Carter County Mayor Leon Humphrey when he presented his budget for next fiscal year to the Carter County Budget Commission included an $18,000 annual raise for his administrative assistant, which has raised the eyebrows of committee members. It has also led to some dissent between the mayor and the committee.
The mayor has taken issue with the budget committee’s questioning of the raise. Thursday evening he accused the committee of overstepping its bounds and said members had no right to question the pay raise.
We beg your pardon, Mayor Humphrey. The budget committee has every right to question your budget and salaries for office employees. It has the right to question every county officeholder about their budget. First, commissioners are elected officials just as the mayor is. County officeholders, including the mayor, depend on taxpayer money to operate their offices.
Commissioners should speak and act on behalf of the people they represent, and it is their job to be good managers of taxpayer money. They have every right to question every expenditure in the budget. The county can only do what commissioners authorize it to pay for.
We do not question the mayor’s administrative assistant’s capabilities nor her credentials. However, we do question the way the mayor has gone about maneuvering to make Ms. Susan Robinson the person in charge of economic development for the county. And, the commission has a right to question that also.
Looking back over the past few months, the mayor’s intent has been to place economic development under the control of his office — the lawsuit against Carter County Tomorrow, the interlocal agreement to establish a new Joint Economic and Community Development Board, not to mention Ms. Robinson’s working to be accredited in economic development.
Information presented to the budget committee by Mayor Humphrey Thursday evening said Ms. Robinson would be reclassified as “Economic Development Director” in the Carter County Mayor’s Office of Economic Development. She would report directly to the mayor — no board.
Apparently, the interlocal agreement to establish a new Joint Economic and Community Development Board is a board in name only, with no real duties, no budget, and no oversight of Ms. Robinson. Its only function is to exist so that the county and city can make application for federal or state grants.
Economic development is not a one-person show. Economic development should not be under the control of the county mayor’s office. Certainly there are many other ways to approach economic development. Economic development is not a short range project. The problems we are facing as a community are the result of trends and they will not be solved overnight or by one person or one office.
We understand why there is not a good working relationship between some members of the commission and the mayor’s office. The mayor’s actions and words Thursday night indicates a man who wants to be in charge and it’s his way and you’ll pay.
The mayor needs to be reminded that this is not how government works. The tops down approach does not work.
Economic development will require more than funding a salary. Other expenses will be involved. Who is going to pick up the tab? Has the mayor thought of this or will he just try to bypass the commission and fund it with his budget by increasing it?
The county budget committee is right to question the mayor’s budget as well as his motives.
This is not the way to win new friends, new employers or new jobs, and certainly not cooperation from the county commission.