The County debt has doubled to nearly one quarter BILLION dollars since 2003. Blount County now has the highest debt per person in East Tennessee. A $46,000,000 balloon payment on the debt must be made next year. And County General Fund spending is growing at 2.5 times the rate of inflation.

Jim Folts, candidate for District 7 Commissioner, is making a presentation at the Greenback Community Center, on Tuesday, March 23, at 7:00 pm. In his presentation he will show why the May 4 primary will be a very important election, if we are to prevent County taxes from soaring. See this link for details. Learn more about Jim’s campaign at this link.

Jim will also be speaking with the Carpenters Middle PTSO at 6:30 pm on Tuesday, March 9 at 6:30 pm in the school cafeteria.

If you have not yet reviewed the Agenda package for Tuesday’s Commission meeting you might want to go over and do so. Commissioners Reeves and McCulley have a great resolution to encourage the public to participate in the local government.

Key points include advertising open commission/board seats that are appointed by the Commission.

Listing the member and their terms of all commissions/committees/boards.

Make it easier to find all the public notices pertaining to local government- right on the County website.

K.I.S.S.

What does this little acronym mean? Back in my military days;
it went something like this: Keep It Simple Stupid. I know we aren’t supposed to use the word stupid anymore, but if it is apt to the situation then I don’t see the problem.
In the county commission meeting I attended on February 18th the Chairman admitted he had begun to realize how little he knew and understood of what former finance director Dave Bennett and
bond agent Ayers of Regions Financial had informed the commission of with regards to the county budget for the last few years. Finance is complicated, especially when you get into derivatives, and rate swaps,
and on demand bonds. I’m not saying I understand it either. I’m saying that up front. Jim Folts has helped some, but I still have much to learn.
If something is so complicated that you can’t understand it, then don’t vote to approve it. At the very least get someone who can explain it to you before you do! There are a lot of things in contracts that I haven’t understood when it came to financing my home or my vehicles. I have had someone explain them to me. I ask about early payoff penalties or transfer fees. I want to know what something is going to cost me before I ever sign on the dotted line because I am the one who is going to have to make the payments. It appears these things were never done with a majority of the financial decisions of the current commission.
Can we do better? This is a valid question when you realize the amount of debt the county has, and that a 46.5 million dollar payment is due next year. Using information provided by The Daily Times, I have been enlightened to the fact that the county has over 61 million dollars of payments due next year on a budget of just over 40 million in the general fund. Something must be done.
We could all pay an extra $5000 of property tax next year. I haven’t found anyone who is willing to do so. Most people I’ve spoken to don’t have the means to do so. One suggestion I have is to pay out a five year bond at 5% fixed interest sold through the local banks. That is a better yield than thousands of people in our county can get on a five year fixed CD (Certificate of Deposit). Another suggestion is figuring out where we can cut waste out of our spending. Some departments of county government do an excellent job overseeing the funds they use. Some do not. In addition, nonprofit entities in the
county should not be funded with taxpayer money.
Due to the contracts currently signed, and the legalities of their binding, I do not know for sure what can be done. I would like to see Dave Bennett and Regions Financial held liable for the poor advice they have given the county in the last four years. I am interested in hearing what plans the new financial director has for reigning in the excessive spending of the current administration. I would like all of it in simple and specific terms.
Keep It Simple Studiously. When I was in public speaking class I was taught there are three parts to a speech. Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told them. I want all of the citizens of Blount County to understand how we are going to get out of the mess this administration has created. The interest and fees we are paying each year could be better used in a variety of manners in this county.
Speaking of questionable financing, I would like to see the 8 million dollar shortfall from the education budget in the past four years returned to it. While we now have an 11 million surplus in the general fund, I don’t think education should have been robbed to
accomplish this.
I urge everyone reading this to take a serious look at your candidates, their motives, and what they have accomplished in the past four years, positively, or negatively, then decide whom you will support in the upcoming primary.

Jerry L. Harvey Candidate District 4 Seat A

From Blount Today:

Carpenters Middle School is in the running for $210,000 in prizes from Samsung. Terri Bradshaw said Friday she was notified Monday that the school’s essay in the Four Seasons of Hope contest had placed in the top three finish.

“They have selected the top three schools, and we are going to be going to New York City on March 30 where they will announce the grand prize winner on March 31,” she said.

Bradshaw found out Monday but contest rules said contestants could not release information until the company announced it on their website. The grand prize winner gets $210,000 in merchandise, and the other two finalists get $50,000 in merchandise each.

