The Guilford County Manager presented his budget proposal to the County Commissioners on Thursday, May 17 and it calls for a 6.9% tax increase.  The total budget is projected to be approximately 561 million dollars.

The public hearing on the budget will be June 7, 2007 at 5:30pm in the Commissioner meeting room on the 2nd floor of the Old Guilford County Court House.  The public will have 3 minutes each to give their comments on the proposed budget.  

A sneak preview is as follow:  The Manager's budget calls for the School system to get an additional 11 million dollars.  The School system asked for an additional 15 million dollars.  The Manager is recommending increases in this year's budget also in the following departments,  Sheriff department an additional 2.6 million, the Health Dept. 1.5 million, Mental Health 1.7 million, Social Services 2.3 million, Emergency Services 1.8 million, Medical Assistance 1.3 million, Culture-Recreation 1.1 million, GTCC Operating funds 1.2 million, Capital Outlay 2 million and Guilford County Schools payment for debt services an additional 8.8 million.  There are several other departments that the Manager is recommending increase funding for which are below one million dollars each.  What the public will get for these increase, I have not determined yet.

The total increase in the Manager's proposed budget for this year is approximately 41 million dollars of new tax payers  money.  The County Commissioners will have an opportunity to cut some of this spending, which I as one Commissioner plan to do.  I can easily see 8 million dollars of cuts or reallocations of funds.  I will be discussing some of these possibilities with the Manager and my fellow Commissioners over the next few weeks before the budget is adopted. 

I will also make this budget available to several organizations and individuals in my district that will help me analyze this budget and make recommendations for cuts and/or additions.  A copy of the budget is also available for public review in the Guilford County Clerks office. 

Please feel free to post your comments and/or concerns about this budget on this blog.  Again, the public hearing on the budget is June 7, 2007 at 5:30pm.  I hope to see you there!

Many people have asked my opinion on the recall election for City Councilwoman T. Dianne Bellamy-Small and I have told them personally my opinion on the matter.  However, I want to officially state my opion publicly.

For the record, I am not in favor of the recall election nor the process that brought about this recall election.  The process and the law that allows this to happen, in my opinion is very flawed and subjective.  The law states that at anytime a group of people that wants to recall an elected official can get a petition signed by 25% of the total amount of people that voted in the last election and they can call for a recall of that elected official.

It takes 50% plus one vote to be elected to an office and it  takes only 25% of the votes of the previous election to have that same elected official removed from that office, even if that person has just been elected to that office.  The law does not give a time period.

There were approximately 3000 people who voted in the last city council election in District One for Mrs. Bellamy -Small. Therefore, the petition to have a recall election only needed approximately 750 registered voters to ask for a recall election, which will undo what approximately 1550 people voted for.

The law as it stands now, allows for citizens to file and make frivolous complaints aganist an elected official, without any verifiable facts.  It is my opinion that an elected official should only be removed from office and subjected to a recall effort, only if that elected official committed a felony or a serious misdemeanor cime or some serious immoral act.

This is not the case with City Councilwoman T. Dianne Bellamy-Small.   It is my opionion that this sets a bad precedent, which is not good for our electoral process.  This election is scheduled to be conducted on August 21, 2007 and will cost the County over $30,000.00 to conduct.  The primary election will be October 2, 2007, just 43 days later than the recall election. That should be the time that the citizens in District one let their voices be heard.

It is my hope that this election does not take place and that the U. S. Justice Department will determine that this is a frivolous complaint and throw the case out.  However, if the election does take place, I would hope that the recall election is defeated and the citizens in District One will go to the polls on October 2, 2007 and elect two people in the primary election and then elect their representative for a two year period on November 6, 2007, whoever that might be. 

Election day is also evaluation day  for elected officials and the citizens at that time, should let their elected officials know whether they have done a good job, or not.

That's my opinion, what's yours?

Tonight the Guilford County Manager will present his Annual budget to the Commissioners for the year 2006/2007.  The Budget is expected to be approximately 540 million dollars, with a projected tax increase of 9 cents.

