COMMENTARY

ON THE MARK... Property Tax Cut     Commentary  
By Mark Hallburn
Publisher

PutnamLIVE.com

 

 

I have a confession: I’m cheap.

I clip coupons. I shop at Save-A-Lot. I buy gas at Go-Mart. I order free samples from Wal-Mart.com. I pick pennies off the floor. I recycle aluminum cans. I despise toll roads. I love lower taxes.

I’m cheap.

So you probably think I favor the planned property tax cut.

I don’t. At least not now.

Putnam County’s population is growing. That growth is straining government agencies which haven't seen enough staff increases to keep up with the increased workload.

Recently PutnamLIVE.com published the salaries of Putnam County employees. While we learned what county workers made, we also learned what they knew all along: Our workers earn less than those in Cabell and Kanawha Counties.

Yes, they will get a 2.5 percent raise in July. But that’s insulting. When you realize county commissioners got about a 20-percent raise last fall, the insult is worse.

County employee pay isn’t the only issue.

• Our parks are under-funded. We need a county park in the Fraziers Bottom and Pliny area as well as Culloden and Poca. Putnam County citizens were promised a kiddie pool at Waves of Fun.

 

• The 4-H camp in Eleanor needs funding.

 

• The Museum in the Community at Valley Park  is struggling.

 

• Our libraries are under-funded.

 

• Winfield seniors need a meeting center.

 

• The emergency services center needs a new building.

 

• We need a new animal shelter.

 

• We need a full-time county fire department. This would cut property insurance rates by 10-15 percent benefiting businesses and homeowners.

 

• The Putnam County Sheriff’s Department building is too small. And we need more deputies.

 

What we don’t need-yet-is a property tax cut.

Unfortunately, our conservative-majority Putnam County Commissioners, Stephen A. Andes, and Raymond “Joe” Haynes, haven’t met a tax cut that they don’t like. (Remember, they accepted large raises last fall-for part-time work. They took care of themselves!)  So we are getting a property tax cut.

On paper, Putnam County looks financially strong. Our budget is increasing. But numbers can be deceiving. And in this case, they are. Because our county budget has never been large enough to fund our needs.

As a result, cutting taxes this year is a bad idea.

It’s a matter of timing: Take care of the needs of Putnam County, then cut property taxes.