“I can’t believe it. I’m just speechless. I was stunned,” Bradshaw said. “I didn’t think for a minute - you hope - but I didn’t think we would get to the top three.”

For the full article, click here; http://www.blounttoday.com/news/2010/mar/06/cms-finalist-samsung-210000-promotion/

Click here for larger image.

If you’re poor, we’re going to scare you. If you’re rich, we’re going to stroke your ego. Sounds about right.

For the full presentation of the RNC scare/ego tactics, click here; http://www.politico.com/static/PPM136_100303_rnc_finance_leadership.html

3 Toll Booths
to be initially
Installed

by Lumpy Sheepbert
of the Dilly Dally Tymes staff
04 March 2010

In an effort to bolster up sagging road taxes in the county, de-rail speculations of passenger rail service, and keep the asphalt flowing; officials have decided to try 3 toll booths on major arteries leading into the county. These locations are not up for public discussion, and the normal avenues of local funding and money changers have all agreed that this is the best direction for the county.

As seen on Blountviews.com http://blountviews.com/node/1034

This is something that you won’t read in the Daily Times. Seems Maryville has been identified as a city with one of 37 HATE groups in Tennessee by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Here’s the link:

http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/hate-map?ondntsrc=MBC100370YNH&newsletter=dnewsgen-20100302#s=TN

Are we good people? Some would have to believe we are a nation of evil. We became great off the back of slaves brought in from Africa and Europe, turned a blind eye to the Chinese slaves that built the railroads, and fought a war to keep people in suppression.
Any student of history who has done an honest survey of the past will know these statements are not completely true and ignore many of the facts surrounding the founding and growth of our nation.
I’m not saying that our nation hasn’t done evil things over the course of the past 235 years. There have been terrible things done in the name of our nation, but I don’t think we are evil. Overall, the United States has been a force for good in the world. Without our intervention in the two great wars the world would look much different today than it does.
Most of the major inventions of the last 150 years have come from the United States. Our system of Capitalism, individual freedom, and personal rights, is unlike any other nation in the world. While there are those in our society who feel we should hate our individualism and selfish pursuits, those are the things that make us great.
Here is one simple question to judge a country as good or bad: Do people want to get into it, or out of it? More people want to get into America than want to get out. Although there are quite a few I would be glad to see go personally. I’m sure there are some with similar feelings about me.
Now, on a local level, do more people want to move into Blount County, or move out? I’ve spoken to several who are thinking of leaving. The current government for Blount County has chosen their own path in recent decisions concerning, Fluoride in the water, the purchase of the old Levi’s building (Ceramaspeed property), the purchase, and sell, of fairground property, allowance of private airstrips, and a general feeling that the constitution, the current zoning laws, and the will of the people have no bearing on their decisions in many cases.
A general failure of understanding, and unwillingness by several representatives to study the issues in depth has put many of our individual freedoms at risk in the past four years.
Those we serve decide whether or not we are good. Have the current Mayor, Sheriff, Commission member’s and other elected officials served you well?
One good man can change the course of history. I may not be a history changer, but the government is best run by local people on a local level. I don’t want state or federal government directing my life from an office somewhere in D.C. or Nashville. I feel the local government has rubber stamped too many of Washington and Nashville’s directives without questioning if we must abide them by law, or if they even apply to the people of our county.
Are we good or not? You decide, beginning May 4th.

Jerry Harvey–Candidate District 4, Seat A

First Friday Luncheon, Air Quality Issues for Blount County
Where: Alcoa Ryans
When: 11:30 AM Friday March 5, 2010

Frequent contributor Dennis Wetter will lead us to a better understanding of the issues of Air Quality in Blount County Now and in the Future

Abstract:

You may be aware that EPA has lowered ( lower is better) the ceiling on ozone and smog concentrations in the Knoxville Metro area. Blount is in non compliance with the 0.75 current standard. The new proposed standard of 0.60 will bring some real pain to people in Blount County. This air quality standard will have major impact on transportation as transport is responsible for one half of all area pollution. One might ask “so what"? The bottom line is at the present standard there are many premature deaths in Blount County and thousands of asthma and other breathing problems in BC. I would present the problem and why it occurs and also discuss potential solutions. If a region wants to STIFF the EPA, the law then allows cuts in federal highway funds.”



Meet and eat starts at 11:30 Program and discussion starts at 12:00 Tell the Ryan’s cashier you are with the Blount Democrats and you will be directed to our room.
Tell everyone who has to breath about this program.

Organized by volunteers for the Blount County Democratic Party. Find us at: http://blountdems.org/

Forrest Erickson