Chowan leaders neglected duties

To help cope with Chowan County's fiscal crisis, the director of the Social Services Department has asked employees to use office lights only when meeting with clients. It's a fitting move; the folks on the Board of Commissioners have been sitting in the dark for quite a while now.

Unfortunately, saving money wasn't an objective for the commissioners. If their version is accurate, they allowed themselves to remain oblivious to the county's almost complete financial meltdown over the past four years.

As Pilot correspondent Connie Sage has been reporting in recent days, the county in northeastern North Carolina is scrambling to pay bills and doesn't have enough in its once-bountiful reserve to deal with the emergency.

Between June 2003 and last month, the county's rainy day fund of almost $20 million plummeted to $723,335. The commissioners say they weren't aware the kitty was almost empty.

The problem was brought to light shortly after Peter Rascoe took over for Cliff Copeland, who retired in June after 29 years as county manager. When alerted to the serious shortage of money, Rascoe called in the state's Local Government Commission, which found that the county had violated state law by overstating revenues for the new fiscal year by $4 million.

The commission, now under state orders to overhaul the county's budget, will meet Monday to look at cutting expenses, increasing taxes or both. Some cuts have already been made, including six layoffs in Social Services and the elimination of exercise classes at the Senior Center.

Balancing the budget is only part of the task ahead. State and local officials - and taxpayers - need to delve more deeply into how the county fell into such disarray so quickly.

Copeland said the county simply didn't get as much growth as he anticipated. But, as Sage has reported, there have been quite a few indications that the county was relying too heavily on the reserve fund.

County Finance Manager Lisa Jones told Sage that she had raised concerns about Chowan's financial state but was assured by Copeland that everything would be OK. An Edenton accountant who's audited the county's books for 30 years also said he raised the matter with Copeland and assumed the commission was aware.

"People will get the impression we are poor managers; we're not," Chairman Ralph Cole, a six-year veteran of the commission, said. "We've never experienced anything like this. The accountability process right now doesn't look good."

No, it certainly doesn't. If the commissioners had read the annual audits and/or the annual budgets carefully and asked fundamental questions about revenues and expenses, it's hard to believe they wouldn't have noticed something was awry.

When Copeland retired, the commission chose to retain his services as a consultant for about $10,000 a month. The commission dropped that plan after news of the cash shortage became public.

Clearly, his advice is no longer needed. And, clearly, there is no better time for residents of Chowan County to consider a run for the commission. If they can turn on a light and read basic financial reports, they'd be well on their way to victory.