Let the spin begin!

By Scott Buzzard

On January 9th, 2012, the new Weddington Town Council decided that building community spirit and helping to brand Weddington (which goes a long way to help with property values) was no longer a priority.  For the past two years, our Town has hosted Weddstock.  While other communities pay event planners or staff that handle parks and recreation events, Weddington was lucky enough to have a team of dedicated volunteers, who, in just these two short years, built a huge success.  As Vice-chairman of the Weddington Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, I attended a local workshop with staff from Wesley Chapel, Monroe, Stallings and Indian Trail.  All were in awe of Weddstock and amazed by the fact it was a volunteer effort.  To be fair, Weddstock is presented by Kids First of the Carolinas, a local charity that every December has a month long radio fundraiser on WBT.

Because the event is in Weddington, was initiated by our Parks and Rec board, and the volunteers are concerned mothers in our community, the Town of Weddington was afforded the “title sponsor” spot.  The first year of the event, our Town kicked in about $11,000.  The second year, it was increased to $20,000.  This is part of the, approximately $250,000 it cost to actually have the event, and if you break it out per resident, we are talking about approximately one dollar and sixty-seven cents…$1.67 per resident.   Attendance this past year was around 6000, with Weddington businesses, Providence Volunteer Fire Department, and numerous local churches and school clubs participating.

While all indications are that this event will continue to grow, with the cost to the Town dropping, by a 3-2 vote our Town Council said the cost was too much for the Town (Mayor Walker Davidson broke the tie in concert with Pam Hadley and Barbara Harrison).  In these tough economic times, I would normally side with that being a reasonable decision, even though the Town received immeasurable benefits that likely exceeded the cost to the Town.

So, here is where the spin comes in.  Mayor Davidson, later in the meeting, described the deficit of the Wesley Chapel Volunteer Fire Department, projected at $18,673, as a “rounding error in accounting”. So, given that the WCVFD budget and the Town budget are very similar, which is it?  Will the Town of Weddington run itself into bankruptcy trying to support OUR community, OUR schools, OUR businesses…Or, is $19,000 just an accounting blip that doesn’t need to be worried about?  Oh… and the Weddington Town Council is about to spend money to send you a mailer asking for your input on why you should support raising your taxes, but that is another story ;-)

 

 

School board approves administration raises
Change needed due to extra workload, superintendent says
by Brian Carlton

Two assistant superintendents for Union County Public Schools will see a hike in their paychecks starting next month, after district officials signed off on what they call needed raises.

Associate Superintendent for Building Operations Mike Webb received an $8,000, or 6.7 percent, raise, and Assistant Superintendent Denise Patterson got a $15,000, or 14.6 percent, boost.

During their regular Dec. 6 meeting, board members took a break from their regular meeting to consult on personnel matters in closed session. After the break, the board returned and immediately took a vote on what Chairman Dean Arp called “the superintendent’s recommendation for central services staff.”

The board voted 6-3 without further explaining what they were voting on. John Crowder made the motion to approve, with Laura Minsk seconding the motion. David Scholl, Marce Savage and Sherry Hodges dissented.

After a Union County Weekly reporter saw Webb and Patterson called into the closed session, the newspaper requested any change of status for each from Nov. 1 to the current day. That information shows Superintendent Ed Davis recommended salary adjustments for both to the Board of Education on Dec. 6.

“These folks work on a system-wide basis. They already are in a situation where they’re doing more work than they should have to,” Davis told Union County Weekly. “I feel like I need to stand up for my people, give them the fair market value.”

But teachers in the school district, who have not had a raise in four years, disagree. “At a time like this, when teachers have to buy their own supplies, just the perception is giving raises to the administration is wrong,” former Marvin Ridge Middle School teacher Lynn Southern said. Southern worked as a teacher for 15 years before retiring in June, serving the last five years in Union County.

via School board approves administration raises | Union County Weekly.


This is an important story, it doesn’t require any editorial comment. Pass it on.

 

A week ago, County Commissioners voted to approve what is laughingly(1) called a lease extension — a net 75 year lease that only resembles a sale.

Lets put the lease document aside for the moment and just look at the initial cash windfall into county coffers. According to the new contract, Union County will receive a lump sum of $54 million in January 2012.

The following WSOC-TV news-clip lays out a couple ideas.

So the $54 million question is just what to do with that all money??? Project Legacy? Project Iron-horse? or Frank Aikmus’ Project Tax Break! (visit Frank’s Facebook page: Citizens for Union County Tax Relief)

Commissioner Todd Johnson (Vice Chair) alludes to other ideas as quoted in the WSOC-TV report; “There are other issues that we need to worry about, different capital improvements.” Johnson said, “There’s also debt.”

According to the WSOC-TV report the question of a tax-cut will be on the Dec. 5 Commissioners agenda.

Stay tuned…

  1. Only in certain in Union County political circles does something that looks, walks and quacks like a duck sale called a lease extension []
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