Letter: Hypocrisy on frugality by county board

The San Benito County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution at the March 17 meeting reducing the stipend to grand jury members to the lowest amount of any county in California, effective with the 2015-16 term. The board had previously restored the 20 percent “administrative fee” to the grand jury 2014-2015 budget. For the last several meetings, board members had admonished the grand jury for not being frugal.
Some examples of the board being frugal include the following :
March 17: Authorized $26,316.01 for “Sign Shop Equipment” because it is too much trouble to continue to use equivalent Sign Shop Equipment belonging to the City of Hollister. Note: This is about the same amount as the annual budget for the grand jury.
March 3: Authorized $5,000 overtime for the San Benito County Treasurer’s Office because they encountered “learning challenges” in one task. “Learning Challenges” is the politically correct phrase for “not knowing what you are doing.”
February 17: Authorize $141,000 to replace window blinds, install security cameras, remove trees, and other repairs at the Migrant Workers Camp. How will the new tree ordnance impact the removal of trees?
And the list goes on.
The three examples above were on the Consent Agenda and were intended to be passed without discussion or debate. So much for being frugal.
Marvin Jones, Hollister