Dollars and sense

Supervisors dip toes in budget pool

At their February 2 meeting, Goochland supervisors addressed a myriad of items. Most of them were tinged by the county’s fiscal woes.

Beginning with a separate work session preceding the afternoon portion of the meeting, County Administrator Rebecca T. Dickson presented a pro-forma capital improvement plan (CIP) for fiscal years 2011-2015.

In a refreshing break from past county practices, Dickson’s proposal, which may be viewed at the county website www.co.goochland.va.us as part of the supervisors’ meeting packet, provides a “guide for efficient and effective” capital improvement funding for the county.

A capital improvement, as defined by the proposal, is generally considered to be something that costs more than $50,000 and does not recur annually. The proposal provides a method for the orderly “acquisition, development, enhancement or replacement of public facilities to serve the county citizenry.”

Projects will be identified and prioritized by a committee comprised of representatives of county departments.

The establishment of a systematic method to address the county’s needs is a welcome change from the
secretive and capricious prioritization methods used by the former administration.

With county revenues expected to be limited for at least the next three years, many projects will probably sit on the back burner until funds are available. The CIP will be reviewed and updated annually.

Overall debt will not exceed 12 percent of the general fund expenditures. According to Dickson’s presentation, that amount, as of June 30, 2009, the end of the last fiscal year, was 10.6 percent.

Projects in the proposed CIP include land acquisition for parks and recreation; fire-rescue vehicles; improvements to the county’s communications system and exterior improvements to the old middle school property.

There is also a list of projects with little expectation of funding before the 2015 fiscal year.

Money accumulated from cash proffers, which can be used only for capital projects, are factored into the funding equation.

This is a good indication that county finances are finally moving along the right track.

During the afternoon session, Dickson presented an update on current fiscal conditions. Things are not quite as bad as previously forecast, but the county is nowhere near the edge of the fiscal woods.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the meeting was a remark made by District 1 board member Andrew Pryor following a presentation made by Herb Griffith on behalf of the Goochland Electoral Board. Griffith asked the board to send a resolution to the General Assembly asking that political primaries be funded either by parties or the state.

Last year’s democratic primary cost Goochland County $12,832.33, or $13.72 for each of the 935 ballots cast. That amount, said Griffith, does not include peripheral costs of polling places.

Pryor, who has been a supervisor for more than three decades, had no idea that the county picks up the tab for primaries.

An update on the progress of potentate for countywide broadband access included news that Verizon is investing in its 4G wireless infrastructure and might have it in Goochland sometime on 2010.

In yet another welcome innovation, Dickson updated the supervisors on legislation under consideration by the General Assembly.

One bill, which would move the payment of cash proffers to the issuance of a certificate of occupancy from application for a building permit, current county policy, could adversely affect Goochland.

Dickson said that so many bills flow through the General Assembly that it is difficult to keep track of them all, and asked citizens to keep an eye out for legislation that could affect Goochland and pass the information along.

Goochland Sheriff’s Deputy Chris Cranor, who serves as the school resource officer, told the board a little bit about his job. A resource officer has been in county schools since 1999.

Stationed at the high school, Cranor serves as a positive role model whose job includes mentoring and helping students, some of whom he met he taught the Drug Awareness Resistance and Education (DARE) to them in elementary school.

Because the school system is a microcosm of county society, his presence off
Cranor said that he has met more citizens while working with the education system, he makes weekly visits to all three elementary schools, than anywhere else in the county.

As part of his “show and tell” Cranor displayed items confiscated from students that included: an ammunition bandolier that a student wore to school without a weapon more as a misguided fashion statement; a drug smoking pipe made out of plastic soft drink bottles; a bottle of iced tea that turned out to contain Bourbon and a razor sharp double sided dagger confiscated from a elementary pupil a few years ago and a set of numchucks.

Cranor said that his positive interaction with students at county schools has prevented incidents from occurring and led to arrests in local crimes.

The evening session was held in spite of dreadful weather.
Springfield Baptist Church was granted a conditional use permit to build a church on a parcel of land on the eat side of Manakin Road, just south of Interstate 64.

Comments made during the public hearing suggested that there was a lot of misinformation floating around about the proposal. The rumor mill is not the best conduit for information about land use changes and the planning and zoning folks need to widen the scope of people they invite to community meetings that are part of the rezoning process.

The conditions imposed on Springfield Baptist concerning turn lanes and buffers are actually less stringent that those imposed on Salem Baptist a few years back. Salem was required to build a privacy fence, plant a double row of evergreens and install a well and irrigation system to keep the trees alive. That was in addition to requiring full left and right turn lanes into their property on Rt. 250.

The approved CUP for Springfield, which was approved by a 4-1 vote with District 4 supervisor Rudy Butler in dissent, included only a right turn lane, with the provision that actual traffic patterns be evaluated when the basement of the new church is finished for use. This approach lets the church get started on its building while providing a way for the county to address the left turn lane issue sometime in the future.

Butler argued that left and right turn lanes should be built at the outset of a project to ensure safety for all county citizens.

The school board presented its proposed budget to the supervisors following passionate informed dissent by several parents representing the Goochland Education Parents Association (GEPA). Visit their website goochlandparents.blogspot.com for more details on their comments on the school budget.

School superintendent Dr. Linda Underwood, whose arrogance rose to new heights when she contended that she is better able than mere parents to interpret state code as it applies to the classification of employees.

School board chair Raymond Miller, District 2, seemed quite amazed when District 5 supervisor James Eads asked if the school officials had even tried to present a budget that was $2.6 million less than last year.

After a bit of verbal obfuscation, he finally admitted, with Underwood’s prompting, that they had not.
Miller, who has been on the school board for decades, tried to come up with justification for the school board’s refusal to even prepare a proposed budget that is $2.9 million smaller than last year.

“We know what that would look like,” Underwood said, offering no details.

Miller also stated that “he has worked under a number of superintendents” during his tenure on the school board. It’s hard to tell if he was a bit flustered by speaking in public, of ignorant that the school board is responsible for the actions of the superintendent.

Ignoring the GEPA remarks, Miller and Underwood insisted that the proposed school budget was the result of a great deal of public and parental input. Their remarks were all to reminiscent of a pushy telemarketer refusing to allow pesky facts to interfere with closing a sale.

Exhibits presented by Miller and Underwood showed that the per capita cost (that is the cost per resident, including the guests of the state) is the lowest in the region.

Eads rebutted this contending that the cost per student is one of the highest in the region.

Eads pointed out that, while some people believe Goochland is a wealthy county, due to the presence of a few very affluent families, the true economic picture is far different. Seventeen percent of our population earns less than $20,00 annually.

A few parents urged the supervisors to raise the real estate tax rate to fund schools.

The next round in county budget discussions is expected to be on February 23.

It was nearly 10 p.m. when the supervisors addressed the expansion of the county’s B-1 zoning ordinance to include convenience stores as a by right use and add travel plaza/truck stop as a conditional use.

Two speakers opposed the addition stating that truck stops are not the kind of business use that will preserve the county’s rural character.

While that may be true, it is difficult to understand why the county did not begin to exploit the possibilities for economic activity at all Interstate 64 interchanges when the road was built decades ago.

Classifying truck stops as a conditional use will ensure that every proposal will receive careful scrutiny by both the planning commission and supervisors with a public hearing before both bodies.

The vote was 4-1 with Eads abstaining.

We need more profitable businesses in the county. Capturing revenues from those who travel I-64 I is one way to do that. Landowners are tired of paying the lion’s share of the cost to run the county.