|
Chairman's
Statement On
Van Zandt County
Budget Shortfall
Statement 2004-04
Our County
Judge and Republican-dominated Commissioners Court continues to deceive citizens
about our county's financial state and the projected budget shortfall. This is
wrong, and the citizens of Van Zandt County should be aware of this.
At present,
the county is facing a $509,057 shortfall in revenue--that's more than half a
million dollars, and it is a very serious situation for our county.
However,
County Judge Jeff Fisher and is Republican allies on the Court, Precinct 4
Commissioner Ron Carroll and Precinct 1 Commissioner Ricky LaPrade, seem to
think the blame lies somewhere else than with the county judge who devised this
budget.
In Saturday's
Tyler Morning Telegraph, Fisher and others attributed the shortfall to an
overestimation of the amount of revenue justice of the peace courts would bring
in. Precinct 4 Commissioner Ron Carroll even blamed a computer error to over
anticipate the revenue.
This isn't
only a joke, it's a lie.
First of all,
no county government should ever base its revenue predictions on funds generated
from courts. For one thing, there are far too many variables associated with
court revenue including the number of cases filed and the number of tickets
written by Department of Public Safety Troopers and other law enforcement.
Second, courts--especially justice of the peace courts--should not be considered
as revenue generating offices for the county, specifically because the majority
of the fees they generate are returned to the state and not the county.
As for the
matter of a computing error, the only error occurred when County Judge Jeff
Fisher deliberately overestimated the revenue in this budget for the sole
purpose of submitting a "balanced budget" to the court and the people of Van
Zandt County.
As County
Chairman of the Democratic Party of Van Zandt County, I will not sit idly by and
watch our distinguished Justices of the Peace like Ozelle Wilcoxson and Ronnie
L. Daniell be blamed for Judge Fisher's inability to produce a budget that will
actually fund the county's operations for one fiscal year.
Even
Republicans like fiscally conservative stalwart John Durgin, a former County
Commissioner, know that Fisher and his allies are wrong.
The GOP
majority also seems Hell-bent on placing at least part of the blame for the
shortfall on Sheriff R.P. "Pat" Burnett. Fisher, Carroll and LaPrade are intent
on doing everything they can to turn public opinion against our immensely
popular Sheriff in hopes of electing a Republican to this office.
The fact is
that construction on the addition to the jail should have begun months ago, and
the GOP majority has taken steps to see to it that it is delayed in hopes of
trying to pin the more than $60,000 spent on housing prisoners outside this
county on the Sheriff. However, shortly after he took office, our Sheriff
notified the court numerous times that jail overcrowding was imminent, and the
court chose to do nothing--absolutely nothing until it suited the political
ambitions of the GOP majority.
Also, our
County Judge and his allies scheme for "self-funded health insurance" for county
employees is a major cause of the shortfall in county funds. Because of the
hundreds of thousands of additional dollars the county has been forced to spend
to keep this scheme afloat over the past fiscal year, our county is so deeply in
debt we've had to borrow money just to continue operating.
It's time for
the truth, and the GOP majority on this court needs to understand that. The
citizens of Van Zandt County will not stand for being misled, lied to and
deceived--be they Democrats or Republicans.
| 
Van
Zandt County Democratic Party & VZC Democratic Women