Dealing with reality

Zero property tax rate increase

The budget process is over. At their April 6 meeting, Goochland’s supervisors voted to keep the real estate property tax rate at 53 cents per $100 of valuation. The Board also voted to remove $800,000 from the county reserves to ease the pain of shortfalls.

During the discussions leading up to the vote, county administrator Rebecca T. Dickson indicated that the county’s reserves, which were about $25 million in FY 2008-09, are now less than $14 million. Dipping into the fund balance in hard time is not good fiscal policy. However, had our reserves not been drained by abysmal management, the county would have been in better shape to weather this storm.

The board did raise the ad valorem tax for land in the Tuckahoe Creek Service District four cents per $100. That levy is expected to be hiked every year for the next few years to ensure that the county can meet its debt service obligations.

Water and sewer rates were increased, especially those in the TCSD. This painful but necessary measure will begin to address a $21.3 million dollar obligation to the City of Richmond for wastewater treatment, an item that sort of appeared on the books during the recent audit.

A $30 processing fee will be levied on delinquent taxpayers who fail to contact the treasurer’s office and make alternate payments agreements before the due date. The county is eager to work with taxpayers in these difficult times.

Both the county and school system must identify additional cuts to their proposed budgets. Those details will be presented to the supervisors at the June meeting to be implemented at the start of the next fiscal year on July 1.

District 1 supervisor Andrew Pryor made a motion to increase the tax rate to 57 cents, which was seconded by District 2 board member William Quarles, Jr. who is currently chairman. In a rare show of unity, the three supervisors who ran as Republicans voted to hold the rate steady.

During recent months, and at the April 6 meeting, many people spoke out against a tax rate increase. Most of them seem to live in Districts 1 and 2, which tends to be the least affluent part of Goochland. Yet, their supervisors ignored the pleas of their constituents and voted for higher taxes.

Pryor said that, although no one likes to raise taxes, he hated to penalize the county’s excellent sheriff’s department, outstanding fire-rescue and schools by further budget reductions.

The board can, however, choose not to impose further public safety cuts. It must give citizen safety priority over less critical functions of government.

Rudy Butler, District 4 adamantly opposed an increase in the real estate tax rate because at least 350 homeowners in his district were facing four different rate and tax increases thanks to the utility mess.

“We’re not going to get out of this by cutting or taxing, “said Butler. “We’ve got to grow our way out.”

The board also voted 3-2 to retain a ten member planning commission with Butler and Ned Creasey, District 3 in dissent. Jim Eads, District 5 and Quarles contended that a large planning commission provides opportunities to include greater number of people in county service.

Interestingly, the board voted against adding two alternates to the board of zoning appeals to avoid tie votes if a member was unable to attend a hearing. A tie vote at a BZA hearing upholds the county side of the dispute.


At the start of the meeting, school board chairman Raymond Miller, District 2, presented another set of strange numbers in an eleventh hour attempt to justify the proposed school system budget. If the numbers are so clear and compelling, why were they not introduced earlier in the budget process?

Following the March 30 budget hearing, a formal request was made to the superintendent Dr. Linda Underwood for a detailed breakdown of a multimillion line item in the school budget for salary and benefits related to instruction. No mention was made if it was received by the supervisors.

Although it was an optical illusion, as Underwood assisted Miller in setting up his presentation, it looked as though she was going to slip her hand inside the back of his jacket as though operating a puppet.

Miller said that the proposed school budget was supported by 99.9 percent of the constituents.

Let’s see, there are about 20,000 people in the county. Subtract the 2,000 or so inmates at the local Department of Corrections facilities and you’ve got about 18,000. One tenth of one percent of that number is 18. GEPA has a petition signed by several hundred citizens. If Miller’s math skills are that bad it’s no wonder the school budget is such a mess.

He also told the board that the school budget was crafted with “the participation of all those who had the desire to participate.” Once again, he dismissed the careful, thoughtful and constructive input that GEPA provided. The school regime apparently only acknowledges “participation” as groveling agreement with any statement issuing from the mouths of the anointed ones.

Miller contended that the cost per pupil in Goochland is lower than those in most surrounding jurisdictions.

Butler pointed out that Miller’s figures, unlike those of our neighbors, do not include capital costs. When capital costs are included, contended Eads, Goochland spends more per pupil than any nearby jurisdiction except for the City of Richmond.

The final proposed school budget did not include removal of any of the admnistrative positions that GEPA (Goochlandparents.com) contends are less necessary than classroom teachers.

If these positions are so vital to the school system, a few declarative sentences about the purpose and value of each job in question would have given the school system argument some credibility.

Eads also took Miller and the school board to task for failure to prepare a contingency budget that trimmed $2.9 million. Speaking for himself, Eads said that he has zero confidence in the manner in which the school board spends its money.

Miller then arrogantly threw the budget in the lap of the supervisors trying to lay the blame for cuts at their feet. (When it is available, please download and listen to the recording of this meeting. It will be on the county website at www.co.goochland.va.us under the board of supervisors’ section.)

Apparently, the school board defines negotiation as total abdication by its opponents. Some supervisors indicated that they might have been persuaded to vote for some tax rate increase had the schools thinned the herd in the central office as a show of good faith.

The arrogant disdain in which Underwood and the school board have held GEPA and its specific constructive criticisms of the school budget is outrageous. Apparently, there is little that anyone can do to keep this bunch in line.

Fiscal year 2010-11 will be a challenging time for Goochland government and schools. The choices facing the supervisors this year were awful. Next year, when all local officials will stand for reelection, will be worse.