Having spent a good deal of my adult
working life in various levels of government, I have
developed an overwhelming interest in the operation of and
administration of government.
While serving on active duty with the United States Coast
Guard, I had the opportunity to attend Petty Officer
Leadership Training School. Part of the curriculum dealt
with the Cold War, Communism and how subversive
organizations could infiltrate local government for the
purpose of causing mayhem. That opportunity offered my first
insight as to how local government operates and how
important it is to elect people whose goals closely parallel
my own.
The management or I should say the lack of management that
we have all witnessed these past few years’ screams out for
change. It is obvious that those in authority have no
interest in good government because their every action is
designed for their own reelection. Their interests seem to
be in doing the “popular” thing, not the “right” thing.
I have attended Pension Board meetings as well as
Commissioner Meetings and I’m amazed at the audacity of our
county leaders to ignore good management procedures for the
sake of good publicity. The age old saying, “It is better to
light a single candle than to curse the darkness” rings true
under the Dome. Rather than work to resolve problems, our
leaders spend their time pointing fingers and ducking
responsibility. It is the Blame Game being played stronger
than ever before.
I have personally offered suggestions that would reduce the
county’s debt as well as expenses. The Commissioners seem
interested but take little if any action to implement
workable solutions. A good example is my suggestion to
simplify the procedure for property owner’s to appeal their
new assessments. I suggested that the only procedure
necessary would be for the owner to submit a written
appraisal signed by a state “certified” appraiser. That
appraisal would be immediately accepted with no other
additional effort required on the part of the owner. If the
Assessment Board disagrees with the Certified Appraisal,
they would file an objection with the Certified Appraiser
and have the appraiser justify the values. No further time
off from work or additional expense to the property owner.
The contract given to the county’s appraisal company is in
my opinion absurd. The company was paid to do a professional
appraisal and if there are any errors, they would be paid to
hold hearings to review property owner disputes. So simply
put, they get paid to do the work and if they made mistakes,
they would be paid to correct them! Think about that and how
absolutely ridicules it is. Is the incentive to do the work
correctly the first time or to not worry about it because
there is another payday to correct errors? Commissioner
Urban stood very strong in support of this assessment
process.
Another example of poor management is evident in the
Commissioner’s 2009 budget. The normal year consists of a
payday every two weeks which is 26 pays per year. The first
pay of 2010 falls on a Friday which is a holiday so instead
of paying on Monday, the Commissioners moved the payday
ahead to the last Thursday of the year and into the 2009
budget. That’s approximately $2 millions dollars being
forced into the 2009 budget when in fact it should be paid
out of 2010 budgeted funds. All of the layoffs being
inflicted upon the county employees will not cover the cost
of the extra pay in 2009. A first year business graduate
would not make this blunder but then again, a first year
business graduate is not playing politics with the
taxpayer’s money. My solution to this problem was to simply
return to paying twice a month and for this particular
problem, issue the checks dated the “1st” and they can be
cashed over the weekend or on Monday. If that were done, the
annual salaries would simply be divided by 24 and the extra
payday which occurs every 7 years will be avoided forever.
My interest in serving in the office of County Controller is
made clear by the sample of my observations listed above.
Every flaw I see in county government is correctable if the
elected officials would put the interests of the taxpayers
above self serving politics. The solution is not rocket
science, it is simply good management via common sense!
As an Independent registered voter, I owe no allegiance to
any political party or special interest group. My only
concern is providing effective, transparent and responsible
government.
Wil Toole
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