Welcome to the YES! Weekly Pop Quiz, where we ask politicians and public servants questions about their jobs. This week we’re asking questions of the candidates for Forsyth County Commission District B. The rules are simple: The candidates must answer immediately — no research, no callbacks.
Q U E S T I O N S
1) What was the size of the county budget approved in April?
2) Name as many of the Forsyth County bonds approved by the commission on July 28 as you can (including amount and purpose).
3) Do you have any suggestions for holding down the cost of county government?
John C. Gladman (Democrat, challenger)
1) $315 million (X)
2)
We have an $11 million bond that was going to be split several ways,
some going to parks, some going to Tanglewood. There was one
million-dollar one that I don’t remember what it was for. ( )
3)
Wow. We need to streamline all ofour processes and make our current
county government accountable. Knowing that we’re accountable for our
decisions will bring down the cost of government. Things like Salem
Lake — If we correct these things in the beginning maybe they won’t be
so bad. With our schools, we’re giving them money, but at the same time
their performing poorly. ( )
Richard Norman (Libertarian, challenger)
1) I couldn’t tell you. (X)
2) At present there is a $60 million school bond; that’s the only one that comes to mind at the moment. (X)
3)
For starters, don’t approve those two-thirds bonds. Those are capital
expenditures that should rightfully be put to the voters, but the
two-thirds bond loophole allows them to extend debt almost
indefinitely. In es sence, it’s looking at your credit card and maxing
it out. It’s wrong from a fiscal point of view, and it’s wrong because
it doesn’t allow the voters to approve those capital expenditures. If
you want specifics, I haven’t bothered to look at the specif ics yet. I
believe the county wastes a tremendous amount of money, and spending
has got to get under control. Corporate incentives have got to stop. I
think county citizens deserve more bang for buck. ( )
Dave Plyler (Republican, challenger)
1) I can’t give you the exact figure, but somewhere in the neighborhood of $365 million. ( -)
2)
An $11 million school bond proposed to allow the public school system
to move out of their current headquarters and let Forsyth Technical
Community College take over the administration building and the career
center. I can’t think of any of the others. ( -)
3) You’ve got to
take a conservative approach to every budget. That means don’t spend it
if you don’t need it, and if you need it, don’t spend more than you
need to spend. The caveat is you can be penny wise and pound foolish.
Let’s say… where the public school system is concerned, how much longer
are you going to allow kids to go to school in substandard buildings?…
Where the jail is concerned you can turn half the jail population loose
and how much are you willing to risk crime going up?… A lot of people
say, ‘Cut the schools,’ but you can’t. You might cut ambulanc es, but
then you end up saying, ‘Mr. Green, we don’t have an ambulance right
now, but maybe we will in an hour.’You’ve got to pay for those
services. All these people who think they can cut budget no matter what
don’t have a clue. ( )
Nancy Young (Democrat, challenger)
1) Right around $400 million ( -)
2) The latest one is
the school bond that has to do with Forsyth Tech buying Forsyth County
Schools’ administrative office and career center. ( )
3) I really think we need to have an independent panel of
citizens — most people call it a blue-ribbon committee — to come in and
look at the county budget to see where we cut. Let’s kind of go down
some line items and see where we might cut, just a general overall
budget review. ( )
Dr. Jimmie Ziglar (Democrat, challenger)
1) Approximately $300 million (X)
2) School bonds and recreation bonds ( -)
3) My whole campaign is based on accountability and making sure we
spend the money that we have to cover various needs efficiently. On the
other hand we need to make durn sure the money’s spent well, not
wasted, that we’re adequately funding the things that need funding and
making sure we don’t spend too much in the wrong areas. ( )
A N S W E R S
1) $391.7 million
2) $2.4 million for parks and recreation, $7.3 million for schools, $1.2 million for court facilities, and $220,000 for public health facilities ($11.1 million total)
3) Whatever works
