THE ISSUE
“Lancaster County commissioners approved a plan Wednesday to use $18 million from a capital improvement fund to pay for various projects and purchases, more than half of which is slated to go to planning a new prison,” LNP | LancasterOnline’s Tom Lisi reported last week. “County officials estimate spending $10 million on consultants and a construction manager for the new prison this year.”
These are not small sums of money that the county commissioners spend on projects such as the new prison that’s now in the works.
The estimated final price tag of that new facility has been put at close to $400 million.
The county’s budget for this year is $186.1 million.
With so much taxpayer money at stake, it’s imperative that county government be as transparent and as accountable as possible. This is why we appreciated the column that elected county Treasurer Amber Martin wrote last Sunday for LNP | LancasterOnline — and why we believe it’s worth amplifying today.
The treasurer outlined her suggestions for developing at least a five-year plan for the county’s finances. There’s a central theme to her suggestions: planning for the future.
As she pointed out, the days of revenues outpacing expenses in Lancaster County are “fading fast.” The county, she noted, only managed to cover recent spending increases because it “received $106 million in 2021 American Relief Plan Act funds, retained more than $31 million to cover county government expenses, and earned another $11,456,043 from interest and market appreciation off of investments of some of that federal stimulus money. Without those 2021 pandemic recovery funds, our county government’s budgetary day of reckoning would have come sooner.”
We hope the commissioners seriously consider Martin’s suggestions. We also hope they take to heart her admonition that voters “are tired of being manipulated” by needlessly divisive politics.
While Martin did not name Republican county Commissioners Josh Parsons and Ray D’Agostino, it was clear to whom she was referring when she wrote that “mudslinging and demonizing those whom you view as ‘the other side’ might make for good political theater, but it does nothing to move our county, state and country forward.”
Martin, who’s also a Republican, wrote: “Coming from a business background, I have struggled to understand why talking points, political rhetoric and stonewalling are the communication strategies some politicians choose. ... I have learned from owning businesses that our unhappiest customer is often the most significant trainer in our continuous quest for operational improvements. People who disagree with you or raise concerns are not always your enemy — they frequently provide critical counterpoints that help you better understand and address complex problems.”
She’s right: Expressing concerns does not make someone an enemy. Neither does raising objections. In fact, listening to concerns and objections, and weighing them carefully, are integral to an elected official’s role.
It requires some confidence on the part of an elected official to take constructive criticism. Those who choose to make their life in public service, at any governmental level, should remember who serves whom. And they should be prepared to be held accountable by all the citizens they serve, not just those who voted them into office.
They also must be transparent.
In December, D’Agostino and Parsons blocked the county’s budget director from answering legitimate questions from a former county commissioner about the 2025 budget during and after a public meeting. Martin and Democratic county Commissioner Alice Yoder argued for the budget director to be able to answer the questions, to no avail.
And when Martin offered to answer questions after the meeting ended, Parsons declared the meeting room to be “closed” and directed everyone to leave. It was a strange and unsettling episode, particularly because budget matters directly impact taxpayers, and taxpayers have a right to know how their money is being spent.
This is why this newspaper’s news journalists — who operate separately from the LNP | LancasterOnline Editorial Board — cover the county’s finances, even in the face of near-constant criticism from Parsons. Newspapers play a critical role in ensuring government transparency; research has shown that when a community loses its newspaper, local government borrowing increases (which may lead to higher taxes) and voter participation declines.
As Martin wrote in her column, “We live in a time when information is readily available, yet it is hard to discern fact from fiction. Our local news organizations, including LNP | LancasterOnline, have provided necessary and accurate county budget coverage — and opinions to the contrary defy reality.”
Indeed.
We’re guessing that Parsons and D’Agostino are cheering on the so-called Department of Government Efficiency and Elon Musk as they pore over federal spending.
The GOP commissioners should want to bring public scrutiny to their own spending — with, hopefully, far more transparency and obviously none of the legal transgressions that Musk and his band of young tech bros seem to be committing.
The Republican commissioners and Musk seem to have in common a desire to act without the input of people with different ideas and ideologies. That’s not how things are supposed to work at any level of government.
The big game
We have just two words to offer regarding Super Bowl LIX: Go Birds.
