in understanding. The loan itself. At a budget meeting I asked Mr. McAnulty what would be the cost of the 4 million bond issue. He stated the specifics for a total administrative cost of $48,000.00.
At the end of that meeting that was the agreement. Then came the Full Commission Meeting and the proposal had been withdrawn by the County Executive. No explanation was given at the time. It was later learned that Steve Walkers a former CTAS employee now working for a finance company had presented the County Executive with a different proposal that would cost the county only $2,000.00 in administrative fees. Is a $2000.00 administrative fee realistic for such a loan? Is this an example of the buddy system once again? Why isn't the written proposal for this loan put on the County website? Why isn't any of the county financials put on the website like was promised more than a year ago? If the cost of the loan is only $2,000.00 I say congratulations to the County Executive and anyone else who worked out this deal but but shame on you for the secrecy that you have it surrounded in.
