Hey Big Spender 

Editor:

Congrats to Joshua Kinch on his fine letter to the editor "High on the Hog" (Aug. 28). Here are some additional numbers from the Humboldt County Budget website and from transparentcalifornia.com which hopefully will illustrate the disconnect between the payer and the payee of taxes within the county of Humboldt.

The median yearly salary in Humboldt County is $40,800 (2012 census). Seventy-three percent (1,700 of 2,281) of county employees (with benefits included) make over this amount with 20 percent (336) within that total earning more than $100,000 a year.

The California Policy Center stated that "California's taxpayers currently owe over $1 trillion in total debt and unfunded retirement obligations incurred by state and local government."

Looking at the county cost centers we see almost all have projected spending over their proposed budgets this year and have done so for many years. The following are just a few of hundreds. The 2014 amounts are the "projected" amounts over their current budget; the 2011-2014 are actual amounts over their budget.

Auditor/Controller (yeah, the Auditor): $1,780,425 in 2014 over budget; $4.73 million for the years 2011-2014.

Board of Supervisors: $1,124,072 in 2014 over budget; $3 million for the years 2011-2014.

Health and Human Services: $4,268,672 in 2014 over budget; well over $11 million for the years 2011-2014.

Until our county leaders/department heads can economically run our county in a sensible common sense manner, why vote for more and more taxes? The hard working people of this county deserve better. The spending has been irresponsible. The supervisors were elected and are paid quite handsomely in part to run our county in a cost effective manner. What evidence is there that more taxes will solve our financial problems? As Margaret Thatcher so eloquently said, "Eventually you run out of other people's money."

Rick Brennan, Eureka