“On life support” are words that jolt our world with a shock of reality.

Words we feel when true of a favorite character in a gripping story, words we anguish over when true of a beloved family member, and now words … true of the county we know as home.

On Monday, the Edgecombe County Commissioners voted by a margin of 6-1 to raise the county’s effective property tax rate 20 percent to 0.8600 (from 0.7141), and in so doing, put this county and its future on life support.

The new budget which set the property tax rate at 0.86 cent per $100 of property value, when coupled with a countywide revaluation at 100 percent of market value (or higher due to the economic decline since the actual appraisals), gives Edgecombe County an effective property tax rate of 0.8600 – a rate far higher than third place Richmond County at 0.8100 and just lower than Scotland County at 0.8996. You remember Scotland County. They have the state’s highest unemployment rate at 17.3 percent and compete for first place month after month.

Anyone wondering yet … if having the state’s highest property tax rate has anything to do with habitually having the state’s highest unemployment rate? Perhaps, when new businesses and industries – with jobs and taxable investments – “drive by” their list of prospective counties, the ones with “low curb appeal” high property tax rates are given little consideration in favor of those which offer more profitable conditions.

To gain perspective on the magnitude of Monday’s tax increase, consider this. At the 2008 effective property tax rate of 0.7141 (a 0.9400 rate adjusted down because assessed tax value averaged 0.7597 of market value), the additional $3.02 million of “revenue” approved Monday could have been generated in a healthy, growing county from a $422 million expansion in tax base investment. That’s 4,220 new $100,000 homes or adding six major industries equivalent to QVC, Sprint, KCST, Cogentrix, Sara Lee and EMC or alternatively, raising the 2008 tax rate from 0.9400 to 1.1288.

Any thoughts on how news that the county was about to jump its 2008 rate of .9400 to 1.1288 would impress everyone? Brace yourself. That’s the average tax burden impact of the new 2009 rate on the new 2009 property values.

For those who understand that new businesses and industries (unlike “captive” Edgecombe residents) are free to choose what and where best suits their needs, a competitive tax structure is critical. With it, an attractive business climate can develop, permitting new finances and life to flow into the local economy through job growth and tax base expansion. Without it, vibrant economic life is lost and survival can only be sustained by life support.

To trim the property tax rate to a competitive level would require a proportionate reduction in expenditures and the need for revenues (until the influx of new businesses can expand the tax base). To reduce the need for revenues would require elimination of waste, duplication, inefficiencies and a reduction in the scope and duration of various intervention services. Creating a vibrant, prepared and productive workforce must be a top priority. Those who choose not to enter in to such a workforce should be shown the exit and no longer carried at the county’s expense.

For those who are attached to the assumed role of local government as a caretaker and choose to view any reduction of services, employment and expenditures as disastrous, please honestly prioritize the services offered and so make the effort to see that the short-term pain of treatment is designed to yield long-term renewed health and growth. Healthy again, many such services could be reconsidered. But, when sick or – even worse – on life support, over-commitment and a lack of focused effort can be deadly.

To the extent that the county government strives to progress on these critical changes in order to improve our economic situation and make us more competitive for growth, they deserve our full support. To the extent that the county government chooses to ignore the long-range consequences by indulging “nanny” caretaker demands when self-initiative, family responsibility, church and para-church care are not exhausted, it has overreached.

We have some excellent people serving in county government and they deserve our genuine appreciation and support. We also have some people who take advantage of their situation and of our county government as well. Their actions should not be allowed to stress our economic health. It is vital that Edgecombe County has a long-range purpose of renewed healthy growth in order to discipline and direct it through this recovery period. With it, life support can become a faded memory. Without such a vision, the overwhelming burden of supporting an ever-growing unemployed population due to even higher tax rates and even fewer viable businesses will worsen until survival on life-support becomes unsustainable and the plug gets pulled.

Recovering from life support and again enjoying economic growth and vitality can be our county’s future, but it is going to take informed effort from all of us in order to make a profitable difference. Otherwise, we’ll spend ourselves into poverty as we become less and less competitive, all the while naively hopeful that in the future we’re going to have some big industries show up and bring us some jobs and more revenue.

Bruce Goodenough

Tarboro