Mice in the pantry

Excrement hits ventilation device

Revelations about Goochland County finances that keep bubbling to the surface are troubling at best.

Information presented at Tuesday’s monthly Board of Supervisors’ meeting was like a report on the aftermath of tiny rodents in a pantry. A nibble here, destruction there, mouse manure everywhere!

Following a detailed description of the tasks to be undertaken by the county’s newly retained auditors KPMG, the first time in many years that fresh eyes have gazed on county finances, acting county administrator Lane Ramsey dropped a bombshell.

The operating funds for at least two of the county’s utility entities, the Tuckahoe Creek Service District and James River Sanitary District are inadequate to meet operating expenses. The TCSD is in the hole $125,000, James River $20,000.

Ramsey recommended a 16 percent increase in rates for the TCSD, which he contended would result in uniform water and sewer charges throughout the county. He explained that, under terms of the bond agreement between Goochland County and the Virginia Resources Authority that funded the TCSD, the county administrator must certify that utility rates are sufficient to cover operating costs of the system and that debt service payments are funded. Ramsey said that the ad valorem tax has generated sufficient funds to pay the debt service, but the rates do not cover operating costs.

Residential customers of the TCSD in attendance groaned aloud at the suggestion of yet another increase on rates that were raised by three percent just last year.

One member of the TCSD Advisory Committee left the room stone-faced at the conclusion of Ramsey’s remarks.

District 4 Supervisor Rudy Butler argued that residential connection fees in the TCSD should also be increased to generate additional funds. The board is expected to hold a public hearing on the rate increase at its September meeting. The matter will undoubtedly be discussed further at the August 4 board meeting.


In another agenda item, Ramsey urged the board to develop a comprehensive plan for county utilities looking out as much as 40 years in the future. The county has no system in place to ensure that utilities are financially self-sustaining; schedule and fund routine maintenance to safeguard system reliability nor make provisions for proper controls, processes and procedures to make all of that happen.

However, the plan’s price tag, which Ramsey speculated could be $250,000, puts it out of reach at this time.

A long-range county wide utility plan should have been a precursor to creation of the TCSD. Its absence is more mouse manure.

It seems that either no plans for routine maintenance of the various components of the TCSD, such as the massive pumps that move wastewater through the pump station on Route 6, were included in the rate computation formula or returns from the few users do not cover costs.


Right now, it is imperative for the county to get the TCSD accounts in order and do whatever it can to encourage development there.

In addition to the rate increase, Ramsey reminded the board that it approved funding construction of a water line in Henrico County on Three Chopt Road between the Gaskins Road water treatment plant and Thamesford Way. The cost, $3.8 million will come from the county’s general fund. Postponed during the initial construction of the TCSD, failure to pay for the line will jeopardize the county’s ability to obtain additional water.

This was initially included in the $63 million obtained from the bonds, but the money was spent on other construction projects.

Touted as an economic engine that would provide additional tax revenues to fund the needs of a growing county, the TCSD is in danger of becoming a bottomless pit. This did not occur overnight. What happened? Did someone forget to carry the two? The TCSD was supposed to be funded entirely through the bond issue, ad valorem tax, connection and user fees, not with county funds.

The three county employees most responsible for the TCSD have left the building. While county staff scrambles to pick up the pieces and make sense out of the mess, it’s hard to tell if supervisors, Eads, Quarles and Pryor, who defended the status quo, were duped by the trio, or complicit with their shenanigans.

Don Charles, Director of Community Development, who won the task of mucking out the utilities department, reported that the checks have been accounted for and almost all users are up to date on their utility accounts.

A report on the forensic accounting will be presented at the August 4 meeting. No criminal activity is believed to have been uncovered, just massive amounts of mouse manure.


The auditors will be take a good thorough look at all county financial operations, including the school system. They will look for possible fraud and make recommendations to improve operations. The auditors expect to present their final report to the Board near the end of the year.


In the evening, the board voted to make real estate assessments annual. That will keep property values more in line with prevailing conditions in the real estate market. Given current economic conditions, it will also result in lower tax revenues. To ensure funding for the current fiscal year, which ends after the first tax payment for calendar 2010 is paid, Ramsey recommended that the county reserve $1,172,000 of the general fund balance to cover an optimistic projection of 9.4 percent decrease in property valuations.

Given the number of area homes on the market for months if not years, and drastic price reductions, the actual decrease in property valuations may be much greater. The board, of course, can just dip into the general fund again to make up the difference.

Just how much is in the county’s general fund? Hopefully, the auditors will nail that down and make the number public. How exactly did all of that money accumulate? Have we been paying more taxes than were needed to fund a reasonable level of county services, or did someone again forget to carry the two?

The board needs to exercise caution with the general fund. It is doubtful that the miracle of the loaves and fishes will be repeated in Goochland.

The massive incompetence and abysmal stewardship of public funds, like mouse manure in the pantry, must be swept away and the shelves disinfected so that the county can move forward.