The Hard Way Out

This has been a painful week in Jefferson County for more than one reason. We are less than one week from a final review of the budget and we are painfully broke. Painfully, painfully broke. I have sat through hours and hours of meetings, while the members of the Budget Committee and the Finance Department have tried to pull a rabbit out of a hat to make this fiscal hole shrink. And it just isn’t happening. At least not without much carnage. I understand the Budget Committee’s commitment to having no property tax increase and why they feel that they cannot, again, go to the citizens after passing a wheel tax increase. But at what point do we just admit that this hole is too deep and wide to be filled with a little of this and a little of that?

I fear that we are at that point of no return. We should all be clear that if they manage to squeak by this year with no property tax increase, next year we will be looking at a significant increase. And make no mistake about it, we will feel the crunch of this budget year. Charities have been eliminated from the budget completely, with the exception of the Boys & Girls Club and the Humane Society and the Chamber of Commerce/EDOC, with all three taking a hit on funding. Gone from the County budget is the contribution to Meals on Wheels and Cherokee Mental Health, and Safe Space, among others. What will this do to their service for Jefferson County? Some require a grant match and without those matching dollars that were previously a part of the County budget, their funding could be at risk. Some County departments are being cut funds for personnel and others are losing vehicles and equipment. The Highway Department is getting cut $100,000 and every department that can cut will lose 3% of their budget. Which is more than a 3% cut because the cost of doing business increases every year, even for government.

The School Board is struggling with what to cut. The DOE is suggesting text books for math and some members of the Board are not comfortable with cutting a line item that will be perceived as taking away from the students. And then there is the problem with funding that line item next year or the next, when text books must be replaced and the funds have been committed to balance the budget. Borrowing from an important line item like text books could leave the DOE budget seriously short next year or the next.

Sometimes there is no other way out than the hard way and this year, an increase in property tax is the hard way out. Some people will be mad and I understand why. We can cut and cut and cut until we bleed to death and we still will not survive without a property tax increase. So we can bleed ourselves today and increase taxes next year. Or we can just do what we all know must eventually be done. With great power comes great responsibility. I don’t believe in going back on a pledge and it is fortunate that only ten sit on the Budget Committee. It may be that it is up to the other eleven to do what is right. Even if it feels wrong.