Blaskowitz lays out his report

Yesterday, Dace Blaskovitz, who set New Castle County a buzz with his report on county government finances and their dire situation, wrote an op-ed in which he detailed what he believes is the problem with county government.  His report received lots of attention when columnist Ron Williams wrote his own opinion piece agreeing with Dace.  Blaskovitz states that "NCCo government is simply unsustainable" in his report and points out that "from 2005 to 2010, NCCo property tax rates increased 55 percent. Sewer rates increased more than 60 percent from 2005 to 2011."  Despite these increases, New Castle County government outspent revenues and blew through a previous surplus.  "From 2000 to 2009, pension assets increased $9 million, while the county's unfunded accrued actuarial liabilities increased over $140 million."  This includes problems like "The county pension assets currently total about $350 million", and "The retiree health care cost is a nearly $250 million unspoken future black cloud."

Blaskovitz takes particular aim at the county's pension, retiree health care and the number of employees because the county has let things get so out of control.  He cites an example of retired New Castle County police officers who "receive a never-ending, no-cap 3 percent compounding COLA. Therefore, most NCCo police will average...the same compensation in their retirement as when they were employed. For reference, an NCCo police officer with five years experience is paid around $85,000 a year (in salary alone)."  Dace points out that 75% of the county's spending occurs in the personnel field.  The size of county government is astounding, the county employs around 1,500 people and most are full time employees.  This places New Castle County government in the list as the 5th largest employer in the State of Delaware, with more employees than Barclays Bank and ING Direct combined (state government is the largest).  New Castle County has "Almost 100 full-time county employees are paid close to or more than $100,000. With few exceptions, gold-plated health care extends to the grave."

Blaskovitz smacks readers in the face with his honest assessment of the county financial situation (where was this in October when former County Executive Chris Coons was lying to the public about New Castle County I wonder) when he writes, "after years of delaying executive decisions, hoping an economic bounce would magically undo the dilemma, dwindling reserves are now forcing a day of reckoning."  Dace further points out that the unions aren't done asking for more and more county tax payers.  He doesn't just spotlight the county problems, Dace presents solutions that I for one agree with.  He suggests that "citizens should demand a reduction in head-count. NCCo's actuary has pension and health care proposals waiting for action. Salaries have to reflect the balance sheet. Perhaps a spending oversight board would assist in fiscal restraint."  He even calls for the possibility of merging or consolidating New Castle County, municipal and city infrastructure where practicable which is something that Republican County Council President candidate Tom Kovach has pointed to as an area he would work to attack immediately.  While the Democrats who joined Blaskovitz and Republican Wayne Smith on the committee that put together the report issued a suggestion that the county raise taxes AGAIN, Dace suggests that " it is unconscionable for "revenue enhancements" to even be mentioned in our report."  He calls for county government to tighten its belt instead of heaping their bad financial practices on the people of Delaware.

New Report: New Castle County is BROKE!

The News Journal is only 2 months late in reporting a startling fact that may have turned the tide of the November elections.  In an article printed today (January 5^th 2011), columnist Ron Williams laid out the news that New Castle County is flat BROKE!  This news did not come from the Caesar Rodney Institute or a conservative think tank but straight from the incoming County Executive Paul Clark’s own transition team.  A report from Dace Blaskovitz, a member of Clark’s transition team, shows that now Senator Chris Coons lied to the citizens of Delaware when he said that New Castle County’s finances were in good shape and misrepresented the job he did as County Executive.  Despite calls by Coons’ opponent, Christine O’Donnell to investigate the actual state of the county’s finances, the Wilmington News Journal ignored the obvious dire straits that New Castle County faces and instead relied on a report by credit rating agencies that New Castle County received a AAA bond rating  as proof of sound fiscal practices.  The same rating agency that gave New Castle County a AAA bond rating failed to anticipate failures at the nation’s top banks, AIG and GM/Chrysler. 

