Monday, March 12, 2007

Some things you should know before you vote

Facts you need to consider when you vote

Each of the following points was taken from a talking points sheet written by several of the County Supervisors as reasons why they should not be down sized. The counter point is why I believe they should be downsized.

Point 1
Your district would have less representation. Cities villages and towns could be grouped together and be represented by only 1 singular vote to serve diverse needs and growth.

Counter point
I do not see how we could be more poorly represented then we are now. Currently the diverse needs of different groups are slammed together and are dependent on the good will of 18 of the supervisors to represent them in a fair and equitable manner. Of 25 supervisors only 2 represent towns, 5 represent cities or villages and 18 represent mixed groups of rural and urban populations. 52% of the people in Walworth County live in urban areas and 48% live in rural areas. This is an opportunity to correct the poor representation of our current board to fairly represent the diverse population of our County. Further more whom are these supervisors representing beyond their own needs and desires. When was the last time you were asked what you think or a supervisors asked for your opinion. Ask yourself if the recent votes of the County Board by your supervisor represent your interests.

Point 2
The County budget is $147,000,000. Downsizing would allow just 6 votes (a majority of 11) to decide most issues. Isn’t that a lot of money in the hands of six people?

Counter point
It’s a lot of money in the hands of 25 people. 11 supervisors are no less responsible than 25, and based on the actions of this board how could 11 be less responsible? Almost any new group of 11 could spend our money in a better fashion. We believe that a smaller board will bring the very best people forward and cause contested elections where discussion would happen and benefit the public. There is no conclusive evidence that larger or smaller boards work better. We have a large board and it is not working. We believe a smaller board would work better. If you look at the number of people who attended the budget sessions 11 interested people are running the County now. This is our chance to make a change. Join the many voters have expressed their desire to have a change.

Point 3
Special interest groups could very easily gain control of the Board.

Counter point
Special interest groups already have control of the Board. Most decisions are made in committees where you only have to garner 3 or 4 votes to gain control. Little debate is done during monthly board meetings. Currently if you want to control votes you simply have to control a committee. With a new group of Supervisors we can change how business is done in our County.

Point 4
Supervisors would most likely have to become full time salaried employee with benefit packages (currently supervisors receive $500/ month and no paid benefits). Those full time salary and benefit packages would far out weigh what is currently being paid.

Counter point
There is absolutely no evidence that supervisors would have to be full time. There are many town, city and village officials who are part time and do as much or more than our County Supervisors. Yes, each supervisor is paid $500/ month. The Chairperson is paid $1,000. That adds to $156,000 in salaries, but the budget for the Board is $326,931. A difference of $160,931! One must assume each supervisor is paid an average of $6837.24/year (more then their annual salary) for expenses, such as driving to committee meetings and travel when they attend meetings outside the county. While most business people are paid when they travel, most are not paid to do local travel that is a part of their job, such as travel to committee meetings. Besides if each supervisor is attending 3 committee meetings and 1 monthly board meeting and each meeting averages 2 hours that is a total of 8 hours, or $62.50/ hour. How many of us make that much per hour? And for those supervisors who fail to show up for their committee meetings a 2 hour County Board meeting pays $250/hour.

Point 5

Ask yourself who would have time to serve full-time on the County Board if it were downsized? Walworth County is currently served by a wonderfully diverse group of citizens: farmers, blue collar workers, business owners, retirees. This is who Walworth County is!

Counter point
First, I doubt that reducing the board would require full time supervisors. Since elected official must live in their district Walworth County will continue to “be served by a wonderfully diverse group of citizens: farmers, blue collar workers, business owners, retirees” because that is group from which we will choose. We currently hire a professional full time administrator and many full time managers. In addition we have elected full time people. What we need is a dedicated group of supervisors to determine policy and provide oversight to the very good people hired or elected to work full time. They simply need to set policy and provide oversight to our current professional staff. That is not necessarily a full time job.

Point 6
The state mandates redistricting following the 2010 census. Doing it 2 years early can be redoubling the cost to county and municipalities. It will have to be done again in 2010. Why should we pay twice?

Counter point
This is a typical response from this board double counting costs. The last time redistricting was done; it was accomplished inside the county without any outside help. The labor to redistrict was done by the towns, villages and city employees and the county employees. What is this cost they are talking about. What you are hearing is a supervisor attempting to justify increased employment or an increase in pay. Supervisors should be worried about why the pension and health insurance funds are not adequately funded rather than if we will have to work a little harder to handle redistricting. Or perhaps they should worry about a redistricting plan that is fair to the voters.

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