Letters to the Editor

The Comet welcomes letters to the editor responding to articles and events in the news. They must include the author's name, address and telephone number. The letter writer's name and city/town will appear in the paper - no exceptions. Letters must be 400 words or less in length. Please send your letters to: editor@carrollcountycomet. com; Letters to the Editor, Comet, P.O. Box 26, Flora, IN 46929 or P.O. Box 179, Delphi, IN 46923; or fax 574-967-3384 or 765-564-2010. By submitting a letter or opinion article, the author grants the Comet the right to publish, distribute, archive or use the work in print, electronic, on-line or other format.

Dear Editor:

Thank you for following the Carroll County financial situation. It is important that the public receive information about this, as local decisions affect taxpayers of those communities.

It is also important that citizens know what brought the County to this point and the role local officials played.

Essentially, Carroll County officials made a mistake in balancing the checkbook of the county in 2004. They overstated their General Fund balance by including investments that should not have been listed in the General Fund. To citizens, that equates to adding the available funds in the checking account to a retirement account balance and thinking that was the total available to spend.

This mistake led to a false calculation of available funds, and county officials overdrew their checking account. As a result, the county's General Fund budget for 2008 is under funded by approximately $1.88 million. This means that the money the County is bringing in from property taxes and miscellaneous revenues does not meet the expenditures that are outgoing. In other words, the County's paycheck does not meet its expenses.

The Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF) found the error and is currently playing the role of a consumer credit counselor and financial adviser to the county. The DLGF is advising county officials on what funds are available from "savings accounts" and other options County officials have the ability to use to meet existing expenses. Examples include, but are not limited to, the County's Rainy Day Fund and Riverboat Funds.

The DLGF will continue to work with County officials to advise them on how they can meet current expenses with funds available, but it is important to remember that these are local decisions made by locally elected officials. As such, we encourage citizens to ask questions and learn how their locally-elected officials are managing this process.

Mary Jane Michalak
Director of Communications
Indiana Department of Local Government Finance
 

Urges togetherness and positivity

Upon reading the minutes of last week's Carroll County Council meeting, I have to ask: Did those of you in attendance that night honestly go to the table with a positive frame of mind, intent on working together to find a solution? The reason I ask is because it certainly didn't read as though you did.

It is clear that this county is in need of some viable answers to its current state of affairs. Coming together to fingerpoint, blame and name call is not only a waste of useful energy, but time as well.

Approaching this with negative attitudes will not bring about good, productive results. It's like being in a dark room and searching for the way out. It's a lot easier to find the door if you turn on the light.

Sandra Prendergast's letter of last week, in my opinion brought light to a dark situation. A change of attitude and a positive coming together of this community is a good start at bringing this county back to its feet.

Rita Johnson
Delphi
 

Supports increase in CEDIT

Indiana's long property tax binge is finally coming to an end, and we citizens of Carroll County are feeling the hangover. Recent developments show the gravity of our situation…the loss of one ambulance service and two sheriff's deputies are not insignificant; however, this is the cost of progress. Indiana, up until this year, has derived 33.9% of its revenue from property taxes compared to 26.8% nationally. Why is this a bad thing? Think about it for a moment…property taxes are regressive, meaning they are not based on the ability to pay. The exodus of manufacturing jobs from our state, coupled with the disastrous reassessment process has stretched lower and, especially, middle class Hoosier families to the limits financially. Yes, the time has come for Indiana's property tax addiction to subside.

On the other hand, county and municipal governments are faced with the arduous task of bridging the gap. In the short term, it's time to take a good look at ways to cut spending. Take, for example, Deer Creek Park…it is no longer in business as a campground, it never really did much to begin with. If there are private individuals willing to purchase it and release the county of this financial burden… so be it. In the long term, the only way to bring Carroll County out of the fiscal bind we are in is to spur economic development; this would help in two ways:

1. It would bring much needed jobs closer to home, potentially alleviating the cost of commuting to Lafayette or Logansport. This would also help other local businesses in the fact that if people are not traveling as frequently to these out-of-county cities, they are more likely to support local businesses in their purchases.

2. More jobs in Carroll County would spur people to move here, thereby broadening the tax and consumer base, resulting in more tax revenue…something sorely needed in a county whose population is virtually the same as it was in 1980.

The best way to do this is to bring the County Economic Development Income Tax (CEDIT) rate, currently at .1%, up to the proposed .25%. After doing the math, I discovered that this increase would cost me approximately 98 cents a week. This is a small price to pay for our future.

