Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2011 11:15:13 -0500
From: Joe Kingley
Subject: County Line
I really must comment on the column written by Julian Sereno, editor and publisher of Chatham County Line in the vol. 9, Issue 1 of February, 2011. His article is headed “Do Republican numbers really add up?”, and contains the following:
“Here in Chatham, the new Board of Commissioners has…..eliminated the position of Director of Human Relations and axed its incumbent, Esther Coleman…….the money the County saves by no longer paying a salary to Esther Coleman has negative offsets, and not just for causing hardship to a public servant. It’s money that she will no longer use to pay for goods and services. A little less money circulates throughout Chatham’s economy…..”
I will not comment on the pros and cons of the release of Esther Coleman, as there have already been many comments on this. However, I must comment on the economic logic of the writer.
The money the County saves is either money we can allocate to another project/employee, money we do not have to allocate to a salary, or funds we would need to raise in taxes in order to pay the salary. (If we borrow the money, then that would be contrary to the budget cutting platform the new Commissioners were elected to do.
If we allocate it to another project/employee, then those dollars will be spent by the other individual/s. If the money needs to be taxed to meet the salary payment, then the taxpayers have fewer dollars to spend in the Chatham County economy as the County government has appropriated it. Either way, the dollars remain in the economy, just in someone else’s pocket.. I do not know the political leaning of Julian Sereno, but his observations are typical of the liberal approach to economics based on an appeal to the emotions, and not on logic. I am very glad that Mr. Sereno is not responsible for the management of our County funds.