Residents concerned over possible increase in property taxes

The specter of increased property taxes in the coming fiscal year drew a crowd of about two dozen people to the Monday night meeting of the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners.

That fear raised concerns among three people who spoke during a public comment period at the start of the commissioners’ meeting.

And more than a dozen more people packed into the commissioners’ meeting room to hear what they would say about the latest offer from University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina for management of the local hospital and related medical practices.

That issue also drew three speakers – one of whom drove from Engelhard to tell the board of what he said was the bad treatment he received as a patient at Pitt County Memorial Hospital, UHS’s flagship hospital.

“The health care that they provided me, I would have been better off to be taken to a drunken veterinarian,” said Frank Swindell, who presented somewhat graphic testimony of his difficulties with kidney stones some two years ago that led to hospitalization in Greenville.

He urged the commissioners to reject the offer from UHS.

“I believe you people in Beaufort County can solve the problem you are having here,” he said. “You can do it, if you will do it.”

The commissioners met for about an hour in a closed-door session with their lawyer, Robert L. Wilson Jr. of Raleigh, to discuss the latest proposal from UHS, but took no action afterwards.

UHS has reduced its offer for a lease-purchase agreement for Beaufort Regional Health System from $30 million to $25 million in part due to a recent audit of BRHS finances. UHS has also moved forward the deadline for negotiations from April to May 31.

Much of the discussion between the commissioners and their lawyer was expected to focus on the implications of the agreement’s changes, especially the financial implications of those changes.

And although the county board will not begin its 2011-2012 budget discussions until next month, the possibility of a tax increase being included in the budget ą foretold in County Manager Paul Spruill’s 2010-2011 budget recommendations ą drew protesters to Monday’s meeting.

As part of Beaufort County’s 2010-2011 spending plan, Spruill recommended drawing $2.19 million from the county fund balance but cautioned that future budgets could not do that in order to protect county savings.

“The inability to rely on an appropriation from fund balance next year … will mean a recommended tax increase of at least 3.5 cents to be effective July 1, 2011,” the 2010-2011 budget document reads.

Those speaking Monday night said any tax increase would be a bad idea and urged the commissioners to make cuts instead.

“Eliminate county spending wherever you find fat,” said Buzz Cayton, a member of the Beaufort Patriot Tea Party, one of three speakers who cautioned against a property tax increase.

“The people of Beaufort County will not stand for another tax increase next year,” he said.

But some commissioners told the crowd that cuts that would be deep enough to avoid any tax increase will likely be impossible, given the likelihood of budget cuts by state legislators that could pass spending on some programs to the counties and the need to continue to make some $2.7 million in payments on school bond indebtedness.

“How do we keep making that payment without raising taxes?” Commissioner Jay McRoy asked.

The county board turned back a proposal to set the county’s tax rate before budget discussions begin and make cuts based on that rate, choosing instead to wait for budget recommendations from Spruill before beginning their discussions.

“We should pick a tax rate and then argue about what we should cut to get to that tax rate,” said Commissioner Stan Deatherage.

The commissioners rejected the proposal by a vote of 5-2 with Commissioner Hood Richardson joining Deatherage in supporting it.

The county commissioners are scheduled to begin their budget discussions on Monday, May 9.