And then we have Beaufort County Schools, wanting the County to raise taxes so they can spend more money next year while they are sitting on over $3 million in their savings account. And that is after they had a 64% increase in local spending in 2010 over what they spent since just 2005. How many of you have 64% more money to spend than you did in 2005?
We repeat. This debate has become absurd. Beaufort County Schools did a great job the last two years of building up its reserves. Dr. Phipps deserves tremendous credit for that.
But what is the point in doing that if you are not going to use your "rainy day fund" when it starts raining?
It is an abomination for the School Board to expect the taxpayers of this county to suffer a tax increase while they sit on that kind of money. Enough is enough. Whining that is..."
With all this said, EyeonDare would like to pose a question: "Why can't our own board of education get itself to the point where it also has a "rainy day fund"? After all, Dare is considered one of the richest counties in North Carolina. Just a thought.
3 comments:
Could someone please enlighten me on the purpose of the NC Powerball lottery. I thought it was for education. I don't understand all the cutbacks for the schools if that is the case. In PA, the lottery benefits senior citizens and all the funds go to that purpose (free transportation on the buses etc during certain times etc.)
In my understanding, the lotto money was "earmarked" for capital programs with the schools. That being said, the General Assembly reserved the right to reallocate funds from the lottery to the general fund.....which they are doing this year. One of the key reasons why the House increased the amount they were planning on sending down to the counties is that many counties used the promise of that lottery money as a source to service the loans taken to build schools. In fact, the money in the final budget is just enough to service that debt so I have read. The money cannot be used for salaries.
Bottom line is that the lottery IS providing funds that could only be replaced by increased taxes for you and me.
One other thing......remember, if it had not been for the federal stimulus funds given to all the states for the past two years (funded by selling T bills to China, etc.)we would have been facing this shortfall in education and all other areas, two years ago. The problem has been there for several years.......we are just dealing with it now.
BTW, Sue Burgess made almost that exact comment.
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