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reward hit
a raw nerve
Few issues in Columbus County have stirred more anger among residents than the county commissioners’ secretive approval of an employee manual that rewards their service with a lucrative health insurance benefit once they’ve left office.
There are several reasons why the anger has been so fervent. The insurance issue was the straw that broke the camel’s back after a recent spate of bad news for the commissioners, including the ill-fated water district tax, back-to-back property tax increases, a judge’s furniture, a large settlement with the DSS director, a high turnover rate of employees, many of them key, and the unfair exclusion of SCC maintenance staff from raises awarded to other county employees. Throw in lingering hard feelings about the landfill, and the commissioners have had a bad run of late.
If the commissioners operated in a parliamentary environment, a “no-confidence” vote would be forthcoming. Here, though, we have to wait until the next election to vote out those who create a crisis of confidence.
The commissioners say they will reconvene to overturn the vote, but they’ve got a lot of apologizing to do, at the very least. Some very unwise things were said as the story unfolded that need to be retracted as well.
For example, Columbus County does not have the economy of New Hanover County. That’s quite clear. Second, elected officials deserve no self-anointed “token of appreciation,” especially when their salaries are among the highest in the state. Third, “I didn’t know” is not an excuse, and fourth, county commissioners should consider themselves public servants, not paid employees.
All these issues must be factored in, but the commissioners completely failed to take into account that their action is an insult to all the hard-working people and elderly who have trouble making ends meet.
That’s why free or nearly free health insurance touched such a raw nerve.
Health insurance today is like gold – a rare commodity that fewer and fewer can afford.
Ask most people what they’re most afraid of, and many will say cancer or the fear of a debilitating illness or accident; yet, many families cannot afford health insurance. A family that experiences a major injury or illness like cancer is basically doomed for life financially if they don’t have insurance.
They know they need insurance to make sure their children or loved ones get the care they need, but health insurance is far beyond the budgets of most families.
And then there are the elderly. Ask the folks at the Department of Aging and they’ll tell story after story of older county residents who on a daily basis must choose among food, medicine or heat. It’s not hyperbole.
Men in power, making a secret pact among themselves to provide themselves with health insurance on the backs of those who can afford it the least and need it the most – that’s one of the main reasons why people are so mad, and they should be.