Guilford and High Point Financial Mismanagement Cost Taxpayers Big Money

Dear Editor,

Well, in a million years I would have never guessed I would say that High Point City Council has managed to make the Democrat controlled Guilford County look like right wing conservatives even though they raised their pay by 50 percent.  HP made them look like amateurs because the council voted to increase their pay by a whopping 88 percent.  That’s just plain obscene and irresponsible.  Unfortunately, it is in keeping with the mismanagement and poor financial decisions HP and Guilford County have made for years when they lie and mislead taxpayers.  Here are some examples

  • Voters rejected a baseball stadium but the HP council built it anyhow.  They said it would cost $35 million.  The final cost: $76 million
  • The HP police station.  Council signed a not-to-exceed contract for $18 million.  Final cost: $27 million
  • The $120 million bonds HP wants to issue.  Final cost will be more than $146 million and, according to a consultant, tax assessments may need to be increased by 10 percent, which will cause higher taxes.
  • Another consultant hired by HP said two new parking garages are needed and will cost $39 million.  Final cost will be more than $47 million.
  • The $2 billion school board bonds the county will issue will actually cost almost $3 billion.
  • New wastewater plant being discussed by Guilford and Randolph counties.  Projected cost $600 million to $700 million.   True cost close to $850 million.
  • The HP council changed the length of their terms from two to four years even though voters rejected this idea.  Councilmembers didn’t care.  Within six months of being elected, it took just five councilmembers to override voters and change term lengths.
  • A few years ago the HP council boasted they had the highest paid city manager in the area, only to fire him a year later and give him a golden parachute.
  • Several years ago HP purchased some properties even though the assistant city manager told the council the city had no plans for the property and didn’t know why they bought them.
  • The HP council tried to use eminent domain to illegally seize private property for developers to use near the baseball stadium.
  • The HP council is paying a consultant $350,000 to see if any women or minorities were unfairly treated when bidding on projects even though no one has cited a single case of discrimination.
  • HP council gave the reparations commission $46,000 to do their work even though they have never given any other city commission group any money.

It must be embarrassing for the HP council to hear a laundry list of their mismanagement and poor financial decisions.   Council should put term limits and their 88 percent pay increase on the November ballot and let voters decide.  HP council should pass this year’s budget without your pay raises.  If voters approve both referendums, HP councilmembers will get their pay raise next year and can change term lengths back to two years just as easily as they did when they changed them to four year terms.

If the HP council believes their decisions are right, prove it by letting taxpayers vote and then live by their decision.  If the HP council doesn’t, it means they don’t care what voters want. It’s only about what they want.

Ken Orms

 

Words From Desmond Tutu

Dear Editor,

In these trying and unsettling times, the following words from Desmond Tutu offer comfort and direction:

 

“We are made to enjoy beautiful sunsets,

to enjoy looking at the billows of the sea and

to be awed by a rose that is covered with dew…

Human beings are actually created for the transcendent,

for the sublime, for the beautiful, for the truthful …

and all of us have the task of trying to make this world 

A better place for all these things.”

 

Bob Kollar

 

 

Stand Up To Saudis

Dear Editor,

The Saudi Arabian dictatorship seems to be gaining more power every week. “Our” government’s ally, Saudi Arabia has re-established diplomatic relations with Iran.

They recently cut oil production, which means an increase in oil prices. And now the Saudi backed LIV Golf is merging with the PGA Tour.

The Biden administration should stand up to this dictatorship instead of allowing them to gain more power and influence.

Chuck Mann

 

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