June 6 was the “666” date—6/6/06—a fact that was widely reported by the mainstream media. For Iredell County taxpayers, the date was noteworthy for reasons other than a quirk of the calendar, a fact that slipped under the radar screen of the local press.

On that day, the Iredell County Commissioners adopted a FY 2006-2007 budget of $142,862,000. The property tax rate was raised from 43.5 cents to 46.5 cents per hundred-dollars valuation, an increase of nearly seven percent.

The commissioners cannot be faulted for the tax increase. It was needed to pay the debt service on the school bonds the voters approved in a referendum last October. The commissioners raised the tax rate only by the amount necessary to service the bonds.

The few citizens who are aware of the tax increase did not get their information from the Record & Landmark. The newspaper did not print a word about the adoption of the budget or the tax increase.

The newspaper’s failure to report the tax hike may have been have been due to mere negligence. But some readers believe the omission was deliberate.

The Record & Landmark devoted dozens of front-page articles to promoting the school bonds. It may not have wanted to remind property owners that, because the bonds passed, they will pay more tax not only next year but every year for the next twenty years.

The mainstream press frequently invokes the public’s right to know. The reality is that they only want the public to know the facts that fit their agenda.

Schools accounted for almost half—49 percent—of the county funds in the budget The county only provides about one-fourth of total public school funding—most comes from the state.