After the Manager presents his idea of a budget to the County Commissioners, then the Commissioners will have a chance to change, add or delete some of the items that might be in the Manager's budget.  It is always the Commissioners budget that is passed in June, not the Manger's budget.

Starting next week, May 24, the Commissioners will hear from various department heads concerning their budget request.  So of the department heads will be in favor of what the Manager has recommended concerning their department budget and some will not.  The Sheriff is asking for an additional 100 officers to man the jail.  However, according to the News and Record's article this morning, the Manager will not be recommending any additional staff. The school system is asking for an additional 15 million dollars this year. What the Manager will recommend I don't know.  However, the school system always asking for double the amount that they really need and usually end up settling for that, or a couple million dollar over that. So they might get around 8 0r 9 million, if that from the Commissioners

The public will get a chance to give their opinion on the Manger's budget on June 7, at 5:30pm at the Commissioners meeting room on the second floor of the Old Guilford County Court House.  Please come out and let your voices be heard. 

If not, your silence might indicate that you are in favor of a 9 cent tax increase, or more.

The Headline article of the News and Record for Thursday May 17, 2007, reads: Build Trust in Guilford, leaders say.  The article is about a panel discussion that was held on Wednesday May 16, at High Point University and sponsored by the Greensboro News and Record, concerning the state of Guilford County.  The discussion was great and it should have taken place, however, there was only one key component missing and that is representation from County Government. 

The article states that about 225 leaders from Guilford County packed the High Point University auditorium to listen to various speakers on the panel talk about what we can do as citizens to make our County better.  However, none of them were Senior level County Staff such as the County Manager and none them were in charge or presently serving on the board of County Commissioners, which has the power, the funding and the influence to implement some of the plans they were discusing. 

My question is this, why wasn't the County Manager invited to attend a panel discussion that involves the County that he is incharge of.  Tonight the County Manager will be presenting his budget for the years 2007 and 2008, which is estimated to be 540 million dollars.  This budget will include funding for the schools, social services, mental health, the sheriff department, the health department, Community based organizations, the arts, economic development, 2600 employees about twenty five other departments that directly affect the lively hoods of about 450,000 citizens in this County.  One would think that this person would need to be apart of any discussion involving the future of Guilford County. If not the Manager, then the Chairman of the County Commisioners, should have been invited.

Or maybe it is the organizers opinion that they do not need the County Staff and the elected County Leaders to implement plans for the future of Guilford County.  Something to think about!

I am in the process of compiling information on the death that occurred recently in the Guilford County Jail.  It is unfortunate that our Sheriff-- B.J. Barnes saw it necessary to issue a press release on a fight that occurred in the jail about a week ago, however did not think it was worthy or necessary to share information concerning the death of a female inmate that happened under his watch.  What comes to mind is that B.J. may have been attempting to politically position the fighting incident as a way of convincing the public that the jail is over crowded and justifies the need for another 1040 bed jail.  He also took time in his press statement to attack several commissioners who are attempting to fine alternative ways of incarceration for our judicial system to consider using.

The inmate that died in the County jail, in my opinion would not have been in the jail at all if we had the alternative ways of incarceration in place, that some of us Commissioners have been advocating for and our Sheriff has been fighting against. 

My initial investigation has found that the inmate was a 42 year old female that was booked on April 24, 2007 on a misdemeanor charge of attempting to steal a packet of fish valued at $5.09.  She was placed under a $550.00 bond, with another bond of $50.00 for failure to appear in court on another charge.  The court records that I have obtained., clearly show that this person had a serious drug problem and some mental problems. 

With her record she would have been an ideal case for Drug Court, or the new Mentally ill Court.  I am not insinuating that the jail or the Sheriff are responsible for her death.  However, I am taking this opportunity to question the lack of a system being in place to detect the problems of inmates immediately upon their arrest and if such a system was in place there could have been a possible chance that this inmate would not have had to die in our jail?

