Profligate spenders abound in Albemarle County government as documented in an April 20 County press release.
Previously, the Board of Supervisors has wasted taxpayer money on promoting “edible weeds” and more recently has soaked county consumers with a regressive plastic bag tax.
But Albemarle County’s latest spending hit, may be its greatest spending hit. In order to buy votes for Democrats, Albemarle County has obtained a $250k Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) Outreach grant to promote broadband subsidies for residents.
The Federal Government held a $66M ACP grant giveaway and of course, Albemarle County couldn’t help itself from dipping into the cash bucket.
The expressed concern is that not enough people are partaking in the “free” government internet program:
“Analysis by the Commonwealth showed that despite ongoing marketing efforts, enrollment in our area was just 15% of eligible households,” stated Broadband Accessibility and Affordability Office Director Mike Culp. “This leaves as many as 12,500 eligible Albemarle County households not yet signed up for this important program and we realized the need to expand our efforts.”
According to the press release, all of this is being done in the name of equity and social justice, aka, “closing the digital divide”:
“Albemarle County has been at the forefront of closing the digital divide through expansions of rural broadband that will help us to achieve universal access by the end of 2025,” continued Culp. “Addressing affordability with programs like ACP will help ensure anyone can take advantage of our digital world.”
However, the underlying purpose may be more subtle: Albemarle County needs to justify the otherwise unjustifiable existence of its Office of Broadband Accessibility and Affordability, headed by director, Mike Culp. This superfluous, cash-sucking department represents a $613k line item in the current budget, and it appears utterly useless outside of redistributing other people’s money.
The all-Democrat Albemarle County Board of Supervisors has a long history of reckless spending, and this is just another slap-in-the-face to an already overtaxed community.
