COBLE RETURNS OFFICE FUNDS FOR 24TH STRAIGHT YEAR/TOPS $1.1 MILLION IN SAVINGS TO TAXPAYERS
COBLE RETURNS OFFICE FUNDS FOR 24TH STRAIGHT YEAR/TOPS $1.1 MILLION IN SAVINGS TO TAXPAYERS
Washington,
May 4 -
For the 24th consecutive year, U.S. Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC) announced today that his office did not spend all of the funds allocated for the operation of his congressional offices last year. Congressman Coble said that his office returned $67,847.42 in unspent funds for 2008, which means that he has saved taxpayers more than $1.1 million during his time in office.
“We have always operated our congressional offices with the knowledge that we are spending the taxpayers’ money,” Rep. Coble noted, “so the goal is to have our offices perform as efficiently and professionally as possible. I am very proud that we have maintained such a high level of constituent services while operating in a fiscally-sound manner.”
The budget allocated to Rep. Coble in 2008 was $1,385,796. With those funds, Congressman Coble maintains a fulltime staff of 16, eight in Washington and eight in North Carolina. Four of the district staffers work in the main office in Greensboro and there are four, one-person offices in Asheboro, Graham, High Point, and Granite Quarry. Below is a listing of the amount of unspent funds for each year that Rep. Coble has been in office:
· 1985 $5,176.47
· 1986 $7,344.00
· 1987 $5,000.02
· 1988 $17,700.00
· 1989 $32,661.16
· 1990 $17,592.26
· 1991 $14,002.00
· 1992 $32,436.24
· 1993 $38,000.00
· 1994 $19,216.18
· 1995 $16,114.65
· 1996 $123,005.79
· 1997 $71,544.91
· 1998 $37,409.22
· 1999 $66,106.77
· 2000 $41,388.13
· 2001 $77,469.50
· 2002 $55,922.55
· 2003 $89,682.36
· 2004 $71,346.04
· 2005 $47,248.11
· 2006 $89,545.43
· 2007 $71,787.80
· 2008 $67,847.42
Total $1,115,557.01
Congressman Coble noted that each House member receives approximately the same amount of funds and the only difference is a larger travel allowance for those representatives from states distant from Washington. “One reason we have been able to save so much money is because we do not abuse our franking privilege, which is the congressional mailing system,” Rep. Coble added. “Since 1990, we have not sent out the usual newsletters, questionnaires and other unsolicited mailings that amount to nothing more than self-promotions. Unless you contact us, we will not contact you. That has allowed us to save hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years, and I am proud that we have returned more than 1.1 million dollars of the taxpayers’ money.”
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