What’s at stake with our County Government?

There is little doubt that many in Des Moines have had an agenda for years to reduce our 99 sovereign counties to a much smaller number of regional governments. They often use the justification of saving tax money, both local and state. In reality this will simply further remove the individual citizens from their local Government. This is the same plan that has been consuming local schools and forcing consolidation. The result from this has been less local control and spending far more money than before.

State and Federal mandates imposed on local Governments have driven up the cost to the tax payers at an alarming rate. No branch of local government is immune to these mandates, not the sheriff, auditor, treasurer, recorder, or any other office in the court house. While most are totally unfunded, the state partially funds some of them so they have enough skin in the game to claim the need for savings by consolidation.

Van Buren County is at particular risk of this agenda, being one of the poorest counties in the state, combined with our declining population and businesses, maintaining the “status quo”, with allowable growth is particularly painful and adds to our decline.

At the recent budget hearing our County Supervisors reluctantly agreed to have an open conversation with the citizens of Van Buren County on how to deal with our ever increasing budgetary dilemma. It is imperative that the citizens of Van Buren County and our elected officials reach a common understanding as to what level of services are really needed and how to fund them.

It is our goal to compile as many money saving idea’s as possible and schedule an open  meeting with all of our local elected Government officials, to start the dialogue to try to solve our monetary problems locally.

We are soliciting input from everyone and hope for as many concerned citizens as possible to attend the meetings on this issue. We all have a great deal at stake here. If you want lower property taxes, this is your opportunity to accomplish that. If you have a particular local Government service that you think must be maintained, increased, or decreased, this is the venue to voice those concerns.

Click on the heading to this post and feel free to offer your suggestion to the comments at this posting. You may add your suggestions anonymously or include your name and contact information so that we may contact you if necessary to best represent your suggestion. Either way it is at your own discretion.

We urge every citizen of Van Buren County regardless of your political persuasion, to engage their family, friends, and neighbors on these most important issues, around the dinner table, in the coffee shops, and every local event. If we fail to take responsibility for our own local Government now the State will assume more authority over us, and we will have no one to blame but our selves.

Somewhere between freedom and tyranny is.....

The Sweet Spot

THE VOTE PUMP

Supervisors cut 37% from allowable growth

In a startling 3-0 vote Van Buren county supervisors voted to approve a 2.5% pay increase for elected officials. This was almost 37% less than the 4% recommended by the compensation board. When asked “given our decline of population and businesses and the states desire to reduce property taxes, what will be the tipping point from allowable growth to austerity”, board chairman Nixon replied “we are not there yet”.

While individual department budgets have yet to be released the supervisors have been asking department heads to keep increases below 2%. Most have been willing to follow that lead with the exception of the County Conservation who requested a 6% increase. The department that runs the ever profitable “Greif store” was asked to go back and work toward the 2% goal. With negotiations still underway with the “collective” bargaining units the final outcome of the budget is still up in the air. An increase in property taxes seems inevitable.

The good news is we are not in debt and most endowments given to the county are not immediately spent but put in trusts to provide annual cash flow to their desired area’s based on interest earned.