Plenty of money for statist nonsense. Not enough for stuff govt is actually supposed to pay for.
In Charlotte and Raleigh, leaders are trying to raise property taxes in order to finance teacher pay raises. There is NO money available right now to pay for those raises, they tell us.
Yet — thanks to our friend Lady Liberty — we learn that Wake County Schools has created an ”Office of Equity Affairs” with an annual budget of $204,846. (That includes $125,000 worth of salary for an associate superintendent to run the new office.) The educrats are doing this with nary a cry of outrage from the media, the Democrats, or Bill Barber’s mob. They’re too busy feeding us sob stories about mean old Republicans in state government making teachers buy supplies with their own money. I bet $204,846 would buy a heck of a lot of classroom supplies. It might fund a few new classroom positions, or even some pay increases.
We don’t have anything like this “equity” office here in Moore County. There isn’t even one in very race-obsessed Robeson County. So, it can’t be a necessity brought on by a federal or state mandate.
In Moore County, the local media and the school board are constantly moaning about how tight cash is and how the children will suffer as a result. The fact that the school system has been over-budgeted by millions each year — building up to a roughly $12 million surplus — is a rather inconvenient truth for these people.
In Raleigh, we’re being told that there is not enough money to pay for road construction and maintenance needs. NCDOT is trying to bless us all with toll roads. State government is already blessing Mecklenburg County with toll roads managed by a foreign contractor. Meanwhile, we’ve learned that there indeed was enough money in the DOT budget to pay salaries for not-exactly-vital employees of the governor’s office.
Oh, and THIS WHOLE PAGE is STILL being funded with our state tax dollars.
In the real world, when we run low on money, we cut our operating expenses. We define necessities and luxuries — then spend money on the necessities FIRST. In government, they spend whatever they want on whatever they want. Then, when the cash runs low, we get shaken down for more.
We need forensic audits on a lot of these government budgets to find out where the money really and truly is going. Then, we need an emergency appropriation to fund the purchase of new pink slips and extra handcuffs. (I won’t hold my breath waiting.)
Yep, it’s really insulting.
Our government, certainly at the state level, and plenty enough at the local level… has shown itself time and again to be horrible stewards of taxpayer money, and they are always going to clamor for more.
The last thing the state needs is “more” money. They rake in plenty – their problem is they refuse to prioritize. Much of that, I agree with the article, is a lack of sunshine on the books. Transparency and publicity are often good counters to this kind of thing.
It’s absurd and pretty child-like, to waste other people’s money on non-essential wants and then show up at the end of the month claiming you dont have enough cash to provide the “needs” you were supposed to be responsible for. You dont give that person “more” money 🙂
OK’ing more money for these guys is simply approving of their mismanagement.