THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 18, 1995 TAG: 9506150230
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 50 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Long : 120 lines
I was shocked to read in Wednesday's Virginian-Pilot about the armed robbery of a Pizzazz Pizza delivery driver on Monday night, June 5.
It breaks my heart and infuriates me to see this type of crime moving into our hometown.
However, after living here for seven years and bearing witness to the many developmental changes of our northern beaches, this crime was bound to occur.
My gut instinct tells me that crimes of this nature will continue to rise in a town that has so obviously decided to play hardball.
Duck is not a quaint little seaside village anymore.
Property holders have sold out, and the developers have begun pouring the asphalt.
Duck is a shopping mecca; our main street is lined with the offensive glare of back-lit signs advertising shopping centers, reminiscent of a tacky seaside strip.
Our town has been discovered, and we locals have done our best to accommodate the influx of people.
We, like the landowners, have sold out, but only in our attitudes as we have done nothing to stop our town from becoming their town - that congested and crime-ridden place they came here to escape.
It's hardball, folks!
It's all about money; it's about supply and demand; it's about who has the biggest house with the biggest pool. Greed will ruin a small town, and to those small-town dwellers who think they need more, please be careful what you wish for, because you will get it.
And getting it means putting you, the independent shopkeeper, out of business.
It means traffic problems and water shortages and crowds.
Crime follows crowds.
It's that simple.
Lucy P. Power
Southern Shores Advice for Dare County
The North Carolina office of State Planning indicates that Dare County's population is growing by, at most, 4 to 5 percent a year and that the cost of living here is increasing by 2.5 to 3 percent per year.
My comments are based on a comparison between actual county expenditures in 1993-94 and recommended expenditures for 1995-96.
During that period, we will have seen, at most, a 9 percent increase in resident population and a 6 percent increase in the cost of living.
I have used these percentages as barometers for looking at various expenditures in the county government.
I have also evaluated tax collection data in the budget document for Dare County and the other 99 North Carolina counties.
My recommendations and analysis follow:
Leave the ad valorem tax rate at 37 cents but increase the tax collection rate to at least 97 percent. Twenty-five other counties were able to achieve this rate in 1993-94, and Southern Shores has regularly achieved it.
This would yield $15.22 million instead of $16.13 million, leaving a deficit of $911,600 in revenues needed for the proposed '95-96 budget.
Re-negotiate or completely change the county group insurance plans for medical and dental coverage. The proposed 1994-95 cost in the budget for these plans is about $855 higher per employee than actual costs in 1993-94 (a 24.8 percent increase).
In addition, the total number of county employees proposed for 1995-96 is at least 60 more than in 1993-94 (a 12.8 percent increase). The total impact is a 40.8 percent increase in the overall budget, or $681,282.
I recommend that the increase in number of employees be limited to 9 percent to reflect the growth in county population and the growth in group insurance costs be limited to 15 percent for the two-year period.
This would reduce group insurance costs to $2,107,348, a savings of $244,512.
If we also allow for only a 6 percent increase in the wage and other fringe benefits portions of county employees between 1993-94 and the proposed 1995-96 portion of the budget, an additional savings of $691,152 would be realized.
Average wage and salary costs in the county should be managed and should not increase faster than the cost of living.
If these recommendations are followed, $935,700 of savings would be available to offset the $911,600 deficit which results when the ad valorem tax rate is kept at 37 cents and a 97 percent tax collection rate is assumed.
However, my recommendations do not stop here.
The Board of Education's request for funds includes a technology plan that appears to have been put together too quickly and without public input.
The data on expected computer equipment costs seem high and a lot of money can be wasted if the plan is not sound right from the beginning.
I recommend and concur with the League of Women Voters that this plan should be deferred until the 1996-97 budget year to allow more time for its complete development and public review.
While this would save $970,000 in 1995-96, money would be needed in 1996-97, and technology is an important part of our children's education in today's world.
Finally, I have observed unusually high increases in other budget areas as well; in the general fund, they are:
Telephone and postage costs: 14.4 percent
Computer and copier-related equipment costs: 364 percent (220/employees - $800/employee)
Travel costs: 28.6 percent
Equipment-related maintenance: 27.7 percent
Health and Social Services: General fund (30.7 percent); Social Services and Health funds (26.4 percent)
The population has only grown 9 percent, and these increases are puzzling.
Apparently we are doing a poor job of keeping our county residents self-sufficient and healthy.
Professional, contracted and advertising services 62.5 percent higher than 1993-94 ($1.5 million total).
These need to be monitored and controlled to arrest this alarming rate of growth.
There are more than enough ``fat'' areas in the proposed 95-96 ``General Fund'' budget for Dare county and in the related ``Insurance,'' ``Social Services'' and ``Health'' fund budgets to pay for all the services needed by Dare County residents and taxpayers without an ad valorem tax rate increase.
Cheryl Byrd
Robert Byrd
Eugene and Johnette Kennedy
Southern Shores by CNB