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Sunday, December 14, 2014

Letter to the Editor - Tuesday Night's County Council Meeting

Last night at the County Council meeting the new council (minus one confused council member and I'll explain that shortly) and our new County Executive, Bob Culver, voted in the manner for which they were elected.  That was to change how the county has been operating with a "tax and spend" managing style.  

'It would have went smack in the face of the majority of voters to approve this bond especially when you have no idea how much funding will be coming from the state'

- and that the new Governor said it would be wise to be conservative at this point because even he doesn't know how bad of an economic situation we (Marylanders) are in. It seems like we are now in the red to the tune of 900 million to one billion dollars

And yet here we see the Board of Ed and the School Board with their 'Punch and Judy Show', that we've seen so many times before but just with a different school name, try to pin that "if you don't vote for this bond then you hate kids" tag on the new County Executive and Council.  They just don't get it!  Then to top it off, one of the assistant school superintendents, we all know her as one of the Top Purchase Card users for "It's My Turn To Cook", wants to argue facts &  figures with our County Executive.  Mr. Culver was polite enough to invite her to personally discuss her concerns with him, but then again he might just demand an accounting of all those itemized Purchase Card receipts - that everyone seems to have forgotten about.  There will be more coming on this meeting -  but before I go something was pointed out to me that I would like to hear some comments on.  

When the time to vote on the bond issue came up one of our newest council members voted against the bond, thinking he was doing what the crowd wanted instead of thinking things out for himself.  This means he was against borrowing the funds to complete the Bennett Middle School Project.  So why would the BOE, School Board and many members of the audience encourage him to vote in this way?  You see - this is exactly why we need change.

 John Palmer, Delmar, Md

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh Dear John, you have a twisted mind. The one who voted against the bond resolution did so because West Salisbury was not included. Your reason that he was against borrowing the funds to complete Bennett Middle School Project is simply not what opened minded citizens believe. We absolutely know why he didn't support the resolution and if you had paid any attention, you would have heard him state he was against West Salisbury not being included in the resolution. Stop stirring things up. Let's give this new council a chance.

Anonymous said...

Anon: 8:09 is exactly right on!

Anonymous said...

8:09 thank you, because I could not follow a word of this post. He was all over the place being coy and I could not figure out what his point was.

Anonymous said...

To 8:09, it doesn't matter why the one council member said he voted that way. The fact is, as Matt Holloway pointed out, that if you voted against this bond resolution, you were voting not to sell any of the bonds (including the bond to finish construction of BMS). It's a fact that only one council member voted against selling a bond that would finish Bennett Middle School. That person is the only Democrat on the council. He can say he did it for whatever reason, but that's how he voted. That's a fact.

Anonymous said...

Cleary the first few posts are from Board of Ed members. It was clear to me the distinction he was drawing...while voting against it to support the removal of West Salisbury, he was also voting against the funding of Bennett. Just a word to the rabid BOE supporters. Your lame protector was voted out of office, the protector of ALL the taxpayers was voted in. Your robo calls to get parents fired up and the Willey/Elmore worn out speeches don't cut it anymore.

Anonymous said...

To 10:35, you are right. I don't doubt that Davis meant what he said when he explained his vote. But if everyone would have voted "no," then the county would have not sold any of those bonds. The final phase of BMS would not have been completed. That's a fact. A "no" vote, no matter for what reason, was a vote against BMS, dredging, and everything else on that list.

Anonymous said...

10:40am So what. Maybe the county shouldn't borrow any money this year. Question I have is the State going to match the money for BMS that the county is going to borrow this year. Culver stated Hogan told him to hold up on things since state funding could be a problem. How much is the state matching BMS borrowing this year?

Anonymous said...

10:52, state funding to complete BMS has already come through. The W. Salisbury funding from the state would come in a few years. Culver is right when he says we don't know if that funding will be available then or not.

Anonymous said...

11:03am Are you sure of that? State Funding to complete BMS has not come through. State portion still outstanding is close to $9M

Anonymous said...

What I mean is that it's already in the pipeline. The concern with W. Salisbury was not immediate funding, but funding in the years to come.

Anonymous said...

What about the letter of November 18th stating the state's refusal to fund WSE project?

Anonymous said...

If the lone Democrat's reasoning for voting against the latest capital improvement budget - was so that there would be no bonds issued - then I believe he was smart and obviously the most conservative vote on this newly elected County Council

However - that being said - I DO NOT BELIEVE HE VOTED AGAINST THE CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT BUDGET FOR THAT REASON. IMHO - I truly believe that he did not know what he was voting on - period. In wish case - he is in severe need of an education.

Anonymous said...

I want to chime in on this discussion. I do not believe that Wicomico could even afford even the past funding for the newly constructed Bennett High school nor the presently funded BMS project. Where in the hell does the BOE think the money is coming from? My only wish is that our newly elected County Executive would have stricken the entire capital improvements budget and not even gone to the Bond market. That would have been the prudent thing to do. There is simply no jobs structure in this County. In order to pay taxes you have to make money - and the jobs are not here.

Anonymous said...

12:01pm In the "pipeline", not understanding this. The new Administration(Hogan & Company) have to approve it and it has NOT been approved as of today.

Anonymous said...

To 2:59 Poster that said the only democrat was confused and thus voted against the budget.

My only wish is that the LORD would thrown confusion into all of the other county council members. Maybe then, our County taxpayers would have benefited. As it stands right now we are still in debted to the bond holders to the tune of about 10 million, instead of 15 million.

Anonymous said...

It seems as though the ones that want the WES funding might consider donating to the cause. I do not see anyone holding them back. As for me(taxpayer), I would rather be kept out of it.