Orange County NC Website
10 <br /> 1 work to reduce spending and borrowing, especially on failed and potentially illegal activities. <br /> 2 Here is the text: <br /> 3 <br /> 4 BOCC Public Hearing <br /> 5 2020 -2021 Budget Proposal <br /> 6 May 12, 2020 <br /> 7 Public Comment <br /> 8 <br /> 9 Orange County has the highest property and sales tax rates in the state. The 2020 — 2021 <br /> 10 operating budget proposal is not an austerity budget—at $273.6 million it continues to increase <br /> 11 spending resulting in a two year increase of$15.0 million dollars. An austerity budget would at <br /> 12 the very least return spending to the 2018 —2019 budget level of$ 258.6 million. This budget <br /> 13 proposal is just more of the same increased spending with some window dressing like the <br /> 14 elimination of employee performance bonuses to make it look like some austerity measures are <br /> 15 being taken. These comments do not even get into the discussion of the capital budget and <br /> 16 borrowings that present great future risk for taxpayers. <br /> 17 <br /> 18 One positive change would be to institute an immediate five year freeze on any spending on <br /> 19 light rail and transit programs. After the massive waste of over$150 million dollars by Orange <br /> 20 County government and GoTriangle there is clearly a need to stop these failing programs. This <br /> 21 action should be followed by ending the County association with GoTriangle for more savings <br /> 22 for the taxpayers of Orange County. This should also lead to the elimination of the Article 43 <br /> 23 Sales Tax adders. <br /> 24 <br /> 25 Another change would be to immediately and permanently cease all funding of programs, <br /> 26 persons, entities and organizations that shield and shelter or aid and abet the massive foreign <br /> 27 criminal enterprise of illegal immigration. Orange County government departments should be <br /> 28 reduced to reflect this change to further reduce cost. Providing tax funds for illegal immigration <br /> 29 quite possibly is illegal under federal and state laws and should never have occurred in the first <br /> 30 place. <br /> 31 <br /> 32 Also, the funds allocated to outside agencies should be cut rather than increased. Charity is the <br /> 33 responsibility of private citizens and organizations, not government. The budget of$ 1.54 <br /> 34 million dollars should, at the very least, be reduced to one half million dollars. The current <br /> 35 approach of making this a percentage of budget only guarantees increased cost every year with <br /> 36 no specifically identified need. <br /> 37 <br /> 38 No where in any of these budget proposals is there any identification of cost reductions through <br /> 39 productivity improvements or the many expensive investments in technology. Costs should be <br /> 40 going down from the benefit of these actions. <br /> 41 <br /> 42 All cost reduction actions should be used to reduce the sales and property tax rates—not to <br /> 43 increase government bloat. <br /> 44 <br /> 45 While there are many other areas of potential reduction such as cancelling the recent half <br /> 46 million dollar transit study and the half million dollar unnecessary climate tax spending, there is <br /> 47 not enough time allocated for detailed review and analysis by private citizens to point out all <br /> 48 these opportunities. Someone in county government needs to start advocating for the <br /> 49 taxpayers and the thousands of citizens and businesses that have been financially damaged by <br /> 50 the Wuhan virus crisis and the bloated Orange County government. <br /> 51 <br />