Notable quote from this past week:
"I'm trying to get eyes on all county maintained roads prior to taking office."
- Christopher Richardson, 7/29/16 on his Facebook page.
This week, my installment of Mundus Vult Decipi, Ergo Decipiatur took a turn at the very last moment. I was originally was working on another topic when Elbert County Commissioner candidate, Chris Richardson, decided that it might be a good idea to wade into my blog topic about the Elbert County 1% Sales Tax. Mr. Richardson did not originally bother to question me on my blog or the Elbert County Citizen Page. Instead he chose to write a lengthy piece about the author (me) on his own Facebook Page in which he said I used, “half-truths, false arguments and innuendo.”
Mr. Richardson went on to provide a chart that he felt certain would crush any argument from anyone who might be in disagreement with his erudite reasoning. He told his readers they should be proud of the fine job Elbert County has been doing with their financial dealings. Then he went on to say that 97.5% of the 1% Sales Tax has been spent on road and bridge projects, according to the Elbert County auditor. Let me give you a moment to applaud both the county and Mr. Richardson. He obviously knows this topic better than the people who actually have lived in Elbert County long enough to have voted on this issue.
As I stated in my blog post, there is nothing illegal that I can see about what County Manager Ed Ehmann has done with the fund balance. The way the initiative was written, it allows for this “holding back” of the funds. My only point was that there is a growing fund balance from the tax monies being collected and when funds are not being spent in a manner consistent with the way the initiative was sold to the voters, those impacted voters should know why. Mr. Richardson accused me of being “shady.” I explained that what he was calling “shade,” I was calling “sunshine.”
Mr. Richardson has not been in Elbert County for very long. His historical perspective of what has transpired over the past two decades in terms of shoddy bookkeeping practices leaves much to be desired. As a person who has run for office, written for local newspapers, been to scores of BOCC meetings etc., I would like to remind Mr. Richardson that standing up for the status quo in Elbert County politics is not always wise nor advisable.
Mr. Richardson went on to warn people against those who would slam the good folks who work in county government. I would like him to produce a single scintilla of proof that I slammed any county employee, including our County Manager, in my last blog. I count many county employees as friends and am grateful to them for being very competent at what they do.
This brings me to the final sentence in Mr. Richardson’s diatribe, which I can only imagine he designed to gain him some cheap political points: “We are blessed with a free press and freedom of expression. But, with these freedoms comes responsibility. Both for those that create content and those that consume it.” I would remind him his words are a two-way street. Since Mr. Richardson chose to call me out on his Facebook page, that was designed for an audience that I would have probably not have seen if it were not for the tips from some readers, I decided to take the argument to his page. There I told him that I thought his actions were less than honorable. I also told him that I did not expect that he would leave my comments up on his page. He shot back that he would never take comments down that were critical of him. I thought that was a pretty good idea…except he did take down our exchanges. He did remove his chart; the one he was so certain would prove his points.
So let me clear and specific on a couple of points for Presumptive Commissioner Richardson. Since Presumptive Commissioner Richardson took down his chart that did not prove what he thought it did, I went to the Elbert County Government website. Readers, you can find all of my information I am discussing at the following link:
Click on the 2015 Financial Report prepared by the auditing firm of EideBailly. If you have time, read through all of the 86 pages, but if you don’t, go to page 30 and 31. Under the heading of Special Revenue Funds look at the column marked Sales and Use Tax Fund. On Mr. Richardson’s deleted chart, the balance for the road and bridge funds for the end of year 2015 was well over $600K. That fund balance grew significantly (estimated at +$400K) from the previous year. If you could actually parse out the difference between sales tax and use tax on this page you could get a whole lot closer to the true amount being held back from road repairs. Unfortunately, until one talks to the auditor, the two funds are mingled and show that the combined Use and Sales Tax is actually just short of $2.5 million dollars. How much of that balance could be used to fulfill the promises that the Elbert County Government made to the voters? We may never know.
Mr. Richardson did not make a compelling case for his statement that this is how the people of Elbert County want their government to proceed. I suspect that Mr. Ehmann is trying his level best to get the books and the financial standing of the county on firmer ground. Again, he is not breaking any rules. But, if you believe that people are not being adversely impacted by the condition of our roads, you are kidding yourself. Pot holes are dangerous and deteriorating chip seal paving is dangerous. My wife and I have had to replace a bent axle and a broken wheel in the last two years alone due to the degraded quality of our roads.
Marlene Groves put up the Elbert County Citizens page on Facebook to try and get citizens to come together to share ideas, voice valid complaints or extoll the virtues of people who were making a difference. It is not an easy task to get people to check their national politics, religious beliefs or biases at the door. The EC Citizens page has had some rocky moments along the way, but due to bipartisan editing and a laser focus on county issues, it is beginning to take off. She deserves a lot of credit.
This is my sixth blog entry of Mundus Vult Decipi, Ergo Decipiatur. Not a single entry has been a sales pitch for the Democratic Party of which I am a proud member. I have not been critical of any Republican for their political affiliation including Mr. Richardson. I am only trying to shed light on legitimate problems about which Elbert County citizens should be concerned. That is why I post on the afore mentioned Elbert County Citizen page.
And finally, Mr. Richardson did not appreciate the name of my blog, stating that it was Latin and about deception. I told him he was clueless as to the purpose of the title. So let me further explain in English: We have all been guilty of wanting to believe something that is not true. I want to believe that there is good in all men. Sadly, there are some people who are clearly not good. But that does not stop me from wanting what those people say to be true. We therefore are all guilty of wanting to be deceived at some point or another in our lifetimes, ergo…we let ourselves be deceived from time to time. Mr. Richardson, it is not an indictment of a group of people (here, specifically, the Elbert County government employees). It is exploring the truth and being honest with ourselves.
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