As we’ve noted on several occasions, we’re not very impressed with county manager Heidi York’s command of managing local government.
But we want to give credit where credit is due when we believe she has hit upon a reasonable point that should be highlighted.
Last week, during one of two budget workshops that the county commissioners held, she defended her decision to remove several nonprofit organizations from her recommended version of the county government’s spending plan.
York had omitted from the budget altogether $125,000 for the
Rescue Squad and $75,000, each, for Family Abuse Services and Crossroads.
“We say at every budget retreat that we don’t want to continue funding nonprofits,” York went on to observe during last week’s work session. “But every time that I propose cuts to nonprofits, they’re the first thing we put back.”
York reminded the commissioners that she had struck these proposed allocations since they were originally introduced at the height of the coronavirus pandemic to help these organizations survive the accompanying drop-off in private donations.
Needless to say, the pandemic ended several years ago.
These groups have all weathered the storms during and since then.
Each of these organizations does wonderful work, we’re sure, but the underlying issue – and one which York apparently tried to emphasize – is that they are not appropriate recipients (particularly over the long term) for county taxpayer funding.
We’d go further. In our view, all of the nonprofits in the county’s budget, whose subsidies last year totaled over $1.3 million, should be removed.
These nonprofit organizations, alone, account for half a cent on this year’s property tax rate.
The Sword of Peace, Alamance Arts, Alamance Historical Museum, Juvenile Prevention Council, Glencoe Textile Heritage Museum, New Leaf Society, and the African American Cultural Arts Museum might all be worthwhile, as well as the three that commissioners restored – the Rescue Squad, Family Abuse Services, and Crossroads.
In several of these cases, including the ones York proposed cutting, they were put in originally as “temporary” or transitional appropriations. But then they take on a life of their own.
It’s just as Ronald Reagan said several decades ago: “Nothing lasts longer than a temporary government program.”
Another Reagan quote to the same effect: “The closest thing to everlasting life on earth is a government program.”
Commissioners do, indeed, need to get more serious about removing these organizations’ dependence on Alamance County taxpayers – by winding down, if not cutting off immediately, taxpayer-funded subsidies.
Then maybe the county’s taxpayers would have more of their own money that they could donate to the organizations they most care about supporting.
