The County Needs a Strategic Plan and a Budget Aligned with Those Priorities

The County budget process in the last four years has been largely opaque and essentially a repeat of the previous year's budget. In December 2021, the 2022 budget was presented with very little advance notice so that it was impossible for anyone to actually evaluate it. The 2023 budget passed in the Summer of 2022 was only slightly less opaque. The County Administrator repeated said in effect "Give me your priorities and I will come up with a balanced budget to meet those priorities." There was never any discussion of priorities--at least in open meetings.

This needs to change. The County Commission's primary role is to manage tax expenditures, and almost no time has been devoted to that.