Williams goes on to point out that Clark’s transition team has recommended yet ANOTHER increase in property taxes.  Coons raised them three times during his terms in office including a 25% spike in 2009 coupled with a 5% pay cut for County employees.  The alternative to another tax increase is a combination of leaving open vacant positions and/or the laying off of more than 120 workers.  Blaskovitz confirmed what Ms. O’Donnell and her campaign staff had been saying though out the campaign, that the County’s fiscal situation was much worse than Coons was admitting to.  According to the report filed by Blaskovitz and former House Majority leader Wayne Smith, the county’s debt has more than doubled in the last 5 years while property taxes went up 55% and sewer fees went up 60%.  These numbers are in line with what the O’Donnell campaign had told the public and what the News Journal had refused to point out throughout the election.   Despite claims by Coons that he had cut hundreds of millions of dollars from the county budget, Blaskovitz points out that “government spending outpaced revenues”.   Blaskovitz writes, "while the county's unfunded accrued actuarial liabilities increased over $140 million. Retiree health cost is nearly $250 million," and he points out that pension assets went up by $9 million since 2000 when Coons took over as County Council President under Tom Gordon.

Coons had spent the campaign telling Delawareans that he had managed to keep New Castle County’s head above water despite a tumultuous economic time period.  In retrospect, Coons succeeded at simply burying the problems NCC faces.  Blaskovitz goes on to say, "So after years of delaying executive decisions hoping an economic bounce would magically undo the dilemma, dwindling reserves are now forcing a day of reckoning."  As O’Donnell had pointed out repeatedly throughout the campaign, much to the chagrin of those listening, Blaskovitz (whose financial resume is extensive), suggests that these problems cannot (and never could) be solved by raising taxes and fees but instead by “immediate belt-tightening”.   This report shows that Chris Coons and his Democrat comrades lied to the people of Delaware during the campaign and it shows what Coons will do as a U.S. Senator.  At a time when we need MORE fiscal responsibility, we have sent someone with less.  At a time when we need MORE openness and transparency in Washington, Delaware has added more deception and “creative accounting”.  At a time when we need real leadership in Washington, we have sent a man who buckles under pressure, lies to his constituents and buries the truth.  In the end, this may have been averted if the people of Delaware had heard this kind of unbiased information from an independent source like, the Wilmington News Journal.  Unfortunately, this information came 2 months too late for Delawareans to really understand the man they sent to Washington.  Perhaps they should have sent a woman.

Donald Trump to run for President in 2012

That's right folks.  "The Don" is more than considering it.  He's told close friends and relatives to get ready because after "The Apprentice" wraps up he's announcing it publicly on NBC.  That's the report from Newsmax who cites sources close to Trump.  Only time will tell, Trump has flirted with the idea of running before but nothing materialized.  With that said, Donald Trump has been a leading opponent of Obama and his policies and is rabidly pro-defense.  Trump was willing to cut Obama slack early on but his tone has hardended over the last couple of years as he has seen the direction in which Obama is driving the country. 

Trumps largest concerns are jobs and the economy, America's standing in the world, our weakening defense and China holding our debt.  Trump has some interesting ways to tackle these concerns as well, including an interesting plan to tax China and using those revenues to pay down our debt with China which would lock the nation into a cycle of debt reduction.  Basically the idea is that China will HAVE to pay the tax if it wants to recoup it's investment in American debt.  Could China call the debt and eat the losses?  Perhaps, but Trump obviously thinks it's unlikely and given that Donald Trump has grown and grown and grown as a businessman, I'm inclined to believe him.  He's also recently inserted himself into the NYC Mosque controversy and offered to put up a portion of the money needed to move the mosque to a location more conducive to building bridges and providing access to Muslims. 

Weighing Trump down is a 14 yr old case involving a New Jersey widow whose home Trump tried to have the government condemn so he could expand his casino.  This suit was CLEARLY in violation of the right to property and was not a proper use of eminent domain.   Has "The Don" changed his tune?  Is this worse than 30 years of attendence at Reverend Wright's church?  Is it more harmful than being a radical socialist for ones entire life?  Only time will tell but Newsmax has a poll that shows Obama up 53-47 over Trump right now.  If the economy worsens, as Trump lays out his plan, he is likely to close that gap.  If nothing else, this will be an interesting primary and general election cycle.