Status quo - it's not good enough any more

Carroll County taxpayers have been given a number of reasons why the county is in a financial bind. Loss of the inventory tax (which by the way will be first felt this year), EMS (taking on Yeoman and Burlington), highway department (rising fuel costs and outdated equipment), sheriff's department (meth and the need for more officers), fees that have not kept pace with inflation, and a county home that taxpayers subsidize to a tune of nearly half a million dollars a year - just to name a few.

And all of these reasons may be valid, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you spend more than you take in, for whatever the reason, you are eventually going to be in trouble. And for four of the past five years, Carroll County has spent more than it has received in revenue.

It's unrealistic to expect the riverboat gambling money to subsidize that which is lost. The county council has already made an interdepartmental loan from cum bridge for $675,000 and could possibly make another interdepartmental loan from Tax Increment Financing (TIF) for $450,000. If you factor in that the 2008 budget will need to be trimmed by nearly $1 million and approximately 300 flood ravaged homes could be devalued, reducing the amount of property tax coming to the county in 2008, our financial woes will continue.

This morning's county council work session to meet with a representative of the Department of Local Government Finance to develop a plan to reverse poor money management practices is long overdue. We hope every commissioner and department head is in attendance.

From here on out, every government employee must scrutinize expenditures. Is it a need versus a want? These are not just words. This is the brutal reality. If departments don't take care of themselves, county leaders will have to help them make the right decisions.

And taxpayers need to understand that some of the services and expectations of the past, may no longer be realistic.

This county must start living within its means and not set budgets that have no way of being financed.

To do this, it's going to be painful. Some projects may not get off the ground; some entities may have to find alternate funding sources; and some employees may have to find another job. But with a lot of cooperation and teamwork, Carroll County can turn itself around. The finished product will just be learner and hopefully, smarter.