Monday, December 29, 2008

THE COST OF LIVING IN FEAR

While the proposed budget for the new Stormwater District is better than the first proposed budget, it is far from acceptable. The new budget reflects expenditures of $902,865 for the first year. Based upon that, the district is asking that a fee rate be set at $3.91 per month for each residence in the county outside of the incorporated LaGrange and Pewee Valley areas. It is disturbing that this budget may pass due to the unjustified fear that has apparently been placed in some of the magistrates by Judge-Executive Murner and his continued desire to increase revenue at any cost.

A review of this budget reflects that $220,000 is included with no specific place or need to spend it. For example, there is $50,000 for grant matching just in case a grant might be offered that must be matched. Another $50,000 is in the fund for “emergency” expenditures even though the county has not experienced sufficient emergencies in the past to justify that. To my knowledge the county has had one environmental spill over the last several years that resulted in an expenditure of county funds. That expenditure did not nearly approach even twenty-five percent of that amount. Yet another $50,000 is in the budget to purchase land (private property) adjacent to streams so the county can control the vegetation along the streams. It should be noted that it cannot be found anywhere that either the Federal or State Government has asked them to do this. Quite simply, I can envision the county buying land from a developer that is not suitable for housing during the process of a subdivision approval. Then the county has to maintain the property and once again, the county should not be in the real estate business. Finally, then there is another $60,0000 for “unprogrammed compliance” included in this ridiculous budget. I have not heard a good explanation of that, likely because one does not exist. This makes a total of $220,000 for which there is no historical data to support the budgeting of this money. It is simply “fluff” that Judge-Executive Murner will try to further use to supplement his General Fund in creative ways.

The county engineer admitted that much of this money is intended to curry favors with state Division of Water. She referred to grant matching funds as “carrots” for the EPA. We should just be concerned with obeying the law – not toadying up to someone at the taxpayers’ expense. Judge-Executive Murner is also concerned with currying favors with the Division of Water to once again help his developer friends and supporters, who need the Department of Water to lift restrictions off of sewer treatment plants here in the county for more construction to be allowed. The same people who oversee Stormwater Management at the Division of Water also oversee sewer treatment, so using your money to “toady” up to them simply helps Judge-Executive Murner once again pay back the developers at your expense.

Next, we have the $364,000 that is included in the budget for satisfying requirements of the NPDES permit. Of that $92,000 is directly related to construction, specifically construction sites of more than one acre in total. All of this money should be collected from the developers –they should just be told that it is "Federally Mandated" as Judge-Executive Murner has told the other residents of the county. The budget even calls for the county taxpayers to pay for the cost of training the developers for compliance with the Stormwater provisions. This is inexcusable. When is Murner going to quit repaying the developers at the taxpayer’s expense? This is beginning to smell like Illinois.

These expenditures clearly reflect that $312,000 could be removed from this budget. That represents over 33% of the proposed budget. That would translate to a reduction in the proposed fee to a level under $2.75 per month. I am sure that this is not nearly all that could be cut from this budget and still allow enough to comply with the Division of Water and EPA requirements. As a matter of fact a review of this budget reflects that there is an allowance for 687 hrs to be charged to the county engineer’s office at a cost of $80 to $120 per hour. Using an average of $100 per hour this would mean that $68,700 would be used to pay expenses of the county engineer. Further, there is an allowance in the budget for one third of the county engineer’s salary. This amounts to even more general fund relief.

I heard Magistrate Diebel say that this budget is “bare bones.” I would hate too see what he considers a fat budget. It is clear that this is not a bare bones budget. Nor is the responsibility for the issue placed entirely where it should be.

This budget is nothing more than a ruse to put more money in the hands of the present administration to spend elsewhere. I believe that if this budget passes in its present form, it will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back for voters – especially when they are informed of the “fluff.”

Judge-Executive Murner has done an excellent job of placing fear into the people regarding the possibility of severe fines that could be levied against the county if this budget were not passed. His efforts appear to have worked with many of the magistrates as I have also heard them express fear of the Division of Water. If fear bothers the magistrates so much, then they should be concerned about the upcoming elections because I will certainly insure that the voters are made aware of each vote that each one of them has cast to increase fees and taxes during this administration. For many of them, that list is becoming very, very long. My bet is that the magistrates have more to fear from the voters than they do Judge-Executive Murner or the Division of Water. I believe that the magistrates will be under more scrutiny in 2010 elections than at any time during the last thirty years.

