Elected officials revel in favorable media coverage, and the Midland County Judge Mike Bradford must certainly be feeling good.
His term in office is about to end, and perhaps as a going away shot he has orchestrated a huge transfer of funds from the county to various other taxing entities and foundations. The county is awash with cash due to boom-time sales tax collections which they were shocked, shocked, to discover.
For background see two consecutive front pagers from the Midland Reporter-Telegram:
County answers call for collaboration, subhead: "Commissioners to divide $11.86 million from sales tax collection among 10 local entities," and
COLUMN: Commissioners add another chapter to Midland’s philanthropic story.
For those of us who are fiscally conservative the whole thing strikes us as unseemly. Taxpayers can decide best what to do with their money, not elected office holders. Unfortunately, there is almost never any serious mention of lowering local taxes, only of how much to raise them.
Drain the swamp.
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8:01 AM 8/5/2018
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