Revenge of the Nerds

I'm that guy.

I'm the guy when forwarded an e-mail looks up the facts on Snopes and reports back that the e-mail is a hoax. I "Reply To All" to help stop the spread of such e-mails. Rarely am I thanked for it. Usually I get a message asking why I would do such a thing. Being that guy means you get you get fewer forwarded e-mails.

If you tell people facts that challenge some previously constructed notion - you will not be popular. When these people are our contemporaries - we refer to them as "nerds". For instance, in 1999, the notion that we could build all of the schools we wanted with cash was spread around by the Cabarrus Taxpayers' Association (Coy Privette was major contributor). When you remind people that CTA back candidates borrowed $110 million and raided the fund balance leading to higher taxes today, they are loath to let go of the myth they had once believed. The reflex they have is not unlike that of telling a small child that there really isn't a Santa.

Nerds are necessary; but they are rarely popular. We almost want our politicians to lie to us. We strangely need the rhetoric of those who play loose with the truth with the capability of those who can operate within it.

For example, I would say that no other candidate during the Republican Primary had a deeper understanding of the facts surrounding the issues than Larry Griffin. However, part of the reason for his defeat was a deceptive ad filled with half-truths funded by the Cabarrus Taxpayers' Association. Again they proved their ability to propagate half-truths and lies to influence elections with low turnouts by telling a segment of the population what they wanted to hear.

The Revenge of the Nerds

Given the continued (yet waning success) of the Cabarrus Taxpayers' Association, it would lead me to believe that there is a serious lack of justice in the world. However, the events of Monday night proved that the geeks just might inherit the earth.

Here's Monday's scene at the Board of Commissioners meeting: recently defeated in the Republican Primary, Carolyn Carpenter still was deep within the budget having reviewed it line for line with County staff. She was the one commissioner who actually found the money for the small tax cut. Even during the meeting her head was buried in budget documents - furiously flipping through pages and engaging facts into the conversation.

The same can't be said for Coy Privette. After a number of speakers who have been supporters of Coy referred to the $16 Million Slush fund, Coy made a motion to cut the tax rate using money in this supposed "slush fund". The motion was seconded by Robert Freeman. Fully reclined in his chair, he addressed those to his left and pointed out in the two-page Summary of Expenditures by Service Area a line that read "Contributions to Other Funds". He said that the tax cut could come from this; because it wasn't clear to him where this money was going.

However, the "nerds" who read more than the Cliff's Notes version of the budget bested him on this one. After Chairman Carruth pointed out what area of the budget Coy was really referring to, and mentioned his surprise that Coy would want to cut the funding to the Cabarrus Health Alliance. Coy scrambled to claim that he did not vote to cut the funding - even though 15 minutes earlier, with great fanfare, he was going to offer a tax rate cut with that funding.

What Coy Privette and Harold Smith Refer to as "The Slush Fund"

If he had read Section N of the budget under the item "Contributions to Other Funds", it would have been obvious. This portion wasn't on the web; but it was on the hardcopy version of the FY2007 budget.

Here's a list of the items that it covers:

• Cabarrus Health Alliance - $3.8 Million
  
  This includes funding for communicable disease control...prevention for West Nile, immunizations for kids, that sort of thing.
  
  
• Contribution to Community Development Block Grant - $45,000
  
  These are the matching funds that Cabarrus County uses to participate in a federal program to assist housing for elderly low-income residents.
  
  
• Pension Trust Fund - $392,503
  
  This is a required contribution to the Pension Trust Fund to cover the County's obligation to its employees' retirement.
  
  
• Contribution to Cabarrus Arena and Events Center Special Revenue Fund - $808,747
  
  Yep, that's the fair...among other things.
  
  
• Contribution to Capital Project Fund - $11, 838, 214
  
  In the FY 2007 budget, an appropriation of $11,838,214 was recommended for the following items: $297,301 for Park expansions, $3,478,638 for the construction of a new school bus garage, $6,462,275 for cost over-runs on the $98 Million School Bond projects and $1,600,000 for the purchase of a Board of Elections facility.

Let's be really clear here. The line-item Commissioner Privette identified right after he made the motion for the $0.53 tax cut would have come from this part of the budget which includes The Cabarrus Health Alliance, Community Development Block Grants, New Schools, and other items.

Let's be Fair

Delivering a super-sized helping of the benefit of the doubt - I can only come up with one of three possibilities, and I've listed them in increasing order of probability:

1. Coy really was trying to eliminate those programs.
2. Coy didn't know because he hadn't read the budget carefully
3. Coy didn't think anyone else would review the budget, and he would come across as a hero to the "taxpayer"

I'm going with Option 3, because Coy has told many off-the-record that nobody pays attention to details anyway.

Let's be thankful that the current majority does.

A Note to the Staff

First thing, the whole budget should have been put on-line...I could have gotten this little gem up faster.

Finally, would y'all please try to write the budget so that even the laziest commissioners can understand it.