Finally, an admonition to the elected leaders of Carroll county…if you do increase the CEDIT rate, you must also accept the responsibility of investing this money wisely for the future of all residents; this means that we will not be impressed with more low-wage dairy farm and other agricultural jobs being touted as the fruits of our tax investments. If we are to make true progress, the jobs created must be good wage jobs with a future of growth, otherwise, the CEDIT increase will amount to little more than a Hoosier version of Nero fiddling while Rome burns.

Our future is in our hands, God blesses those who work; time punishes those who bicker and procrastinate. What will our legacy be?

Mike Freeman
Camden
 

Advises county officials

I would like to thank you for the EDC write-up, explaining functions and cost. It just reinforces my belief all the more that it is past time for the government at all levels to disassociate itself from business. There is no way that the expense and taxes that are given will return a positive return for money spent. In other words GET RID of the EDC and all the associated costs and payouts.

At the same time a word of advice to the council and the commissioners - you can't borrow your way out of debt. All you have to do is look at past history of intervals and government to see that it doesn't work.

Suggestion - go back in time when you had a working budget, see what's been added since that time and start cutting what's been added since.

Warren Martin
Bringhurst
 

Tarnished image

I was watching Channel 18 news while fixing dinner March 17 when I noted a fairly long story about Carroll County's money woes. The story first focused on the county home and then on the potential increase in economic development tax. The reporter mentioned a "heated exchange," and the next scene showed an elderly gentleman being verbally attacked by County Commissioner Bill Brown. "You are such a fool!" yelled Brown who continued his diatribe in a loud, heated tone. This same story was also headline news on Channel 18's website later that evening.

My embarrassment at the county's image as seen on local television continued into the next evening when I met some friends from Lafayette for a club meeting. Three different people had seen the news story, could quote Mr. Brown, and asked me what in the world is going on in Carroll County. One of these individuals owns a trucking company; one owns a construction company; and the other owns a landscape business. With this kind of image projected by a county official, none of the three are ready to relocate their businesses in Carroll County!

This is not the first time I have witnessed Mr. Brown yell at people who don't agree with him or who raise questions he would rather not answer. I recall a letter in the Comet not long ago that spoke to the need to show our public officials respect at meetings. Respect goes two ways. Mr. Brown's consistent verbal bullying and abuse appears disrespectful to the citizens of Carroll County. What he forgets is that he is our representative, and as a representative of the people of Carroll County, he does not have the freedom to vent personal venom at public meetings. Like all elected public officials, he is held to a higher standard of behavior.

And what of our county image to those who do not live here? Mr. Brown's words and behavior provided viewers and listeners the worst kind of marketing for Carroll County. No amount of tax increase for economic development can bring business or individuals to live in a county where public officials yell at their constituents!

Judy Berkshire,
Camden
 

Public safety outweighs all else

It has amazed me over the last couple of weeks as to the thought process coming out of the county government. I am all for cutting back, especially the size of government. But question drastic cuts to public safety while letting non-safety issues continue on with minor cuts.

Although this is not the first time that public safety personnel have been scaled back in an Indiana county, it does seem quite an extreme measure. I would think, as a former law enforcement officer, that there might have been other internal cutting that could have been done, even in the jail, prior to this kind of action. Has anyone even considered privatization on some of these services? I'm sure the three displaced deputies would agree with me.

In thinking about the future of this county and how to get over this four-foot speed bump, I agree with what has been said about attracting business and commerce in general. There are three major things businesses and especially people look for when evaluating a new community for a move - schools, parks, and public safety (police and fire, etc.). My feeling is that we are cutting ourselves off at the knees by taking the public safety issue back as far as these cuts take us.

These types of cuts also put us all at risk as citizens. Do not think for a minute that the criminal element does not do their homework on law enforcement like law enforcement does homework on them. They very much do countersurveillance to make sure they can pull off their criminal enterprise. I have seen it firsthand. What do you think the criminals are saying to themselves as they watch our county government at work? (You can almost hear the high-fives.)

It is interesting to me how the board game Monopoly has a parallel to real life. In Monopoly if you get into money problems you sell off some of your hotels, houses or even some of your properties. Watching how "Carroll County Monopoly" is being played is like watching a horror movie. You keep yelling at the screen but the people keep going into the same dark house.

I urge one and all to make sure public safety is a top priority in this county. Be it fire, police or ambulance service.

Dale Seward
 

Down with TLRSD

Oppressed by the TLRSD? Tired of being told you have no rights? Join the FJTC efforts and meet with us at the Yeoman United Methodist Church on Saturday, April 5, at 10 a.m.

All is not lost, we have only just begun to fight!

Terry Dill Jefferson Twp.
Flora