Yesterday during the Cheyenne County Commissioner’s meeting on the budget we tried to explain our point of view about the burden residents is feeling about taxes. The burden we hear about every day. In our posts, we have tried to show links, evidence, etc. of each issue we have brought to light.
During the meeting, the new Commissioner’s salary was brought up. We were told by Commissioner Miller that we were wrong, and not to believe everything we see on Facebook. Commissioner Miller explained the figures we show, directly from the printed purposed budget were incorrect. They will not take an entire increase as shown in the budget. We did point out that taxpayers still have to fund that amount which he admitted was true.
In an effort to provide more clarity on our point which we feel many in the county need, we provide the following for everyone to consider. This is not to say people don’t need raises and the cost of things does go up. We are all for raises. This is to point out that while this property owner’s value went up 10%, budgeted salaries are going up 66%.
Above we have taken a typical home for sale now in Sidney. You can see from the chart the pandemic and influx of people leaving large cities have dramatically affected the value of this home in the last few years.
In 2016 this home was worth 176K
Today this home is worth 195K after falling nearly 25K in value in the past 2 months. From 2016 to 2022 the home value went up about 10%
For the following information, we have also provided a pdf you can download and see the values we are about to present for yourself.
In 2016 the Commissioner budgeted 54K for salaries and spent 52,895K.
2017- budgeted was $80,000, spent was $63,798
2018- budgeted was $80,000, spent was $75,820
2019- budgeted was $80,000, spent was $76,905
For 2022 the budgeted amount is $90,000 of which the commissioners told us they will not use it all on pay increases but they need to budget that amount “just in case”, which we do agree with some extra for a variety of reasons.
As you can see, 10 years ago the difference between budget and actual expense was around 2%. Today it is around 16% and over time, as you can see in the PDF of the budgets, this county spends the money.
During the time the home above went up 10% in value, the Commissioner’s budgeted salary is going up 66%.
So our point was, and maybe it is our fault for not being clear enough, that we continue to see increased spending in the county, placing an undue burden on the property owners whose home values are in flux.
Please take a few minutes and look through the PDF link we made below, and make your own decisions. We are going through the budget and looking into how your money is spent. It takes time because there is no specific information on many items.
It is very important that everyone gets involved if we want to control spending.
PDF LINK
2017- budgeted was $80,000, spent was $63,798
Thank you for doing the research and backing your comments with evidence of what you are saying. Truth and Honesty need to take priority in what people say and do. Firebrands can be found in many places these days, but honest true God-fearing people are like a breath of fresh air.
Please always print the truth and only the truth in information shared. We miss KSID and the previous owner’s contributions of what our news people should have been discussing.