Paul Price
Washington County Supervisor Blasts Obscene Pay Raises
"I don't approve of percentage raises. The rich get richer, and the poor never catch up." Paul Price
Washington County Supervisor Paul Price blasted this year's "percentage-based raises" for widening the income gap between county workers and executive paper pushers. In 2007 the already overpaid county executives got obscene pay raises. County Administrator Mark Reeter got a $20,000 raise last year and another $3200 this year while County Attorney Lucy Phillips got $13,000 and another $2800 this year. Working full-time employees got a whopping $8 an hour. Mr. Price calls this "disproportionate" and he is right.
He by the way supported the 2007 increases. Quoting Mr. Price in regards to people like Reeter, "I wouldn't say that I wouldn't want them to get a raise, but we've got to do something about the people who just aren't making ends meet. You've got county employees who work hard and show up, and they just keep getting farther and farther behind." Note that government workers in the region earn much more than private sector workers, so why doesn't this also apply to them? Mr. Price wants a more "fair" plan on pay raises for public workers; "I don't approve of percentage raises. The rich get richer, and the poor never catch up." He wants a new plan in two years; good luck Mr. Price.
The situation is no different in Bristol, Virginia. To quote the Bristol Herald Courier (June 11, 2008), "A third of Bristol's residents need affordable housing, said Mayor Jim Rector, and "public affordable housing is the way to go. In private housing programs, the only goal is profit, while public programs do what is best for residents." Why in the heck don't we ever get jobs that pay a living wage here so they won't need public housing Mr. Mayor? What's wrong with private affordable housing other than those that could afford it are not wanted in most parts of Bristol? Why did Bristol, Virginia vote to give a developer $2.5 million in corporate welfare that produced a single restaurant, but refused to allow another private developer to build affordable housing that demanded no subsidies? And this didn't stop Washington County Supervisors from spending $10 million in corporate welfare for a strip-mall development.
"Fishy Land Deal"
But that isn't all, Washington County, along with the Town of Abingdon, agreed to buy a ballpark, a ballpark that to quote the press, "was conceived as a 40-acre project at less than $25,000 an acre grew to 60 acres at $40,000 an acre..." The combined debt service of about $600,000 for over ten years plus an operational subsidy of tens of thousands (they don't really know) per year. Further; "I would just hope that this board never gets into a situation like this again because we certainly have the cart before the horse. We should've sat down to discuss these details...It was just a mistake, and I think everyone was just anxious to have a sports complex, and we failed to see out far enough in the future to know we need to work details out." Whines Washington County Supervisor Dulcie Mumpower. She oversaw the mass eviction of 50 poor residents from a trailer park to help make way for the same strip mall she voted to spend $10 million tax dollars on. To quote the press, "Supporters of this fishy land deal also built their argument last year around some bogus Little League rule. They suggested, wrongly, that Abingdon teams could not play at a complex outside the town's Little League boundary."
Mr. Price also "conceded that the land developers - Clifton-Stewart - steamrolled the board last year (2007) by telling members to act quickly because a third party was willing to pay more." Estimated cost so far, $6-$8 million and to quote the press, "As the county and town were preparing to leap eyes-wide-shut into this deal, we warned against it...We advised the leaders to slow down and count the costs. To no avail...The county and town rushed into a land purchase without time for debate or dissent, and the chickens are coming home to roost."
Mr. Price also said, "I think we need to settle the millions before we keep spending thousands. We kind of got hit with this a little bit blindsided - all of a sudden somebody's offering $2,000 more an acre, and if we don't get it now, we won't get it...It moved a little too fast ... and I never did see it in writing...We're a long ways from where I thought this was going when it got started." Supervisor Odell Owens (my supervisor) is equally confused: "We need to resolve that before things get even more confusing. If we don't resolve the ownership to both entities' satisfaction, then it's not going to happen."Note that in Washington County the public is barred from addressing the Board of Supervisors without advance permission from Mark Reeter and most business is conducted in back rooms. (So-called "closed session.") Ref. BHC May 23, 25, 2008 and July 12, 2008. Note that as of July Abingdon and Washington County are still bickering over who should control what in that "fishy land deal."
"the discussion becomes meaningless..."
"I think a lot of times that's what extends the meeting. We get into these long discussions before the motion is made, and many times the discussion becomes meaningless, and we tend to beat some of these issues into the ground...I think we're pretty much demonstrating right now why we need this." So says Supervisor Odel Owens of our "confusing" Board of Supervisors. They want to shorten their public meetings that are mostly political show and still bans public input or comment. Since most of the real work is done elsewhere, why not? But now they admit what this website and writer have warned of for years.
On July 22nd they voted (with a hint of sarcasm) to label state funding cuts as "Local Aid to the Commonwealth." Quoting Supervisor Jack McCrady on the funding cuts, "We've been seriously injured and it's not going to be any better next year. The financial stability of some localities, I would say, is in peril because of what happened this last (Virginia) General Assembly session." And according to Supervisor Price, "We've got grants and grants and more grants, and we've got spoiled, and we all knowed reality: one day, some of this money is going to run out and it's coming reality time."
Is that why they voted for an $8 million ball park last year, absurd pay raises, and $10 million for a strip mall? Long discussion? I think doing the public business in public would be a welcome change.
More crime from public office
It's being reported by the Kingsport Times-News (7-22-08) that St. Paul Virginia (Wise County) has joined the long list of Southwest Virginia communities for voter fraud and other crimes. They join Gate City, Appalachia, Bristol, and Buchanan County where the entire board of supervisors was sent to federal prison. In the case of Bristol, a former sheriff committed suicide in his office they claim for embezzlement, others are claiming he was murdered. The case is considered closed. In another voter fraud case, candidates were handing out cigarettes and pork rinds to buy votes.
"Four people have been indicted on felony charges of voter fraud stemming from a town council election in the Southwest Virginia town of St. Paul. The indictments returned by a Wise County grand jury Monday accuse the four of falsely claiming residence at a St. Paul apartment in an effort to influence the election."
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