Monday, December 15, 2008

DO YOU WANT AN AIRPORT


Over the last two years, Magistrate Greenwell HAS VOTED FOR EVERY TAX AND FEE INCREASE brought before the Fiscal Court. These include increased property taxes, insurance premium taxes, stormwater fees, telephone taxes, sewer rate increases, garbage collection fees, etc. Is Magistrate Greenwell oblivious to the plight of taxpayers under these stressful economic conditions? The answer to that question seems painfully clear.

Magistrate Greenwell has consistently voted in agreement with Judge-Executive Murner on issues before the Fiscal Court. Is this a record of independent thinking or just a blind sheep following his shepherd? I’ll let you be the judge of that.

Magistrate Greenwell has also recently voted to create a Stormwater District Board and also supports new annual fees for every homeowner that will be collected by this board early in 2009. He fails to tell you that very few, if any, of the homeowners in his district are mandated by the Federal EPA for inclusion in this program. Regardless, he still wants every homeowner to pay this fee as another way to increase revenue and provide relief for the general fund to support additional spending.

Regarding the proposed Oldham County Airport, Magistrate Greenwell has TWICE had the opportunity to vote to stop consideration of this project during 2008. On both occasions, he voted in support of continuing work by the Airport Board - even after extremely stiff opposition to the first airport study by the public (and numerous constituents of his). Greenwell clearly continues to support the existence and work of the Airport Board. Just how many studies and how much input from his constituents does Greenwell need to make a decision? It is obvious that Judge-Executive Murner wants the airport, but DO YOU?

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

LAGRANGE MAYOR SUES CITY COUNCIL

LaGrange Mayor Elsie Carter has filed suit in Oldham Circuit Court in an attempt to settle disputes between her and the City Council. She filed the suit on December 4, 2008 and is represented by Oliver Barber, Attorney at Law. Word is that Jim Burd will represent the City Council. There will be a "special" meeting Wednesday night of the LaGrange City Council to discuss this matter.

It is interesting to note that the Mayor is not using Graham Whatley to represent her although he has supposedly been appointed by her to the position of City Attorney. However, the legality of that appointment is part of the lawsuit.

With all of the flap between the Mayor and the City Council there will surely be some discussion by interested parties regarding candidates to replace Mayor Carter. She has told me that she does intend to run again. Possible candidates who may try to unseat her might include Councilman Jason Taylor, Councilwoman Jean Knight and Kevin Woosley who will be serving on the Oldham County School Board.

Woosley ran against her the last time but was forced to drop out of the race due to a conflict of interest between his current job and running for Mayor. Councilwoman Jean Knight ran as a "write-in" candidate the last time and nearly unseated Mayor Carter. Jason Taylor is a young attorney who likely would be interested in seeking a higher position. He has certainly shown a willingness to take on the Mayor.

What I see happening is some of the possible candidates combining forces to bring about the demise of Mayor Carter's tenure in office. Of course there is a lot of time before the next election but you can bet that some people are already thinking about it. Some never stop thinking about it.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

SPECULATION STARTS EARLY FOR 2010 COUNTY JUDGE RACE

The current county administration is essentially half over which means that people will soon begin to seriously consider running for various offices. Naturally the first office that comes to mind is that of the county judge as it is the focal point of local politics.

The next race promises to produce a crowded field at least for a short period of time. In fact many people may only enter the foray within their own minds. There have been several names mentioned as possibilities and some of those are probably mentioned only to observe the reactions of a few people.

Names I have heard include Jonathan Westbrook, David Voegele, Kevin Eldridge, Scott Davis, Doug Wampler, Stan Clark, and Paula Gish. Everyone is “assuming” that Judge Duane Murner will not run for a second term of office. Indeed, this would be a crowded field and should yield more than an ample amount of lawn ornaments (political yard signs) by election day. This list does not include any of those who might run as democrats or independents.

