HINT OF A TAX HIKE?

Supervisor, Dan Davis held his December "Community Meeting" on Thursday night. This installment of his current propaganda effort was held in Cainhoy for the 8th Council District. GE&P received several reports from those in attendance.

The meeting began with the usual 20+ minute monolog by Mr. Davis. Once again, Mr. Davis made the false statement that his administration presided over the first balanced budget in BC in 16 years. Note to Mr. Davis and his crack finance team: When the last number on your spread sheet is in the minus, you are running a deficit.

Mr. Davis stressed that the State had cut funding to BC. He explained how many County positions had been eliminated through attrition and that there had not been any layoffs. Then, he mentioned, in passing, that many Counties had adopted a process of rolling blackouts for the EMS in order to stay within budget. GE&P advises that you pay close attention to obscure little remarks like this one. It could be a precursor to the old "OMG, if we don't raise taxes, we'll have to close the Washington Monument" tactic. Stay alert.

Even though the number of folks in attendance was small, the questioning was active and to the point. This is by no means to imply that these questions were answered. The overall impression voiced to GE&P by attendees was that they ended up with more questions than answers.

One taxpayer indicated he was happy that the Carolina Nursery property deal had fallen through. He questioned Mr. Davis as to the value of even considering incurring more debt when the County was facing such an uncertain economic future. Mr. Davis stated the purchase would not have cost the taxpayers anything as he intended to pay the $14-$16 million cost with the FILOT (fee in lieu of taxes) from county businesses. We all need to remember, this FILOT is the same funding that was supposed to be paid to the School System. (Mr. Davis simply took these funds from the schools earlier in the year.)

As a followup, one person asked for a ballpark figure as to how much the State had cut funding in the last year. This person couldn't get an answer even though the Supervisor, the Chairman of the Finance Committee, and the Director of the Finance Department were all present. GE&P would think that such an important figure that was affecting the County's finances so negatively would be right on the tip of their collecting tongue. Not so, in this case.

As would be expected, GE&P has a few questions of our own.

Since Mr. Davis took office, he has appropriated 29% of our property tax relief from the LOST.

Mr. Davis has raised our water and sewer rates by 30%.

Mr. Davis has burdened us with another 1 cent LOST. (Local Option Sales Tax)

Mr. Davis has "borrowed" $10 Million from W&S's fund balance

Mr. Davis has "redirected" much of the FILOT (Fee In Lieu of Taxes) funds away from the School System and into the general fund.

Mr. Davis failed to make the customary adjustment to the millage rate after reassessment, which resulted in even higher property taxes.

Mr. Davis attempted to get BC into the real estate speculation business with his plan to purchase the Carolina Nursery property.

Now, we find that Mr. Davis has signed a purchase agreement for BC to buy 16 acres of land (old fairgrounds) to build his "Dan Davis Health and Human Services Campus" at a cost to the taxpayers of $20+ Million. This purposed facility won't even house County agencies. It will house DSS, Head Start, and DEHEC.

Also, part of his grand plan is to refurbish the old hospital building to house a new "Dan Davis Judicial Center".

When we add the cost for these "necessary" projects to the money needed for a new library for Hanahan, the purchase and renovation of the Food Lion Property, the Berkeley Senior's facility in Moncks Corner, a new and improved Emergency Operations building (to the tune of $9 Million), and a new Courthouse in St Stephens (to guarantee Steve Davis' future support on Council) to the numerous other projected "investments" envisioned by Mr. Davis, the price tag comes to over $54 Million. Even when we combine our LOST revenue through 2014 with yet another $10 Million bond that has already been floated in our names, completion of these projects still requires an additional $15 1/2 Million.

Question 1.

Where do you think Mr. Davis will "find" this shortfall?

Question 2.

When we add the additional revenues listed above to the existing sources of revenue the County already enjoys, Fines, Forfeitures, and Fees, Licenses and Permits, Interest income, State and Federal funding, Existing property taxes, Interfund Transfers, and the ever so popular Miscellaneous Income, where the hell is all the money going?

Question 3.

