The Coastal Carolina Taxpayers Association (CCTA) describes itself as follows:
…a grassroots, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, advocates minimum government and maximum freedom. We are dedicated to the preservation of free enterprise and the United States Constitution. Excessive taxation upon citizens is unconstitutional, immoral, and a complete contradiction of success through the free market system. We are dedicated to serve our community, our state, and our country by oversight, research, public education and advocacy in the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government.
They are active in Craven County and the surrounding counties in Eastern North Carolina. The Chairman of their Watchdog Committee is Hal James. I had the privilege of talking with him this morning to find out what the Watchdog Committee is watching.
One of the goals of the Watchdog Committee is to stop the continuing expansion of local government into areas that are private responsibilities. Mr. James pointed out that the County Commissioners are currently talking about a federally qualified health center and an in-patient hospice business. Both of these endeavors should be left to private enterprise. The County recently sold its home hospice business, why are the Commissioners talking about opening an in-patient hospice? Why are the Commissioners looking for a Certificate of Need (CON) for the in-patient hospice when there is a relatively new facility in Newport?
The second important goal of the Watchdog Committee is to encourage conservative candidates to run and hold their feet to the fire once they are elected. The CCTA does not endorse specific candidates, but they do provide information on where the candidates stand on various issues. The CCTA has a vetting process where candidates are asked 26 questions relating to Constitutional principles. The candidates’ answers are then posted on the CCTA website.
The third goal of the Watchdog Committee is transparency in government–particularly in the Craven County’s budget process. Mr. James cited an accounting change in the budget presentation that was totally misleading in terms of the amount of money spent. In 2010, the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) number for Food Stamp Direct Benefits payments was no longer on the audit report. In 2009, that number was $13,817,050, a significant amount of money. The explanation of this missing figure:
The USDA provided guidance to local governments and auditors that the CFDA should not appear in the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal and State Awards (SEFA) beginning with fiscal 2010. Instead the amount is shown in the footnotes, making it appear that the budget was cut–when that was not the case.
I realize that these audits are something that most of us do not have time to investigate or look at, but they have a definite impact on our lives and the lives of our children. We need people like Hal James to take the time to go through our County expenditures and explain to us how things work. Please support the CCTA and organizations like it that are helping to inform the taxpayers and helping us slow down the exponential growth of government and government spending.