Officials have lost pulse of county

Editor,

After listening to the Tuesday County Commissioner Budget Work session, it sounds like the commissioners have lost their pulse on reality in our county.

Worcester County Sheriff Matt Crisafulli’s budget request is influenced heavily by the need to pay deputies a salary that is comparable to what other local agencies are offering. Crisafulli voiced “If we don’t address this now, we will have an exodus from the sheriff’s office” and that he currently has knowledge of 4 deputies looking to transfer to a state agency.

Board of Education Superintendent Lou Taylor’s budget request is also influenced heavily by the need to increase pay of teachers and all employees to salaries that are comparable to what other districts are offering. Oh, and there’s that state Blueprint mandate of $60,000 by fiscal year 2027 that must be met. BLT shared that the board did what was asked of them by some of the commissioners, to take away COLAS and negotiate a flat increase for employees.

Here are some samples that show how lost the commissioners are in their responses:

Madison Bunting (D6): “we’ve been very generous with the sheriff’s department over the last 4-5 years” and voted to increase deputy pay only $2,000

“I would like to see straight amount for every employee of the BOE … of 2,000” and voted to increase BOE employee pay by only $2,000

Ted Elder (D4): “we certainly need to pay our law enforcement what they need” but voted to increase deputy pay only $2,000

Caryn Abbott (D1): “many employees [teachers] that make a lot more than I do after 39 years” and voted to increase BOE pay by only $2,000

Chip Bertino (D5): “so, it’s the teacher’s association that’s not allowing starting salaries for teachers to go up, not the county” and voted to increase BOE pay by only $2,000

Only two commissioners seem to understand the financial crisis of deputies and teachers:

Eric Fiori (D3): “a blanket cut to what they’re asking for is ridiculous” and voted against increasing BOE employee pay by only $2,000

Diana Purnell (D2): “you did what we asked you to do” and voted against increasing BOE employee pay by only $2,000

The preliminary vote in favor of adopting cuts to the proposed Sheriff budget and BOE budget was 4-2 with Abbott, Bunting, Elder, and Bertino voting in favor of cuts. Fiori and Purnell voted in favor of keeping the proposed budgets as is. Mitrecic was absent. The county has the money to cover all budget requests and still have a surplus of at least $1.1 million. To quote Madison Bunting, “it’s just basic math.”

Megan Seyler
Berlin