Volume 1, Issue 3 Page 1 and 2

MISS A MEETING? VIEW A REPLAY! Click on 'Live Broadcasts' at the top of our webpage: grandcountyuncensored.
com
Pulling us out of the mainstream
GRAND COUNTY'S $85,047 A DAY HABIT

grandcountyuncensored.com
July 2011, Volume 1, Number 3 || Free
A serious discussion about county spending
Opinion and commentary by [email protected]
According to its 2011 budget, Grand County will spend $31,042,380 during the 2011 fiscal year. Thats a lot of money, but smaller numbers are much easier to work with. I like to look at the budget compared to numbers I can actually identify with: 1) Grand County has budgeted to spend $85,047 every single day, including weekends and holidays, of the 2011 fiscal year. 2) To meet their budget, your commissioners need to collect the equivalent of $5.72 a day, every day of the year from each of their 14,843 citizens (If you actually believe there are nearly 15,000 people in this county). Thats $40.11 a week $160.43 per monthper person! 3) Grand County needs to extract the equivalent of $2,091 out of each of its 14,843 citizens for the 2011 fiscal year. Park County, in contrast, will take $1,780 from each of its 16,762 citizens in 2011 nearly 17.5 percent less per person. 4) Our county government will consume $3,543.65 every hour and $59.06 every minute of the 2011 budget year, day and night. 5) If you earn $10 an hour over the average 40hour work week, youll bring home $400 weekly before taxes. Over that same five day period, Grand County will suck $425,238 out of the economy in the form of property and sales taxes and fees. 6) A person earning $10 an hour will bring home $20,800, before taxes, over the average 2,080 hour work year. Because the county extracts taxes 24 hours a day, including weekends and holidays, it has 1,492 times the earning power of that worker. 7) Grand County consumes the equivalent of the entire gross wages of 1,492 workers earning $10 per hour. If the county were an employee working a five day work week, it would make $14,924 an hour. Using U.S. Census figures as a guide, we can calculate the financial burden on the average Grand County household of 2.56 persons with a 2009 median income of $58,209. It should be pretty plain to see that number is optimistic in 2011, since the recession was just gaining steam back then, but we'll use it since it's all we have. From number three above, we see the county needs the equivalent of $2,091 from each of its citizens to make its budget. That works out to $5,353 per average household, or 9.1 percent of their gross income going into the county's coffers. Link to Grand County fiscal 2011 budget: http://tinyurl.com/5ujl93z Link to Park County fiscal 2011 budget: http://tinyurl.com/3lt82ax
A SYSTEM OUT OF BALANCE

At this week's Tuesday meeting of the Board of County Commissioners, one commissioner took umbrage with my piece last week pointing out those public employees who make $100,000 or more in Grand County. The commissioner thought it unfair to compare Grand County's employee salaries to those of White House staff instead of focusing on similar counties in Colorado for a comparison. The commissioner pointed out that Grand County didn't hire excessively during the boom years has run a surplus paid off debts when the economy started to tank and has not had to engage in the same level of layoffs other counties have. With nearly $14 million in their war chest$9 million of which is discretionarythe commissioner pointed out the county 'only' has a little over three months of operating expenses in the bank. Having a balanced checkbook and no debt is an admirable position for anyone's personal finances however, scrutiny must be greater when the funds in the checkbook come out of the pockets of citizens subject to a taxing authority. Grand County most likely has areas within its various budgets using far more taxpayer dollars than are necessaryI will be going over the budget with a finetooth comb in the coming months as work progresses on the 2012 budget to identify those areas. Every county has constitutionally required services it must provide its citizens law enforcement recording judicial road and bridge to name a few. But there are services the county provides that may be construed as valueadded. These are the types of services that have a way of sucking up more and more of the public's resources as they grow and mature. They also have a way of being retained far beyond their 'use by' dates. One such example would be the building & sanitation and the planning & zoning departments. Ask any lumberyard, contractor or realtor in the county how business has been over the last couple of years, and you'll get a pretty clear picture of how bad the economy has become. Yet, we have a total of 11 employees dedicated to these functions within our county (based on the county website). These are real people with families, and cutting or eliminating functions of these departments would be a very hard nut to swallow but the fact is government must shrink at a greater rate than the private sector if we are ever to get on even footing again. Grand County will spend approximately $16 million on salaries and benefits this year. Every single one of those dollars will come out of private citizen's incomes in the form of a tax or fee first. A balanced checkbook just isn't good enough.
The Grand County Uncensored logo and grandcountyuncensored.com are trademarks of Uncensored Media, LLC. All content copyright 2011, Uncensored Media, LLC.
BIG NEWS AT EAST GRAND SCHOOLS

