Nora’s test for a county commitment:
- Is it a core county responsibility?
- Is there capacity to deliver it?
- Is the cost named?
- Is there a deadline?
- Will the result be published?
Roads and growth
Publish road, drainage, and emergency-response capacity. Require enforceable private infrastructure commitments for residential proposals of 50 or more homes. Keep rural zoning stable. Issue a first road-condition scorecard within 120 days.
Homes
Make a decision within 45 calendar days on a complete residential permit application. Audit residential permitting fees within 90 days. Allow broader modest-home choices and employer-developer partnerships without turning the county into a long-term landlord.
The 45-day deadline is not an approval guarantee. It is a deadline for a yes-or-no decision after an application is complete.
Public safety
Fund the sheriff’s full $1.8 million expansion request: eight deputies, four dispatchers, equipment and training, and a retention adjustment. The resulting annual sheriff budget would be $20.2 million.
Staff the response residents expect
Taxes and budget
Reduce aggregate annual property-tax levy and revenue by $2 million at full implementation. Sources: $1 million from the county health reduction, $600,000 in assessment-growth headroom, and $400,000 in rotating performance and contract-review savings.
The proposal is countywide aggregate revenue relief, not an identical dollar decrease on every property.
County health
Reduce the locally controlled county health-services budget from $12.6 million to $9.8 million. Preserve core disease-control and environmental-health functions while publishing the effects of clinic closures, shorter hours, ended outreach, reduced coordination, longer waits, and outside referrals.
Nora’s priority order is clear. So are the service consequences.