The Voters spoke

August 11, 2016 On August 2, the voters of Dickinson County spoke. They voted down ALL of the county wide millages. Then, the County Commission spoke, on August 8. I was not surprised by the finger pointing as to why the voters said, “No.” The voters said, “No,” I believe, because they are not surfs to serve and pay taxes to todays “modern royalty” also known as County Employees, or any local government employee or public pensioner. The people who pay you have to work into their 60's and won’t get pensions–maybe a 401k and Social Security. CVC of Dickinson County’s web page (www.cvcofdickinsoncounty.com) has county payroll, pension, and county audit information on it. A lot of numbers show lousy management by the County Board. I will quote a couple lines from the auditor, Anderson Tackman’s, page 4 (hard copy). The “Net position for the County was reported at $8,771,090 for 2015, compared to $20,345,901 for 2014, before prior period adjustment, resulting in a decrease of $11,574,811. For 2015, net position for our business-type activities were $2,775,599, approximately 32% of total net position, while net position in our governmental activities were $5,995,491 or 68% of total net position. The large decrease in the net position can be attributed to the effects of implementing GASB Statement No. 68, which required us to record our pension liability on our government-wide financial statements.” The County is broke! They will not tell you it is because of pensions until the County Board files for bankruptcy protection and renegotiates all pensions being received and future benefits, including health benefits The County Commissioners, or “pension cartel” will cut services or threaten to be sued by the court by a judge, who will be getting a pension, as well.