No, it's not the fact the roof of the high school gymnasium will cost nearly $200,000 to fix. With a $1,000 deductible, I think the district can handle the hit. The first major announcement at the July 19th board meeting was the resignation of Board Member Gail Delphia, whos letter stated July 19th as her date of resignation. This has left the school board in quite a pickle. There are two years left on her term, and they have 60 days to appoint someone to take her place until the November elections. With Delphia gone, there are a total of four board positions up for grabs. With a majority of the six board seats open, there is a chance for real and sweeping changes to take place within the district. The district will be hosting an open house on the evening of August 16th to answer any questions potential board members may have, and to get a feel for potential incoming freshman members. Petitions will be available from the district on August 8th and require 50 signatures from registered voters within any part of the East Grand School District. Anyone interested in the interim seat on the board in Delphias place should send their resume to the district for review by August 25th Selection of the temporary board member will be at the next regular board meeting after that date. The board is considering a conflict of interest measure. The measure will require any new board member who is working for the district to resign as an employee before filling the position. It would also prohibit an employee from acting as a board member. With two current district employees acting as board members, this is a very relevant and important topic. The measure will be voted on at a meeting in the near future.
BE PART OF THE SOLUTION
Four Board Positions Opening Up Petitions Available August 8th

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Petitions Must Have 50 Signatures From Registered Voters

Contact Board Secretary Sarah Berggren for more specifics: email: [email protected] Phone: (970)8872581
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If you'd like to run for the EGSD board and need help gathering signatures, I'd like to interview you for a profile in this paper. Contact me at the email or phone number on the lower righthand side of this page. Ed.
Letter From The Editor

Grand County is a small community with a diverse group of people and opinions. Because of that, it is sometimes difficult to speak out without fear of reprisal from the community at large. I've spoken to numerous people from representatives to business owners to regular citizens who would like to contribute their voices, but will not do so with their identity attached. To that end, I allow anonymous contributions as long as I know who you are or you have very good informationReggie
Why isn't your business featured here? You just missed getting your message out to more than 1000 people around Grand County. Our first issue had 1800 copies taken the first week. The 700 we printed last week were gone in a flash, so we're distributing 1000 for this run.
TOSSING THE IDEA?
Grand County Uncensored started just three short weeks ago, and I've received numerous phone calls, emails and general comments in favor of my efforts. I appreciate the accolades, but none of this effort is worthwhile unless the citizens of Grand County take just a moment of time to voice their opinions. It can be a simple email or voice message, but make sure they know you're listening. Whether you're 18 or 80 agree with my opinions or not, what you think is very important and has a large impact on the process of governance. Many people have told me they'd like to donate to the Grand County Uncensored effort, and have asked where to send money. I won't lie smart phones Internet access ink and paper aren't free! If you'd like to donate to this effort, please understand that your contributions are NOT tax deductible, but they are appreciated. You may send any form of funds to: Uncensored Media, LLC P.O. BOX 1738 Fraser, CO 80442
Follow Us On Twitter @gcuncensored If once the people become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions. Thomas Jefferson
Contact the editor: [email protected] (303)5527963

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MISS A MEETING? VIEW A REPLAY! Click on 'Live Broadcasts' at the top of our webpage: grandcountyuncensored.

GRAND COUNTY'S $85,047 A DAY HABIT

July 2011, Volume 1, Number 3 || Free

A serious discussion about county spending

Opinion and commentary by [email protected]

A SYSTEM OUT OF BALANCE

BIG NEWS AT EAST GRAND SCHOOLS

BE PART OF THE SOLUTION

Four Board Positions Opening Up Petitions Available August 8th

Petitions Must Have 50 Signatures From Registered Voters

Letter From The Editor

TOSSING THE IDEA?

Contact the editor: [email protected] (303)5527963

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