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Politics & Government

County Commission Debate Focuses on Budget Cuts, Sheriff's Office Audit

Before you vote on July 31 find out where the incumbents and challengers stand on the most talked about issues affecting Forsyth County and your tax dollars.

Tuesday night's second county commissioners debate, hosted by the Forsyth County Tea Party Patriot Alliance, posed some tough questions to incumbents and their contenders.

All candidates were present with the exception of who were unable to attend due to prior commitments. Dennis Brown was expected to show late due to a previous engagement and he was able to briefly answer questions at the end of the debate.

The pressing question on the agenda asked candidates to cite a specific area in the county budget in which they would support cutting.

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Patrick Bell (District 4, incumbent commissioner) explained that amenities have a large portion of the current budget. "Parks and Recreation has eight percent of the budget, that's 7.27 million dollars a year. I'd look into those amenities."

"I don't have one specific area, but I would not move forward on the budget for Parks and Recreation, said Bill Mulrooney (District 4, contender).

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Cindy Jones Mills (District 4, contender) cited costly plans for parks and recreation development that could be obtained at lower cost. "We have opportunity with parks and rec. A set of plans for development is very expensive. I think we have an excellent GIS (Geographic Information Systems) department and we have a ton of land planners out of work," explained Mills. "I have questioned through the years why we can't hire an in-house planner for libraries and parks and things."

(District 4, contender) said, "I know looking at my own business where I can trim a little. If I take a look at your business and tell you to trim this, this and this... I really don't know unless I can look at your books."

"I need to look at all the books and see specific areas. I'd like to see the paperwork before me in order to see where costs are not being handled efficiently and need to be cut," Hubbard said.

(District 4, contender) said he's all for cutting non-essential spending. "My plans will be to get with my community and figure out what falls into the non-essential spending category. Those would be the things I'd go after and I think a more virtuous route to take is to look very carefully at the budget and make sure we don't grow the government as the county grows. Let's keep the government small, tight, concise and efficient."

Dennis Brown (District 2, contender) said he'd take a look across the board and listen to employee’s recommendations for cutting spending. "I'd look at everything, but one example is the banking services that the county government pays for when we could be getting it for free. Suntrust offered us free banking and I think the government as a whole should take advantage of such a simple way to cut spending." 

Jim Boff ( District 5, incumbent) said he would not cut anything specific from the budget. "I think overall, the taxes and the services you get from this county are fairly good, therefore, I do not offer anything I'd cut at this time."

On the topic of supporting an audit of the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office, Tim Hubbard firmly stated he'd support an audit, "Yes, yes I would support an audit."

Bill Mulrooney agreed and elaborated on the topic. "Absolutely, I'd support an audit. Every single dollar spent in government, every single penny needs to be accounted for."

Patrick Bell said he would support an audit. "Of course I'd support an audit of the sheriff's office and I believe that when the county is audited, the sheriff's office also undergoes an audit."

"I'd support an audit," said Charles Meagher. "Forty-one percent of the money that you send to the board of commissioners is going to the sheriff's office and they turn that over to him [sheriff] and that's his budget because the sheriff says he needs that to provide for safety and security of all the citizens. I'm all for that, but we need to know about that 41 percent of the budget."

Cindy Jones Mills said she'd like to see more transparency not only in the sheriff's office, but in all of government. "I think people have the right to know. I was told that the sheriff's lobbyists at the state capital are some of the strongest in the whole state and good luck on trying to get anything done on that level," she said. "I think if people are truly concerned about it that they need to voice those concerns to the state representatives."

Jim Boff said the real issue has to do with the structure of government. "The sheriff is an elected official and most people in the law see the sheriff as one of the primary functions of government. I'm not trying to imply that there's anything that isn't as it should be, but if you had an audit of the sheriff, and a disagreement about what it said, the sheriff still has the ultimate responsibility for how he spends that money. He is answerable to you [the people], not the board of commissioners."

"I would support an audit," said Dennis Brown. "All public agencies must welcome any scrutiny and I think that is totally appropriate and desirable."

On the subject of inventory tax, (HB 48), candidates were asked if they would support its removal from Forsyth County.

"Serving on the board of tax assessors, I've learned many things," said Charles Meagher. "I've learned that when one tax is removed, more than likely, that burden is shifting to somewhere else. I think we're going to grow and if we could remove the inventory tax as we grow, without having to increase homeowner's tax, that rate of growth could maybe absorb the loss of the inventory tax. The real answer is I think we'll be forced to remove it because surrounding counties will remove their inventory tax."

Cindy Jones Mills also expressed the seemingly inevitable dichotomy of concerns raised when removing one tax that might, in turn, necessitate another. "I'm all about pro business, and helping small businesses, but at the same time, I'm not about shifting the tax burden," said Mills. "I don't want each of your tax bills to go up 20 percent because we've done away with inventory tax. We need to work together to find a way to help small businesses, but not shift the burden to the homeowner." 

Tim Hubbard explained his position on inventory tax. "We will be forced to do away with inventory tax because the businesses that do have a lot of inventory will move to another county. Then on top of that, we'll lose jobs. But if we go ahead in the beginning and start cutting the budget across the board, we'll be able to start winging off a little bit what we're already used to, a little at time. It'll be noticeable, won't it won't hurt as bad."

Bill Mulrooney explained how attracting more business to the county ultimately increases the tax base which prevents homeowners from absorbing the loss of the inventory tax. "I'm with Cindy and Charles, I support the removal of the inventory tax, but I don't want to shift the burden to homeowners. If we can attract more businesses with lower taxes, then we can increase the tax base which is a win, win all the way around."

Jim Boff explained that removing the inventory tax is complex and it needs to be scrutinized carefully before any decisions are made. "Removing the inventory tax is something that needs to be studied. It has a lot of merit on its face, but it needs to be studied and I couldn't say right now if it's something we should or shouldn't do."

Dennis Brown said he's also in favor of removing the inventory tax. "Yes I would support removal of the inventory tax, absolutely."

Patrick Bell said he absolutely supports the removal of the inventory tax. "I care about Forsyth County, being aggressive and bringing business to this county, which will help keep millage rates low. I presented a five-year phase in, 20 percent exemption the first year, 40, 60, 80 and 100 percent at the fifth year, and interestingly, the chamber of commerce supports my plan."

The next county commission debate takes place on June 19.

Get to know your candidates and cast your vote with confidence in the primary on July 31.

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