Mccaslin Defends Reserve Account

Commissioner Kate McCaslin’s quarterly town hall meeting slipped briefly into political sparring Monday night.

McCaslin and her opponent in the upcoming Republican primary, Sylvia Riddle, traded barbs over the county’s reserve account balance after County Treasurer Linda Wolverton praised the commissioners for saving money.

Wolverton said there were years when her office had to cut personnel by a quarter because there was not enough money to meet payroll. She prefaced the comments by saying she was a Democrat and a licenced accountant.

“I’m here to tell you you’re doing a wonderful job with the budget,” Wolverton said. “Please don’t be under pressure to spend that money.”

After the comments, McCaslin told the crowd of about 45 people Wolverton’s kudos were unsolicited and that she tries not to talk politics at town hall meetings.

The amount of money in the county’s reserve account has been criticized by McCaslin’s political opponents. Riddle has called savings account “too healthy.” Democrat Bill Burke said earlier the reserve balance is “obscene.”

At Tuesday’s meeting, Riddle stood and said she has copies of the reserve balance in December showing it contained $21 million, and a balance sheet from last week that shows there is $13 million in the account. She did not elaborate, but offered to provide copies to anyone who wanted them.

McCaslin responded to Riddle’s comments with a terse accounting lesson. She said the balance sheets are a snapshot in time, and don’t reflect the true balance of the account because all the bills were not paid.

The reserve account contained $16 million until commissioners spent $3 million on law enforcement and road projects recently.

“And I’m proud of it,” McCaslin said.

Burke was at the meeting but did not comment.

Citizens who spoke at the meeting didn’t want to talk about the upcoming primary election.

Iris Kiger and Larry Cloke said they are still having problems developing their riverfront property on Maringo Drive because of shoreline buffer amendments adopted several years ago. The amendments prohibit some development within 250 feet of the river.

McCaslin urged them to work with county planners to see if they qualify for an exemption from the regulations.

And several neighbors who live near Valleyway and Sullivan Road asked McCaslin for help fighting three new developments proposed in their area, including a 195-unit affordable housing complex.

McCaslin said she would not comment on the developments because she has to be able to give developers a fair hearing when they come before the county commissioners. However, she told the neighbors to talk to planners about their concerns and be sure to attend public hearings on the proposals.