If the County is in such financial straights, why would we be involved in all this new unnecessary spending?

Question 4.

Could the fact that the 4 Conservative Republican members of Council are assured to oppose this reckless spending be the catalyst for Mr. Davis' desire to change Council Rules? (More on this topic tomorrow)

GE&P and countless other taxpayers of BC are totally confused by many of Mr. Davis' positions. Out of one side of his mouth he says how financially strapped the County is becoming. Then, at the same time, he proposes borrowing and spending clear to the horizon. In our humble opinion, the spending needs to stop so we can get our financial house in order in preparation for the leaner times yet to come.

YOU CAN RUN BUT YOU CAN'T HIDE

GE&P would like to make one thing perfectly clear. The greatest majority of our posts are directly connected to political issues. We do not personally attack people, and this includes politicians. When we discover situations or "relationships" among the county leaders and controllers of our tax dollars which directly affect the taxpayers, we have no qualms about blowing the whistle. We only post statements and information for which we have irrefutable proof.

GE&P has long contended that our Berkeley County Council is equally divided by a vote of 4 Republicans and 4 Democrats, with a tie-breaker vote cast by yet another Democrat. Because of this, many tax and spend policies have been adopted. This brings us to several exchanges via email and Face Book to which GE&P has become privy. In these exchanges, GE&P is viciously criticized for circulating false rumors. One of the so called "false" rumors is that County Councilman, Bob Call is, in fact, a Democrat. Mr. Call has been quoted as saying, "I was a Republican before Timmy (Tim Callanan) was even born."

In support of our contention, GE&P would encourage our readers to go to SCVOTES.ORG.

Search for Berkeley County Votes Cast In General Election Held in South Carolina November 6, 1984. Scroll to the County Council, District 3 race results. There you will find the candidates who ran and the vote count. You will see that Mr. Cox, Republican ran against Mr. Robert Call, Democrat and the Democrat, Mr. Call, lost the race 2 to 1.

Mr. Call suffered this resounding defeat when he ran as a member of the party whose platform he truly supported because the voters of his district, even today, wouldn't elect a Democrat as dogcatcher. Consequently, the next election cycle, Mr. Call ran again for the same seat but, this time, simply substituted the "D" behind his name with an "R" and was successful. See how easy it is?

GE&P does not recognize a true Republican by the letter behind the name. We recognize them by their actions and that would not include following the Democrats with their tax and spend policies. Case closed.

LOST REVISITED

We are certain all of you remember the famous Local Option Sales Tax issue from years back. BC government tried for several years to get "We the Taxpayers" to agree to this new tax. Twice we rejected it out of hand. It wasn't until County Council gave its word, in writing, that 100% of this tax would be credited to property tax relief that the taxpayers agreed to the increase. This was done by way of a referendum.

Fast forward to Dan Davis' first term of office. In the 2008/2009 budget year, the taking of the 29% was skillfully hidden within the budget, supposedly for only that budget year, and most taxpayers were blissfully unaware of the theft. However, when time rolled around for the 2009/2010 budget process, the cat was out of the proverbial bag when Mr. Davis, again, included the taking of the tax relief money. Mr. Davis realized he would face major opposition to this move so his faithful surrogates jumped to his defense. For months we heard how cash strapped the county was and if we didn't relinquish 29% of our LOST tax relief, the county would literally go belly up. We heard this story repeated by all four of Mr. Davis' Democrat supporters on County Council. This budget was passed and 29% of our tax relief was taken, again.

In the 2010/2011 budget process, the taking of the 29% was, once more, included. We hadn't heard such poor-mouthing from elected officials in all our lives as we heard from Mr. Davis and his other 4 Democrats on Council. "If the money from our 29% wasn't included in the budget, employees would have to be laid off." "The county wouldn't be able to meet its obligations." "The county wouldn't be able to keep the lights turned on." "All the poor little children would starve and they would be forced to sleep outside in four feet of snow." The taxpayers and the 4 Conservative Republicans on Council (Fish, Callanan, Farley, and Mrs. Davis) weren't buying this story. Finally, when Mr. Davis realized he had overwhelming opposition, he and his four other Democrats resorted to breaking Council Rules to adopt the budget. In defense of their actions, Mr. Davis and his four Democrat supporters on Council (Pinckney, Schurlknight, S.Davis, and Call) painted a very grim picture as to what would have befallen the county had they not taken our 29%.

