Hunter Taylor: County budget trouble could have been completely avoided

To The Daily Sun,

I am writing this as the views of a county citizen, not speaking for the Board of County Commissioners.

In a Dec. 2 letter, Rep. Norman Silber asked “Are you ready for a 37% increase in your county property taxes?” He referred to the increase as “huge” and alleged “severe overreach by the county commissioners.”

The so-called “huge increase” in the 2022 budget would actually have little effect on individual taxpayers of Belknap County. The 2021 average property tax rate is $17.33 per $1,000 in valuation, and of that total only $1.02 per $1,000 is allocated to county taxes. In other words, on a $300,000 property with a total tax obligation of $5,199, only $306 is for county taxes. The county commissioners’ recommended budget would raise that amount by $113.22, for a total county tax of $419.22. Rep. Silber’s “huge” tax increase turns out to be a tiny percentage of the taxpayer’s total property tax bill.

Silber’s strategy is to deflect the criticism that he and fellow delegation members deserve for causing the very problem he describes. The 2021 budget recommended by the commissioners, calling for a $31,961,320 appropriation, would have been the smallest county budget in the state by almost $2 million. It was also recommended that $2 million be taken from the general fund (reserve) to reduce the amount of tax money to be collected. Unfortunately, the delegation not only cut the proposed budget by $1.7 million, but they also depleted the reserve by an additional $1 million over the $2 million recommended by the commissioners. The net effect of this fiscally irresponsible action was to reduce the general fund amount that will be left at the end of this year by $2.7 million, leaving the general fund too depleted to allow for any appropriation for taxpayer relief.

The current fiscal mess was predictable, but the delegation put on blinders and ignored clear warnings. The 2018 Moody assessment of the county’s financial condition (available on the county website) warned that “Belknap County has a large tax base... Its financial position has significantly weakened due to continued depletion of reserves to balance the county’s modest operation budget.” Increases in expenditures “without a corresponding increase in property tax revenues” were to be avoided. The report also recommended maintaining $3.5-5 million of unassigned fund balance.

These warnings went totally unheeded by the delegation. Combine the continued fiscal mismanagement of the delegation with loss of revenue caused by the pandemic, the unusually large increase in the cost of health insurance, the unexpected significant increases in the cost of electric and heating oil and the usual increases in operating costs like salary increases under union contracts, you see where the county finds itself today.

The recommended budget is not an “overreach”; rather it represents an effort to reach the needs of our community. Hopefully a majority of the delegation, as well as the public, will understand how the current problems arose, and will see full funding of the recommended budget as the best way to address the problems facing our county. 

Hunter Taylor

Alton