In a recent April 13, 2013 Pilot article titled “Itzen talks county crisis with homebuilders” commissioner Itzen is reported outlining his plans to those attending a Tuesday, April 9, 2013 Curry County homebuilders meeting.  The proposed law enforcement tax is apparently needed “to give county commissioners time to develop ideas to help keep the county fiscally solvent.”  What the heck have commissioners been doing for the last ten plus years?

Click          to download the article. 

Itzen is then quoted saying “I knew we’d arrive at this point.  I don’t know how we got here, but I’m here to fix it.” 

We (Curry County) got here in part due to commissioners inhaling $22,000 plus per month (wages & benefits) while they have meetings to pull bogus figures out of thin air then cash their checks and go back and do the same thing again and again and again expecting different results.   Thousands upon thousands of county staff man hours have been wasted as a result of this nonsense.     

The article then goes on about the same Crapaganda Itzen distributed to another group of citizens February 14, 2013 with one exception.  The figures are totally different.  Click here to go to the Crapaganda page for details on the type of nonsense county staff are directed to devote their time.

Is it 22,087 new homes or 44,800 that need to be built in Curry County by December 31, 2013?

Is it 3,507 new McDonald’s restaurants or 4,714 restaurants required by December 31, 2013?

Is it 70 new golf resorts or 94 that must be developed by December 31, 2013?

What indeed are the actual number of homes or McDonald’s restaurants of golf resorts required to be built in Curry County by the years end to provide ‘adequate’ funding for the county to operate while using the current tax rate?

This takes “stupid” to a whole new level.

At the Oregon state level, this insatiable addiction to spending has resulted in the budget skyrocketing 326 percent from 1991 to 2011 (2009/2011 state adopted budget) while the state population increased 35 percent according to state census data.

The general public has become the servants the and public employees their masters.  “Class War: How public servants became our masters” (February 2010 issue – Reason Magazine).  Click          to download the article.

• Over the past decade, Curry County’s population has effectively grown zero percent, remaining at about 21,200.

According to Curry County Payroll & Fiscal Year Appropriation Budgets:

• County average employee numbers increased 14 percent during the two-year period of fiscal years 2007-2008 to 2009-2010, from 191 to 217.

• Total general fund appropriations increased 33 percent during the four-year period of fiscal years 2007-2008 to 2010-2011, from $7,593,397 to $10,079,461.

• Sheriff’s general fund appropriations increased 39 percent during the four-year period of fiscal years 2007-2008 to 2010-2011, from $2,846,600 to $3,960,401.

In June 2008, the county governing body negotiated a three-year contract with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) resulting in total wage increases of approximately 21 percent plus an increase toward employee health insurance premiums. A similar agreement was negotiated with the Teamsters local union beginning in July 2010.

There has been no attempt nor are there any plans to reign in the current employee wage and benefit packages.  If the proposed tax measure is approved by voters, wages and benefits will quickly increase.  Then the county will grow bigger, come back and want more.