Forsooth! Me Lord hath found many serfs!

As far as we can tell, the St. Clair Township highway commissioner’s job does not come with a crown, yet John “Skip” Kernan seems to think he can levy taxes and hire staff by royal proclamation.

It doesn’t work that way.

Township trustees budgeted $250,000 for highway worker wages. Kernan said $250,000 is only enough for 3.5 employees to work through the year. Wow. Snow plowing, pothole filling and ditch digging at $71,430 a year? Where can a person apply?

Still, Kernan is repeating his decree from last year that there shall be five workers. Last month that stand forced him to lay off all of his workers in mid-March.

We did the math. If we accept Kernan’s claim that $250,000 can only support 3.5 workers, then his five workers will eat through his budget and find themselves laid off by the middle of December.

Hmmm. What are the chances that St. Clair Township will make it through an entire winter with no snow or potholes?

Unless King Kernan has room in his budget for Merlin to make that happen, it might be smart for a guy who doesn’t collect taxes on his own to live within the budget he’s been given by his bosses. Those bosses would be township trustees and the taxpayers, the same people he now refuses to answer anywhere but in his office and he claims will not see higher property taxes even if he hired 10 workers.

Maybe Kernan needs yet another highway department worker to supplement his grasp of the kingdom: Ye olde bean counter.

This story was originally published April 18, 2016 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Forsooth! Me Lord hath found many serfs!."