I read with interest the editorial from the Sept. 17 edition of the Daily News Transcript that deemed the Governor’s Council an “archaic, unnecessary and unaccountable” body that should be “abolished.”
I feel that if the Daily News Transcript’s editors took a similarly critical look at county government, they would come to exactly the same conclusion.
Thanks to shrinking newsroom budgets and an overall growing civic apathy by the general public, the Norfolk County Board of Commissioners has been allowed to operate under a virtual cloak of secrecy for the past 20 years. It’s to the point where I would bet that fewer than 15 percent of Norfolk County residents can name all three commissioners, let alone what they even do, or on what they spend their $4.5 million annual allotment of property tax dollars.
I’m sure the average taxpayer would be unhappy to find out that $100,000 of their property tax dollars are going to fund part-time salaries for the three commissioners, or that two of the county commissioners have now been collecting public paychecks for a combined 95 years.
Given that there are four candidates running for two seats on the board of commissioners (including myself) this fall, I am hopeful that the Transcript would find this a great time to rededicate some of its resources to covering this costly, yet unneeded bureaucracy.
