Hark! ’Tis the season!

That’s right: Republicans are rolling out their plans to run for the Union County Board of Commissioners.

It’s not the best gift I’ve ever gotten, but it sure will make the time fly between Thanksgiving and the GOP primary in May.

The most interesting diversion is figuring out which candidates know that they will have to raise taxes next year, and which ones honestly think Union County can keep grinding along by cutting costs.

We will not be aided by the candidates, all of whom can be expected to run far and fast from the idea of a tax hike.

Maybe that’s not fair to the GOP. If a Democrat were to poke his nose out of the burrow, groundhog-like, between now and May, he would probably run from that shadow, too. Doomsaying and tax hikes are no way to win an election, and this tax hike is just paying for what we’re already spending, not for flashy improvements.

And that’s why it’s time to send a red-hot letter:

“Please, Santa, can you send us three wise men (or women)?

“They don’t need flashing lights and music, but we would like listening skills, common sense and the desire to retire after a four-year term, because heaven knows that tax-raising commissioners suffer a cruel fate in this county, even when we’ve already authorized spending on schools and stuff, and now have to pay off our bonds.

“Talking is optional, and we don’t need the developer accessory kit or, for that matter, the dream house.

“I know they traditionally come from the east, but this is Union County, so we can accept that they’ll probably come from the west; it’s fine.”

My biggest fear is that Santa would utter those most-dreaded words that still echo from childhood: Honey, you already have one and you never use it.

He would be right.

We should thank heavens that County Finance Director Kai Nelson — the wise man we already have — isn’t an elected official.

Mr. Nelson isn’t just wise; he’s the Union GOP’s own Cassandra, forever doomed to see the future, to warn others of its encroaching darkness, and to be ignored.

He told the county commissioners last week we’re headed for trouble, as mapped out in the capital improvement plan (CIP), which outlines the county’s school building projects, the expansion of the (presently over-capacity) county jail, libraries, and other projects.

Here’s the scary part: Nelson projects a 20-cent property tax increase in the next five years, without any adjustment for revaluations, just to keep up with the county’s development projects.

Some of that spending could be put on hold — some of the building projects and renovations, for example — but others are being driven by necessity.

We have to have a desk for every kid.

We have to have a bed for every prisoner.

Commissioners elected in 2010 will be seated just in time to consider the 2011-2012 budget, which Nelson says will require a 3-cent tax hike to cover the CIP.

The next year, Nelson projects taxes will have to be raised 4.5 cents, another 4 cents in 2013-2014, and a whopping 8.5-cent hike in 2014-2015.

Having watched our (OK, reasonably wise?) commissioners wrestle to cut costs in the last 18 months, I have to tell you that we don’t have enough fat in the county budget to cover these costs.

Merry Christmas, right?

The thing is, we don’t need Santa Claus.

We need the real thing — three wise men (or women!) like the ones in the Christmas story, whose gifts are incidental to their ability to perceive danger and help us evade it.

Although the gold couldn’t hurt.

— Betsy O’Donovan can be reached at 704-261-2223 or bodonovan@theej.com.