Editor’s note: Following are comments made by commissioner Renée McDermott in response to commissioner Ted Owens’ comments regarding the county’s fiscal year 2011-2012 budget.
Commissioner Owens cited former President Reagan in support of his and commissioner Pack’s fiscal policies. I note that Mr. Reagan’s fiscal policies plunged the country into a series of deficits and national debt that we are still trying to dig out of today. We cannot do that on behalf of Polk County.
The U.S. government lives off debt and spending more than it takes in, and now people are decrying it. And that is what commissioners Owens and Pack are asking for now: spending every cent that’s taken in, and more, drawing down the fund balance. We cannot allow that to be done. We do not want to follow that policy of spending more than we take in, and of borrowing and spending, and borrowing and spending.
In our budget this year, if we adopt the county manager’s budget, there is $1,705,329 that is debt service. Debt service.
Almost 10 percent of our budget goes to pay for past borrowing. The majority of the board of commissioners has worked very hard these last several years to pay down that debt, and we have saved thousands and thousands of taxpayers’ dollars by doing it.
The minority on this board say that we should borrow and borrow and not pay off the debt – that there is no problem there – and we should not save and pay as we go.
But it saves taxpayer dollars when you pay as you go, rather than spending all this money for debt service. $1,705,329 this year alone, which would be a whole lot more if the majority had not been paying down that debt in the last few years. $1,705,329 is about 6.5 cents on your tax rate just for debt service. Almost 10 percent of our budget. That is a shame. We need to get away from that. We need to keep paying down that debt so that we can save the taxpayers’ money. And that cannot be done if we spend every cent we take in, or spend even more.
Commissioner Owens says I said $10 did not amount to much. I never said that. I think people are often surprised that that is all that comes from a 1-cent tax cut. In fact, all together that same 1-cent tax cut amounts to a great deal for the children and other citizens of Polk County.
It means saving the very successful More at Four program for our pre-schoolers; it means carrying on with the comprehensive plan and unified development ordinance, something Polk County citizens have been asking for and working on for years, and much more. Commissioners Owens and Pack are against the work on the unified development ordinance, and want to stop it in its tracks. A great deal would be lost if we did this tax cut.
Polk County has lost thousands and thousands of dollars in sales tax revenue because of the downturn in the economy. Making it up came from big cuts in the budget over the last few years. And we have worked very hard to keep from having any tax increases to make up the deficits that come from losing the sales tax dollars because of the economy, and to avoid any employee or teacher layoffs.
You have got to balance that against the reality of what is happening in the state and the country and our county these days. The economy is not going to come back real soon. It is going to be a while. So we need to take that into consideration in having a sustainable budget. And, I am sorry, I do not believe that the Pack-Owens budget is sustainable.
Mr. Owens argues that it was the Pack/Owens proposal that caused the rollback of the county employees’ insurance deductible from $1,500 to $1,000. Not so. From the outset, I argued for a $1,000 deductible for the employees and against the $1,500 deductible. I think chairman Gasperson and county manager Whitson can attest to that. It was not because of something commissioners Owens and Pack did. It was from the outset.
Mr. Owens criticized the majority for spending “millions” right before the last election.  But what was that for? It was just under $2 million for the new human services building, a new building that even commissioners Pack and Owens acknowledged was desperately needed. Pack and Owens bought land just before the 2008 election that they planned to use for a new human services building, and had sketches drawn up for such a building. How can Mr. Owens now criticize the majority for following up and bringing that new building to completion?
The county manager’s budget is a fair, balanced and sustainable budget. It is the right budget for Polk County.