Commissioners pat selves on back

The Whirled had coverage of outgoing County Commission Chairman Wilbert Collins "State of the County" address on Monday. Collins praised himself and fellow commissioners for "stepping up to the podium" with Vision 2025.

He went on to present some evidence that the County has too much money to play with:

The county's contribution to employee retirement was increased to 10 percent from 8.5 percent, and employees still are required to contribute only $1 a year.

"That's not bad. Very good, very good (benefit) if you ask me," Collins said.

I'm happy for the County's hard working employees, but it seems inappropriate when so many private sector employees in our county are losing jobs and pensions, and when other government entities are cutting back to match declining revenues.

And should the County be in the printing business?

He also noted that Tulsa County is the only county in the state that has an Administrative Services Division authorized to print voting ballots. Many counties look to the private sector for printing services.

This year, the county's print shop earned about $2,500 assisting a Sapulpa company in the bindery work for 190,000 ballots used by the state of California in the most recent gubernatorial race.

Looks like an opportunity for privatization to me.

More about the County Commission meeting in subsequent entries.