Well, guess what? GE&P knows in advance that this revelation is going to shock one and all but.......THEY LIED. The truth has a funny way of rearing its ugly head when you least expect it. They are not spending the 29% of our tax relief money on employee salaries. They are not spending it on the light bill. They are not using it to meet county obligations. And, they are not feeding and housing those poor little starving, freezing children with it either. Would you like to know where our tax relief money is really being spent?

SIDEBAR: Since GE&P doesn't want to tip our hand prematurely and allow Mr. Davis to realize exactly how much we do know, we will only give you a partial list of his planned uses for our tax relief money. Here goes.

THE DAN DAVIS HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES CAMPUS

$20+ Million. This complex is planned to sit on the 16 acres next to Ace Hardware in Moncks Corner. This is the land for which Mr. Davis has negotiated a purchase contract for $1.6 Million (that's $100,000 an acre based on the sellers assessment) without the knowledge of (the four Conservative Republican Councilmen) or approval of Council. This "campus" will not house county offices or agencies. It will house Head Start, DSS, and DEHEC. Last time we checked, these were all either State or Federal agencies. Isn't that sweet? There is much, much more to this story still to come.

THE STEVE DAVIS ST. STEPHEN COURTHOUSE/SENIOR CENTER/LIBRARY

This little project is cheap by comparison. It is projected to cost a mere $3 Million. But, this price doesn't include the cost of the land. Another $318,000 is budgeted for land purchase. Question: Even if you were to pay $10,000 an acre, wouldn't that be a purchase of almost 32 acres? Now, that's a parking lot. On a completely different subject, can anyone help us out and tell us how to correctly spell the word "kickback"?

At this time, we won't go into the projected purchase/renovations of the Food Lion ----$4.75 Million or the construction of a new Emergency Operations building------$9 Million.

All of these and many more of Mr. Davis' pie-in-the-sky ideas (not mentioned yet) would be wonderful, if we could afford them. But, in fact, we can't. When Mr. Davis first took our tax relief money, it was supposed to be for only one year. After three years, he still contended the county would go broke if he didn't keep taking it. Now, we learn exactly how he plans to spend our hard earned tax relief dollars.

Even when we combine the 29% of our tax relief derived from the Local Option Sales Tax with the $10 Million bond that has been issued, (that means more debt) the financing of all of Mr. Davis' new projects still falls short by multi Millions of dollars. Where do you think this additional shortfall will come from?

GE&P has a suggestion. If you think these plans reflect an acceptable expenditure of our tax relief money, sit at home and watch a sit-com next Monday night. If you disagree with Mr. Davis' plans, come to the County Council meeting and voice your disapproval. The Council meetings are held in the Council Chamber at the Administration building in Moncks Corner at 6:00PM on the second and fourth Mondays of each month.

NOTE: Tomorrow we will discuss the fact that Mr. Davis wants to strip County Council of its power of oversight by changing Council Rules. This maneuver you truly won't believe.

LOW DRAWER AND DISHONEST, AGAIN

On the off chance you haven't heard yet, a high level Berkeley County elected official has been caught in a rather embarrassing position. This official is being sued for divorce by a wronged spouse. It seems this official was caught "red handed ?" with a long time "friend". The confusing part is that almost every living soul in Berkeley County, with the possible exception of the spouse, knew about the affair for years.

Normally, GE&P would not waste one drop of ink on such disgusting, salacious behavior, but as usual, there's more to the story.

It seems this unfortunate revelation didn't just happen yesterday. The blow-up happened some months ago and the elected official paid off the offended spouse to keep quiet until after the Nov. 2nd election. Isn't that sweet?

