Matt Coker: Proposed cuts to county budget are a political stunt

To The Daily Sun,

The line by line budget cuts being proposed to the Belknap County budget by the Executive Committee are unsustainable and mostly a political stunt. The Executive Committee, made up of members of the County Legislative Delegation, made cuts to the proposed Belknap County Commissioners budget. Those cuts totaled $1.7 million and were touted by the Executive Committee to come with an 11% tax cut. Which of course sounds great until you realize what comes with the extra $35 to $50 a year the average taxpayer would save. The sheriff will no longer be able to properly staff their operations. The jail will not have enough money to administer basic medical services to the inmates. The county nursing home would have to cut $150,000 from their food services budget and will not have the funds needed to administer nebulizer treatments for its residents. The skeleton budget proposed by the delegation committee is completely unreasonable and likely to require emergency appropriations later this year that will likely increase the taxpayer's tax bill next year. 

In response to the Executive Committee's irresponsible budget the county commissioners have countered with a budget that keeps the county responsibly funded and will result in a 1% reduction in taxes. Failure to adopt this budget will cause a severe reduction of services and will likely cost the taxpayer much more over the long run. Please email your delegation member and ask them to adopt the commissioner's recommendations. Do not let the delegation's Executive Committee have a hollow political victory while you the taxpayer are stuck with the tab.

Matt Coker

Meredith