Yesterday, the Orleans County Legislature adopted the 2009 budget that includes a $3.2 million spending increase and a property tax rate of $9.16 per $1000 of assessed value – the same tax rate the county charged in 2008 resulting from a record increase.
The vote was 5-0-1. Legislator Bill Eick (R) was absent and Legislator Gary Kent (D) abstained.
Yes, you read that correctly. Legislator Kent abstained on arguably the most important vote of the year.
Why would he do that? The Journal-Register article offers a hint:
“The entire Legislature spends a lot of time on the budget,” Kent said. “Hour after hour, day after day. I think that might be misunderstood by some of the people in the community. I think generally speaking, we did a really fine job on the budget. I think it could have been a little bit better.”
That doesn’t offer much in terms of reasoning, but it does raise some questions.
For starters, abstaining is usually reserved when you have a conflict of interest on a certain piece of legislation that prohibits you from having an unbiased view on the bill. In this case, I’m not sure Kent abstaining applies. He had no conflict of interest and from what I can tell, there is nothing that prevented him from voting on this.
If Kent didn’t like the budget, he could have simply voted “no.” He didn’t offer a clear opinion either way, only saying “I think it could have been a little bit better.” That’s short on specifics, so I’m not really sure what Kent was thinking. But if there was enough for Kent to like, why not vote yes? It can go either way.
The budget comes with another spending increase ($3.2 million from 2008 to 2009) and that alone is a reason why I don’t like it. Plus, the budget upholds a tax increase that last year was the second-highest tax rate we have ever had in Orleans County. Those are two things very wrong with this budget. That is why, if I had a vote, I would have voted against the budget.
What do you think of the budget?