GE&P has established a firm position on this issue: The original bad behavior falls far beneath the moral and ethical standards of the majority of Berkeley County voters. But more importantly, for this official to deliberately pull the wool over the eyes of these same voters by promising to 'sweeten the pot' with the divorce settlement if the spouse remained silent until after the election, goes beyond the pale. This level of manipulation and deceit has no place in Berkeley County.

"If your spouse cannot trust you, why should the taxpayers?"

REPUBLICANS? WE DON'T THINK SO

By now, we suppose all of you have received your invitation to the big event. On the slim chance you haven't heard about it, allow us to fill you in. Ambassador Robert Royall is throwing a big shindig at his Silk Hope plantation "honoring" our very own Supervisor, Dan Davis. The invitation contains, in small print, the fact that contributions between $250 and $1000 will be gratefully appreciated. Please make all checks out to the Dan Davis reelection campaign.

It is really amusing how the truth will always come out. You see, there is more to the story. Everyone in Berkeley County has seen the photo, released by Bob Call, of Dan Davis standing in Democrat Caldwell Pinckney's living room on election night, helping Mr. Pinckney celebrate his win over his Republican challenger in the Council District 7 race. Even the willing accomplice, the Berkeley Independent, tried to convince everyone, by implication, that the photo in question was taken at the Cross Community Center upon a different occasion. It wasn't.

Now Mr. Davis is receiving this great honor from none other than Ambassador Royall, appointee of both Gov. Beasley and President Bush. Good, strong Republican, right? Wrong. This is the same Ambassador Royall who supported and campaigned for none other than Vincent Sheheen during the last election.

Isn't it interesting how these "republicans" with a small "r" (we like to refer to them as RINOS) stick together? In fact, the only reason these people put an "R" behind their names on the ballot is that, otherwise, they could not be elected to any office of any consequence in Berkeley County. It would serve the voters well to remember this the next time they step into the voting booth. Unless, of course, some voters simply enjoy being played for fools.

AN ABSOLUTE DISGRACE

We attended Dan Davis' 7th Council District meeting in Cross last night. The meeting hall was packed and, it seemed, everyone had a question. Mr. Davis was well prepared to face any eventuality since he brought with him every department head known to man. County vehicles filled an entire row of the parking lot.

On most fronts, there were no surprises. Davis was confronted about the Hwy. 311 water line and, of course, he dodged all questions. (It's still Jim Rozier's fault) He was asked about the expense of the number of county vehicles parked outside. He dodged that, too. He was asked about the portion of the Fee In Lieu of Tax funds he has stolen from the school system. He wouldn't talk about that either. We are all familiar with Davis' response to these important issues. He simply says the subjects are "old" and moves on to the next question that he has no intention of answering.

It is a bit redundant to recap this behavior from DD (Diminutive Dictator). His tactics of refusing to answer direct questions and/or obfuscating issues to his own benefit have become legendary in Berkeley County. There is no news in this area. But, there was one issue brought up last night that was truly shocking.

A very nice black lady who lives on Asazlee Dr. at the edge of Cross stood up and politely asked Mr. Davis for some help with a problem in her neighborhood. She explained that there was a rehab facility located a few doors from her home. Residing in this facility are numerous registered sex offenders. She said she was concerned for the safely of the children in the neighborhood as these residents from the facility are unsupervised and roam the neighborhood at all times of the day and night . She said they regularly gather on the cul-de-sac where she lives and remain there until the wee hours of the morning. She recounted one incident when she was walking along her street and one of these people jumped out of the woods at her. It was obvious that this lady was very upset and concerned about the whole situation.

It came as no surprise to anyone in the room who had any experience with DD that he did not personally address the concerns of this lady but passed the question off to one of his flunkies. Eric Greenway proceeded to explain the zoning laws to the degree that everyone's eyes began to glaze over. It was obvious to all in the room, except DD and his band of merry men, (sorry Nichole) that this lady didn't give two hoots in hell about the zoning laws. She was concerned about her personal safely and that of her children. But, as usual, this very serious issue was buried under a pile of DD's bureaucratic BS and the lady's legitimate concerns went unaddressed.