The obvious slight front-runner will be Kevin Eldridge, as he will likely be supported by Judge Murner and the developers who so heavily funded Murner’s campaign and now appear to control him. After all, Murner has been “grooming” him from day one through his appointment of chairman on the widely touted, though ineffective Vision Council and more recently of the Stormwater District. Previously he was the chairman of the Planning and Zoning Commission. To quote a term once stated to me by a current magistrate, “he has been anointed.” However, his term as chairman of the Planning and Zoning commission undoubtedly has left him with some baggage that he cannot discard as people are beginning to view the excessive development in the county as regressive. Also, the developers have not been doing anything to improve their image lately. On the other hand, they have demonstrated before that they are willing to put their money where their mouth is and we all know that money does talk.

As for Jonathan Westbrook, he probably lost any short-term chance of becoming county judge with his high visibility position as chairman of the Airport Board. His handling of the second public meeting was viewed by many people as abysmal. Also, at this point the idea of an airport has not been popular. So, I would scratch him from any list of prospects for any elective office in the near future.

Then, there is David Voegele. He is the current magistrate for the second district and is in his first term. The plus side for Magistrate Voegele is that he is willing to voice his opinion. However, many people just don’t agree with his opinion. The biggest problem with Voegele is that he sees himself as a person just learning for the first time. He has often made the excuse that this is his first time on the court and that he is “just learning”. I don’t see the people voting for a “trainee” for the county judge position. Finally, let us not forget that he did change from democrat to republican and many people believe that he did that for political purposes and it angers them. Oh well, wasn’t Kevin Eldridge a democrat not so long ago?

Doug Wampler currently works for Oldham Ahead which is a preservationist group. Without question, Wampler stays abreast of what is happening in Oldham County and the website which he maintains for Oldham Ahead is an excellent place to find many articles about current events in Oldham County. While tending to remain neutral on most issues, the site and presumably Wampler do place the blame for some of the county’s problems at the feet of developers. Could Wampler garner the money that is necessary to run for the office of Judge? He would certainly have the support of many members of Oldham Ahead. However, he has not held elective office before – at least not to my knowledge.

Scott Davis is currently the magistrate for the sixth district. In his short time in office he has been aggressive in attempting to represent what he believes to be the beliefs of his constituents and the other residents of Oldham County. In doing this he has obviously alienated other members of the court who have shown a tendency to go with the flow created by the county judge. His fiscal conservativeness and willingness to contain the growth of government seems to have been a novel idea with this administration. Certainly the present administration would not support him. On the other hand he appears to have an extremely loyal group of people who believe in what he is trying to do and would be united in supporting him. Additionally, he is confident and has an extremely high level of energy that could prove to be very valuable in a long campaign. It is almost certain that the electorate will be looking for a fiscal conservative if the economy continues in a downward spiral instead of someone looking to continue spending and then raising taxes. That would be an obvious plus for Davis.

Then there is the outstanding runner, Stan Clark. The problem is that his running experience has been as a “distance” runner. Running for a political office would certainly be a different experience for him. Clark is the county treasurer at the present time and as such, has an excellent grasp on the financial situation of the county. Without question he would be a formidable candidate just based on his inside position. However, running “for” office is very different from running “an” office. He may well be better suited for the office of Deputy Judge where he could run the day to day operations and would prove to be a very valuable asset for the county judge.

The last person on my list is Paula Gish who is the current deputy judge. In addition to her present position, Gish has also been a county magistrate having represented the first district. I have heard many rumors that Gish would be the next county judge. However, in order to be elected to that position she would need the support of the present judge. As I previously stated, I believe that he will throw his support to Kevin Eldridge whom he seems to have been grooming for the position. Without his support Gish would be left to fend for herself. It is doubtful that her successor, Steve Church, would support her as he owes his loyalty to Judge Murner for having nominated and supported him as her replacement. Additionally, it is unlikely that the developers would allow this to happen behind the scenes. Perhaps Judge Murner could sooth her hurt of being spurned by having Eldridge continue her in the position of deputy judge should he be elected. Oh, I forgot; I said that position would be a great fit for Stan Clark.

And now you have the first glimpse of the 2010 race for county judge as seen by this writer. In addition to the race for judge there will certainly be other hotly contested races in the county. There have already been rumors about the race for Property Valuation Administrator. But that topic and others will be left for another day.