Has the time finally come for Judge Murnerto begin paying back all of the developers
and other beneficiaries of development for donating to his campaign for county
judge?That certainly appears to be the
case.
Two different incidents indicate that developers are being
let off the hook instead of being appropriately held responsible for their
actions.First, let's consider the
planning and zoning commission. The cost to operate the planning and zoning
commission is over $500,000 per year while fees collected total only
approximately $40,000.I believe that
it is safe to say that the developers pay the majority of those fees as well
they should since they get the most benefit from the fees. However, the amount
of fees of which has been being collected simply is not enough. Those fees must
be raised and made more equitable. There is no need for the taxpayers continue
to support this operation
With that in mind planning and zoning decided to raise their
fees. The interesting thing is that they believed that the developers and
realtors should havemajor input into
how those fees were raised. This was stated in open fiscal court on June 17,
2008. There was no mention made of consulting any ordinary citizens about those
fees.God forbid that we take a chance
of hurting the feelings of the developers.Plus the fees will still amount to less than $100,000 per year.This means that the taxpayers will continue
to fund an agency that primarily benefits
developers.
The second instance that comes to mind is the storm water
tax which Judge Duane Murner intends to place upon the residents and
businesses of Oldham County.He will
tell you that this tax is a result of federal mandates.That is partially true. But many of the
things required by the federal mandates are things which counties all over the
United States have customarily taken care of and considered as part of the cost of
running a government.Some of those
things would include cleaning ditches along highways, cleaning small waterways
which handle storm water runoff and being careful of their own disposal of
pollutants.A second part of the storm
water mandates is to educate the public regarding the control of storm water
runoff.This information is essentially
provided to the county for distribution by the Commonwealth Water Education Project and the Kentucky Environmental Education Council.What I believe to
be the most expensive part of the mandates is the requirement to control
construction sites that exceed one acre during the construction and subsequent
to the completion of the construction. In Oldham County the majority of that
type of construction would be the result of housing developments. The county is
already cleaning up behind developers after the developments have been
completed. Besides more stringent regulations would eliminate some of the need for the county to correcr mistakes made by developers.
The county has contracted with two consultants regarding the
storm water mandates.The last
consultant was paid a fee of $250,000 and the consultanthas told the county that for approximately
three dollars per month per household the county could meet the mandates. The
fees would amount to approximately $750,000 annually.Frankly the county is already spending over $500,000 for storm water control from a
budget that is balanced, balanced by the doubling of the insurance premium
tax.Thus, the remaining $250,000 could
be raised with a tax increase of one dollar
per month per household.
However, Judge Murner is not happy with one dollar or three
dollars per month. He wants five dollars per month per household.As a matter of fact, Judge Murner wants every
tax dollar that he can squeeze from the public.He has yet to say why he wants that much money.My bet is that he knows he is beholding to
the developers and he intends to repay them. Moreover, why did Judge Murner waste a quarter of a million dollars on a consultant if he knows more than they know. Would you go to a doctor and not listen to him/her? Yes, "payback" time has come.