This week, when she was campaigning for a big fat tax increase in the form of a land transfer tax, Mecklenburg County Commission Chairperson Jennifer Roberts claimed in a Charlotte Observer article that she was looking out for the elderly, who need "relief" from property taxes. 
   But Roberts doesn't apparently give a rip if elderly people on fixed incomes have to give another pint of blood or eat another can of dog food to pay for a dozen more episodes of the "Mecklenburgers."

   While property taxes rose by double digits over the last three years -- partly under Roberts' leadership --your Oh-So-Broke Mecklenburg County Commission blew over $1 million to produce and promote a sitcom-style public information show called the "Mecklenburgers."

   One problem. WCNC's Stuart Watson reported yesterday that no one is watching it. The county spent wads of money on radio and television ads to promote it, a private production company to produce it, a media buyer to place it, and a private television company, WAXN-TV, to air it. The actors are paid $525 a day Watson reported, and this year alone, the county blew $421,000 on just 10 episodes, with $23,000 in cost overruns. Despite all of this, according to the Nielsen ratings, in two of the last three ratings periods the number of  residents who watched "The Mecklenburgers" was zero, WCNC reported.

   Watson says it would have been cheaper if the county had simply made a DVD of the show and mailed it to every county taxpayer.

   Incredibly, when Watson presented this information to Roberts, she defended the show.

   "To hold people's attention about issues that really do affect people's lives, you have to put a little entertainment value in it," Roberts told WCNC.

   Roberts also praised the 18 television and production awards the show has won as a sign that the show's producers must be "doing something right."

   And if elderly people can't afford their property tax bills? Like I said, there's always dog food and blood donation. Roberts apparently only cares about old people on fixed incomes when she is cruising for a tax increase to take more of their money.
   Two years ago, when county commissioners raised our taxes 10.6 percent, they claimed as usual that they were broke, that their budget was cut to the bone, that they had no other choice but jack up your tax bill. They said the tax hike was for the children whose education they pay for. What a joke.

   The reality is that county leaders like Roberts roll over and play broke when they see the potential for a tax hike in much the same way some animals roll over and play dead. It's all highly convincing until you give the animal a good kick. Problem is, no one ever does.

   Ironically, the same day Roberts was defending the irreplaceable value of the Mecklenburgers on WCNC, she was quoted in the Charlotte Observer actually fretting over how the elderly would manage to pay their taxes.

   As the WCNC interview made clear, Roberts could apparently give a rip if elderly people on fixed incomes have to give another pint of blood or eat another can of dog food to pay for a dozen more episodes of the Mecklenburgers.

   But in the Observer article, Roberts described the new land transfer tax that the county desperately needs, which will cost you one percent of your home's value when you sell it - that's $1,500 extra on a $150,000 house - as a "relief" to seniors who have been in their homes for years. Supposedly that will shift the property tax burden onto others when they sell their homes. And if seniors struggling to retire are depending on equity in their home to buy a smaller condo or need it to pay for a nursing home? Well, screw the seniors. It was never really about them, anyway. What's important here is the Mecklenburgers. Right Jennifer?

   When they raised taxes again by another 2 percent in June, members of the oh-so-broke county commission claimed they had no choice. The tax increase, they explained, was desperately needed to pay for "growth" and spiraling school expenses. 

   But the same week the commission raised taxes, it gave $50,000 to a man in Spandex. The man calls himself AeroboCop, and he will supposedly spend your money to teach fat kids aerobics or something. The reality is that Mecklenburg County government isn't broke at all. The spending habits of its commissioners are just very expensive to maintain.