Forsyth County commissioners voted last night to designate $7.9 million repaid by Dell for future economic development. The alternative —you guessed it —was to put the money back in the general fund. With that in mind, do I even need to mention that Forsyth –like just about every other county in the nation —- is facing a tight budget year?
Interesting comments from Commissioner Debra Conrad:
“This is a prime opportunity to keep it as incentive money so we don’t have to worry about what to do if anything else like Caterpillar comes along,” Conrad said. “You can’t solve financial problems with one-time money. You have to solve them with permanent solutions and not temporary solutions.”
I don’t see how Conrad can refer to incentive money as a permanent solution, since there simply is never enough money for companies looking for a handout. The true permanent solution —- as one commenter pointed out —is to quit handing out incentives.