We, as with the majority of you, don't live anywhere near Asazlee Dr. and we are in no danger from this situation. But, in our humble opinion, when ANY citizen in Berkeley County is put into a situation of peril, it is the business of EVERY citizen of Berkeley County. The supervisor was remiss when he neglected to personally address the concerns of this lady. His offhanded remark at the end of the exchange was, "If you've got a problem, call the sheriff."

Once more, but certainly not for the last time, we would like to thank those 8000 idiots who put us in this position. If the last four years are any example, things will only get worse.

GUEST EDITORIAL

Guest Editorial: Haley is right choice for South Carolina

Published Tuesday, October 12, 2010 10:11 AM

By Tim Callanan
Berkeley Independent

In June of this year a true milestone was reached in South Carolina politics.

For the first time the voters defied the pundits and elitist Columbia powerbrokers and voted for someone who they thought would bring true reform to the tired Good Ole Boy system that has controlled South Carolina politics for generations. They voted overwhelmingly for Rep. Nikki Haley, a Republican from Lexington. They saw in her someone with whom they could identify.

Nikki is a first-generation daughter of immigrants who exemplifies the values and freedoms that this nation has afforded her. She is a working mother and a wife of a soldier who has learned to balance the family checkbook during tough times.

Nikki did not run for public office because she felt she was entitled; she ran because she saw a system that ceased being accountable to the citizens it was supposed to serve, a system badly in need of reform.

Nikki has been fighting for South Carolinians for years. When she won her seat in the statehouse she did so by defeating one of the longest serving and most powerful incumbents. Nikki hit the ground running and quickly acted to fulfill her campaign pledge to bring smaller, more accountable, more efficient and more transparent government to South Carolina.

Her first target was to make legislators accountable for their votes by mandating house votes be on the record rather than the traditional tactic of hiding behind unanimous consent and voice votes. To the average voter this may seem like a common sense proposal but it put her at odds with good ole boys in Columbia and ultimately resulted in her being stripped of her committee post. This action only strengthened her resolve and with her continued efforts on behalf of the taxpayers she was able to convince her House colleagues to join the fight for transparency and she prevailed.

When she announced her candidacy for governor, she promised to continue with her record of reform as the state’s first female chief executive. With better-funded and better-known candidates in the race, she was not given much of a chance. But as she crossed the state delivering her story and message of reform, it resonated with the voters.

I witnessed this first hand in April when she spoke in front of our county executive committee meeting. She turned a room of largely undecided voters into supporters. Three weeks later she won the Berkeley County GOP straw poll; two weeks after that Sarah Palin endorsed her and a 20-point poll deficit was eliminated.

It was about that time that the Columbia “Republican” elites went apoplectic. They took out their playbook of sleazy campaign smear tactics and began to unload on her. They questioned her fidelity, her faith and her finances. They proved time and time again their willingness to reach new lows in order to bring down Nikki’s surging candidacy.

Unfortunately (for them), they did not count on two factors. The first was that they were up against a candidate who has proven her mettle in battle and was not going to back down. And second and more importantly, they did not anticipate a newly energized and informed electorate that was intelligent enough to see through this pathetically transparent attempt to destroy the reform candidate.

Voters passionately joined her fight to reform Columbia. Moms, dads, military families, small business owners and working families know her as one of their own. Her message of more efficient and accountable government resonated. The voters answered the call and she won the primary with a historic plurality.

Now with one month until the general election, the “Republican” elites are at it again. Recently, a group of GOP “has beens” and “also rans” decided it would better serve their interests to back a liberal Democrat if that meant they could protect the status quo. They are not going to let a working mom from Lexington derail Columbia’s infamous Good Ole Boy money train without a fight.

So expect more arrows and mud to fly in the direction of Rep. Haley in the coming weeks. As always, I expect Nikki will prove her mettle and forge ahead, just as I expect the voters of South Carolina will reject these tired smear tactics and answer the call once more and elect Nikki Haley as the 116th Governor of South Carolina.

Mr. Callanan is the Berkeley County GOP Chairman and a Berkeley County Councilman.