The Good. Mecklenburg County Manager Harry Jones called for a 1.2 percent property tax rate cut for next year’s budget.
The Bad. The $1.34 billion budget is an 8.2 percent spending increase over last year, which is still too high and still funds questionable items, as Jones himself bravely admitted.
The Better. Jones looked as CMS’ $32 million spending increase plans and cut it down to $10 million while noting that the CMS budget process needs reform:
School board chairman Joe White said if CMS does not get the proposed increase, the school board must make some “extremely tough decisions.” CMS interim Superintendent Frances Haithcock said roughly 85 percent of the school system’s proposed $1 billion budget would go to pay salaries.
But Jones said CMS must change its budget process to help the public understand the school system’s priorities. He said one factor that shaped his recommendation was a poll showing citizens don’t trust the district’s financial management. Jones said he doesn’t believe cuts have to hit the classroom.
“When you’ve got a billion dollar budget, that’s not a credible response to me,” he said.
The Next Step. See if the spending increase can be cut down yet more, preferrably down to under 6 percent, which would represent the average rate at which local government revenues have been growing in recent years. That, in turn, would put Mecklenburg on a healthy fiscal glide-path and begin to get the county off of the tax-and-spend treadmill.
And the Ugly? Just wait — the budget debate will turn ugly soon enough.
