George Rebane
The mamas and papas of our premier city apparently put out a press release on the town’s financial situation that is supposed to sing a lullaby to all these rumors of police and fire layoffs and even possible bankruptcy. Their little missive, announced last Tuesday, is dated 18 March 2008 and apparently hit the wires today. It amazes one that in the 21st century they can’t get the damn thing posted on their web site – as of this post, it still isn’t there. Any blogger on the web can post it in seconds – here it is Download gv_press_release_3_19_08.pdf .
The statement raises more questions and answers none of the old ones. It is interesting to note that the announced revenues went up at about 14.5% per year over the last three years, and no one thought to identify this as a bubble since these were growing at more than three times the GDP rate over the same interval. Police salaries went up at 10.25% annual rate, again where did all these merit raises come from? The city’s largest cost is salaries and benefits – what made these go up during a time when everyone else was tightening their belts?
So now they will run out of money before the end of their fiscal year. The budget process between now and July should be intriguing. We hope in the future it is covered in the local media with something more than today’s repeating the statements from a press release that can only be described as low grade ore.
*** 19mar08 2030 – Check out more thoughts on Russ Steele’s NC Media Watch
rebanesruminations.com 
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