2010 REPORT TO THE CITIZENS OF BC

GE&P, along with every other Republican voter in BC, received a "report" from Supervisor Dan Davis yesterday. After carefully reading this document, it is clear that the only completely truthful statement contained is the fact that "In the three years since taking my oath of office as your Supervisor, Berkeley County has experienced a lot of changes". The remainder of the statements contain enough spin to make W.C. Fields dizzy. It is painfully obvious that Mr. Davis doesn't live within driving distance of "The No Spin Zone".

Our attempt to correct the misstatements contained in this document reminds us somewhat of walking outside the morning after Hugo. There doesn't appear to be a starting place for the cleanup.

When Mr. Davis took office, BC had achieved three credit rating increases over the years and had a fund balance of $7,289,721 or 16.78%. BC was threatened with a credit rating downgrade only after, under Mr. Davis' leadership, the fund balance was reduced to $3,780,604 or 7.46%.

BC government DID forgo cost of living (COLA) and merit raises for all county EMPLOYEES. This freeze did not include elected officials and certain upper level positions. These chosen few experienced huge pay increases. Mr. Davis - $17,797.64, Chip Boling - $9,000, and Nicole Ewing - $14,000 etc.

BC government did owe Santee Cooper $5 million. It was arranged, with the blessing of Santee Cooper, that this debt would be paid over the years with the proceeds realized by the fee in lieu of taxes from Google. Instead, Mr. Davis borrowed millions from Water and Sewer to pay this debt along with other expenditure that have never been made completely clear. This means BC still has the debt. They have just shifted the debt to W&S. We've all heard of borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. This leaves another unanswered question. Where is the money ($1.2 million) from Google now being spent?

Now we come to an issue of great displeasure to the taxpayers of BC. Only on the third attempt to adopt the one cent sales tax did it achieve the approval of the BC taxpayers. This approval pivoted on the promise from County Council that a full 100% of the revenue received would be applied to property tax relief. Mr. Davis decided to steal 29% of our property tax relief realized from the one cent sales tax and add those proceeds to the general fund. Mr. Davis contends State law reads "twenty-nine percent of those funds are to be used at the discretion of the county". In actuality the wording is can be used. Close, but no cigar for Mr. Davis. No matter how well spent the money may be, it still came out of the taxpayers pocket which resulted in a tax increase for all of us.

Mr. Davis' justification for the 30% increase in water and sewer fees boggles the mind. When Mr. Davis took office, there was a W&S fund balance of $24,577,089. That fund balance, at the end of 2009, stood at $15,041,298. Under Mr. Davis' leadership, projects were undertaken like the Cross Water Project. This project alone cost $2.24 million and serves 23 households. That figure amounts to just under $100,000 per tap-in. The break even cost to W&S is just under $4,000. In addition, at one of the four water line termination points in the Cross area, (Hwy. 311) 46,000 gallons of water paid for by the county is dumped into the ditch every 24 hours. This waste does not include the water dumped from the other three termination points at the ends of Ranger Drive, Asazlee Lane on Old Hwy. 6, or Groomstown Road. These dumps amount to literally millions of gallons of wasted water every year. The dollar cost of the water dumped on Hwy. 311 alone is more than twice the amount of revenue collected from the seven customers tapped into the line. Even if you disregard the cost of the dumped water and only consider the revenue generated from the existing customers, it will take over 500 years for this water line to pay for itself.

Don't believe for a moment the Cross water line is the only W&S boondoggle Mr. Davis has overseen since his swearing in. We haven't even addressed the Honey Hill/Shulerville project. We understand from DHEC there are not enough tap-ins to support the proper operation of this line either and dumping has created a man-made drinking water lake at the end of the line. Also, the origin of the funding for the Gants Road/Miracle Academy water project is still veiled in mystery.

With this kind of "leadership", how can a water and sewer rate increase be justified?

Granted, the operation and maintenance of Cypress Gardens cost the county money. Prey tell how much revenue does Hampton Park generate for the city of Charleston? That obvious issue aside, Mr. Davis' condemnation of County Council on this subject left out a few pertinent facts. When Mr. Davis took office, there was a working plan to help improve the Cypress Gardens issue. The Capitol Improvements plan included a sewer line for Cypress Gardens' road. This line was essential to private sector plans to build a hotel across the road from the Gardens. This addition would only have increased tourists' patronage of the Gardens and thereby increased revenue. Mr. Davis unilaterally decided to cancel the sewer line project on Cypress Gardens Road resulting in the cancelation of the planned hotel. In past years, Cypress Gardens was a frequent destination of school field trips and low country tourists. Now that Mr. Davis' plan is in operation, there doesn't seem to be enough money available to even keep the grass cut. Sad.

No one at GE&P claims to be a CPA but we can read a spread sheet. According to the County web site, expenses in 2006 were a bit over $43 million with revenue of almost $45 million. That's running a surplus. In 2009, expenses were a bit over $51 million with revenue of a bit over $50 million. That's running a deficit. As a matter of documented fact, under Mr. Davis' leadership, the County has run a deficit every year he has been in office. We are confounded as to where he derives the conclusion that he has balanced the budget. In addition to running a deficit every year, he has reduced the fund balance from over $7 million (16.78%) to under $5 million. (9.28%) Which head of household in his right mind would brag that he had spent more in a year than he earned while depleting his savings account. More divorces than not are based on such financial leadership.

In his report, Mr. Davis brags about all the economic development in the County since he took office. Mr. Davis lists Boeing. In fact, Mr. Davis had no more to do with the Boing plant than he did with Google or DuPont, for which he was happy to take the credit. If the truth be told, one can count the number of major economic development projects attributable to Mr. Davis on one hand and have fingers left over. This result is directly ascribable to Mr. Davis' decision to fire the most notable and prominent economic development expert, bar none, in the southeastern United States and replace him with a maven from that bastion of economic development, Dillon County. More proof of Mr. Davis' failures in this area is the fact that the SC Department of Commerce has downgraded Berkeley County's economic development standing by a full category. And, Mr. Davis doesn't mention the industries that have left BC since he took office.

And, last but certainly not least, we do believe we heard a report given at County Council that neither the "green energy" program nor the "biofuel'' program was breaking even. FYI: If a business endeavor costs more money than it returns, it's not economically feasible.

When you read his "2010 Report to the Citizens of Berkeley County" do not conclude that Mr. Davis is delusional. He is not. He is simply doing what politicians do in a veiled attempt to obfuscate his failed record. Unfortunately for Mr. Davis, a growing number of BC taxpayers are educating themselves about County government. The resulting "sunshine" makes it increasingly difficult for Mr. Davis to feed the fairy tales contained in his "Report" to the taxpayers. They seem to know immediately they're not drinking free Bubble-Up or eating that rainbow stew.