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CFBG
spokesman makes run for County Commissioner
You all have probably heard
about how arcane financial tools, called derivatives, have brought our
national and world economy to the brink of destruction. Warren Buffett
captured the essence of the problem when he called derivatives
“financial weapons of mass destruction”. At the urging of many of his
friends in the County, long time CFBG spokesman, Jim Folts, is making a run for County Commissioner in
District 7, Seat A. This seat is currently occupied by Steve Hargis.
Jim believes government should listen to YOU, the citizens, and ACT on the serious problems we face. Unfortunately, our national and local governments do not seem to be listening very well. Blount County faces very serious problems that could send your taxes soaring. Yet, the County government does not seem to be listening. The time has come to elect Commissioners who will listen and ACT. Our futures, and those of our children, depend on it. You have told Jim what our priorities should be.
Blount County’s “financial weapons of mass destruction” Did you also know that our County Finance Director, David Bennett, has been playing the financial derivatives game with our hard earned taxpayer money? (Click here for more) Mayor
Cunningham
told the newspapers: “Blount County is fiscally sound and
the management of the county's affairs is second to none". He based his
conclusion on the content of a Standard and Poors report on the
County’s debt. This is the same S&P who rated gave their highest
AAA rating to trillions of dollars of debt, that is now commonly
referred to as “toxic junk”. Is this is a solid base for the Mayor’s
sweeping conclusion? It is as if you were to decide that your household
finances are in great shape because you can still borrow money on your
credit cards.
Perhaps the Mayor has not read the latest County Audit Report. The report says the County’s debt has nearly doubled since 2004, from $123,505,000 to $244,570,000. Adding the interest brings the total to a whopping $479,767,000. (Click here for more) Is
the
Sheriff feeling the taxpayers’ pain?
In the last month or so, we have heard a
great deal from
Mayor Cunningham and Finance Director Bennett about the need to control
County
spending to cope with the severe economic downturn. At the January
Commission
meeting, Peggy Lambert, the self-appointed leader of the county
political
machine, even made good speech about the need for fiscal
responsibility. The
machine-controlled Commission then voted to appoint her to the seat
vacated by
Bob Ramsey. Against
this background, you can imagine our
disappointment when we discovered that, just four days later, Sheriff
Berrong ordered $518,000 worth of brand new cars. To add insult to
injury, the
Sheriff spent nearly $100,000 on three luxury SUVs. (Click here for
more) Cunningham,
Berrong
and
Bennett continue cover-up of 36 missing Sheriff’s vehicles
Mayor
Cunningham,
Sheriff Berrong and Finance
Director Bennett recently launched an all-out effort in the press to
try once
again to cover up the problem of the 36 missing Sheriff’s vehicles. Apparently, they recently did a physical
inventory of the Sheriff’s vehicles, and found the number of vehicles
matched
what was on the county inventory. This does nothing to resolve the
problem of
the 36 vehicles that went missing in fiscal year 2007. (Click here
for more)
How the Road Department Building will cost millions and increase our taxes Harry Grothjahn owner of WBCR thought that this information was important enough that he sent written invitations to Mayor Cunningham, Finance Director Bennett, the Sheriff and all the County Commissioners. WBIR-TV came. We had a good crowd of citizens attend. But none of our county officials were interested. (Click here for more) Consider these facts. (Click here for more) The Tax Freeze for Seniors
was passed by the County Commission. Voting FOR the tax freeze were
Commissioners Ballard, Burchfield, French, Graham, Harrison, Hasty,
Helton, McCulley, Murrell, Pitts Reeves, Samples, and Walker.
Voting AGAINST the freeze were Commissioners Farmer, Hargis, Keeble, Kirby, Lail, Lewis, Melton, Proffitt and Ramsey. |