I have also found out, that the Public Defendant that was assigned to her case has been on the job for only one month, and should have asked the court for a bond to allow this inmate to be released from jail on bond, but he did not.  The inmate's court date was set for May 15, 2007.  She was arrested on April 24, 2007.  That means that the inmate would have had to remain in jail for 23 days before she was to appear in court.  Does that make any sense at all? 

The average cost for a day's stay in jail is estimated to be $79.00 per day.  Therefore it would have costed the tax payers of this county $1,817.00 to keep this inmate behind bars for stealing a packet of food worth only $5.09.

I met with Wheaton Casey, the Director of Pretrial Services on this morning for about an hour and a half.  She shared a lot of information with me concerning the challenges that her department is facing in dealing with their case load and the court system.  She has just hired an additional seven case workers and will be hiring two more in the next three weeks or so.

I have asked her to provide me with court records of every person who has been arrested and processed through our jail system within the past 90 days.  I have also asked her to give me the records of everyone who is presently in the jail, what they are charged with and the amount of bond that they are under.

I will keep you updated on my findings as they become available.  It is my understanding that requested information is about 1500 pages-- just for the current inmates. But I am committed to going through every page, on every case.  Stay tuned!

The International Civil Rights Center and Museum's Annual Golf Tournament is unlike any other golf tournament you may have participated in the past.  What makes this tournament special is the diversity built into the tournament.  Golf foursomes will be made up of individuals from diverse ethnic backgrounds.

This bit of social engineering reinforces a major philosophical point of the International Civil Rights Center and Museum that all perspectives must be presented in a fair handed manner and the respect of each other is critical for civil and human rights development.

This golf tournament is a wonderful opportunity to have a great time and to network with a diverse group of individuals.  Community leaders and others are coming together to support this event and the International Civil Rights Center and Museum. 

We are pleased that Attorney Steve Bowden and former Greensboro Mayor Jim Melvin have agreed to be the Honorary Co-Chairs of the tournament.

The Tournament schedule is as follow: Sunday, June 3rd, 7:00PM, Pairing Party at the O'Henry Hotel with plenty of food to eat.  Golfers are welcome to bring their spouses to this event.  Monday, June 4th, Bryan Park Champion Course, 11:00am, Registration for golfers and a box lunch will be available.  A putting contest will take place starting at 11:45am.  Shotgun Start/ Captian Choice Format will take place at 12:30PM.  At 5:30PM there will be a Roundup and Cookout for all that participated in the golf tournament.

For more information please contact the Co-Chairs of the event, Rudolph Clark at (336) 540-8400, email address rclarkjr@triad.rr.com or Keith Dyer at (336) 337-3674, email address kdyer@theadagents.com or you can call the Sit-In Movement office at (336) 274-9199.

The registration fee is $150.00 per person which includes the Pairing Party, Box Lunch, Golf fees and Roundup/Cook out after the tournament.

You can also mail your check and/or a contribution to: International Civil Rights Center and Museum, P.O. Box 847, Greensboro, NC. 27402.

Hope to see you there.  High handicappers Welcome!

Update: Ed Cone has kindly offered to sponsor one player in the International Civil Rights Center and Museum Golf Tournament which will be held on June 4, 2007.  Thanks Ed. I am looking forward to seeing you at the pairing party and on the course on Monday. 

I have also added a link to the Civil Rights Museum page.

Unfortunately, I was very busy last week and did not have time to post any blogs.  However, I will catch up on all of the information that I wanted to share with you this week.  Remember the County Manager will be presenting his County Budget this Thursday May 17th at 5:30pm.  He is expected to have a large increase in your taxes included in his Budget.  He will also recommend millions of more dollars to be given to the school system.

I as one Commissioner will not be voting to increase taxes no more than we have to.  How much that will be, I don't know.  However, I wll not dare vote for a 9 cent increase in your taxes, which is some where close to  what the manager is expected to recommend. 

I will be posting some of the budget items on my blog starting next week.  The public hearing on the budget will be held on June 7, 2007 at 5:30pm at the County Commssioners meeting room.  Please come out and voice your concerns.