Michael McDaniel June 2008
I received an email from an unhappy reader. To quote, "Mr. McDaniel you have it all wrong. The cost to taxpayers for county employees has gone down. The County has less people working their today than they did last year at this time..."
It has been noted that the county has become far more efficient this year than last, fewer employees while keeping all the same services to tax payers. However, to assume that the cost for employees has gone down is dead wrong. Let's check the facts. In the counties own 1999/2000 budget their was an expense of $40,248,212 for "Salaries and Benefits." In the most recent budget released (2007/2008) the amount has soared to $78,152,769, an increase of 94%! Just last year that expense column was $75,502,470. Which means the salary and benefits column increased by 4% even though their were fewer employees employed.
Thanks for your efforts on trying to improve numeracy. But, let's not forget that numbers are embedded in words when we communicate. So, maybe some work on literacy would be helpful, too. For example, the writer said "working their today" when it should have been "working there today." The response said "the counties own 1999/2000 budget" when it should have said "the county's own 1999/2000 budget."
Posted by: Bob Branstrom | June 12, 2008 at 01:47 PM
Bob, a great reminder for me to slow down and edit my writing(s). I am glad that my mom (English teacher) does not read the blog :)- Thanks.
Posted by: Michael McDaniel | June 17, 2008 at 04:15 PM