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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1993-04-14 adjApril 14, 1993 (Adjourned-Afternoon Meeting) (Page l) 000001 A special called meeting of the Board of Supervisors of Albemarle County, Virginia, was held on April 14, 1993, at 4:00 P.M., Meeting Room 5/6, County Office Building, McIntire Road, Charlottesville, Virginia. This meeting was called at the request of Mr. David P. Bowerman and Mr. Charles $. Martin to hold a work session on the proposed 1993-94 County operating budget and tax rates for 1993. Notice of this meeting was served on all the appro- priate people on April 9, 1993. PRESENT: Mr. Edward H. Bain, Jr., Mr. David P. Bowerman, Mrs. Charlotte Y. Humphris, Messrs. Forrest R. Marshall, Jr., Charles S. Martin and Walter F. Perkins (arrived at 4:06 P.M.). ABSENT: None. OFFICER PRESENT: County Executive, Robert W. Tucker, Jr. Agenda Item No. 1. The meeting was called to order at 4:07 P.M. by the Chairman, Mr. Bowerman. Agenda Item No. 2. Work Session: 1993-94 County Operating Budget and Tax Rates for 1993. Mr. Bowerman said the purpose of this meeting is to see if Board members can reach an agreement, prior to tonight's meeting, on the operating budget, the personal property tax rate and the real estate tax rate. After consider- ing the Board's last meeting, the public hearing and reviewing the proposed budget, he has taken the liberty of recommending a proposal. He has discussed in general terms the specifics of the proposal with each Board member. The concept of his recommendation is a budget which retains the $.72 cents real estate tax rate and provides for a $.02 cents decrease in the personal property rate. Mr. Bowerman summarized the other aspects of Option A which funds $212,348 in General Government initiatives; funds $741,707 in School initia- tives; reduces personal property tax rate by two cents; reduces operations by $100,000; reduces salary increase to one percent for classified and admini- strative personnel; freezes Board of Supervisors' salaries and maintains the Board's Contingency ($65,329). Mr. Bowerman said he brought this option forward in the hopes that Board members can use it as a basis and move forward. Mr. Martin commented that the recommendation looked good to him. Mrs. Humphris said she has been looking for a way to fund the other three positions for visual arts and elementary music ($105,000). It seems to her, at this point, that if that is one of the School Division's top initia- tives, they will have to find the money somewhere in their budget. Mr. Bower- man asked Mrs. Humphris if she agreed with his recommendation to shift funding of the CAP Program to the School Division. Mrs. Humphris responded "yes", that is a School program, not a program for General Government. Mr. Martin said he thinks Option A is a good alternative. He is in support of retaining the real estate tax rate, but also funding some of the other initiatives. Mrs. Humphris agreed that Option A provides funds for most things, and she thinks it is fair and carefully crafted. Mr. Bowerman commented that the reduction in operations of $100,000, which were not specified, anticipates a split between General Government and the School Division of 60 percent and 40 percent, respectively° Mr. Marshall said the Board members know how he feels. Freezing the Board of Supervisors' salary ($1885) is peanuts. He did not vote for the increase last year. In addition to the reduction in salary, he would like to see a reduction in compensation county-wide. State employees have not had a raise in two years, the private sector is having layoffs and cutbacks, and the people in the private sector are having to work harder and workers are not being replaced. The private sector is concerned about why the county is paying the kinds of the salaries it is paying. His other objection, which he knows he cannot do anything about, is the inaccurateness of the real estate assessments. The assessments are not along the same guidelines as federal guidelines. Banks are appraising differently than the County. Mr. Bowerman said he thinks it would give the Board some insight if staff would provide a report on the methodology for assessments used by the federal government and the methodology used by the state. Mr. Marshall Said he thinks somehow the Board needs to show the public that it is trying to cut expenses. The only way he knows to do that is to support reducing the tax rate, thus expenses will have to be cut. Mr. Perkins said he heard that if a landowner made an appointment with an assessor, the assessor automatically reduced the assessment by five per- cent. He has a problem with that because it seems that assessors are assess- ing five to ten percent too high at the beginning. If this is the case, since April 14, 1993 (Adjourned-Afternoon Meeting) (Page 2) 0OOO0:2 most people do not object to the assessment, the County is getting a five or ten percent ride on these increases. Mr. Martin said it was his understanding that the first time most assessments are done, they are done without the individual being present. The individual will then bring certain information to the assessors' attention, and the assessor will consider the value on more accurate and complete information. Mr. Marshall mentioned a copy of a news article on the County Manager of Henrico County who stated: "Henri¢o achieves result by promoting flexibility and by paying attention to results rather than resource input". He asked if this Board is really looking at results or looking at resource input. Mr. Bain said he thinks this Board looks at results. He knows of several departments where vacancies have occurred in the last couple of years vacancies, but were not filled. He thinks the Board has to deal with what this county has and not what is in some other county. Mr. Martin said in his opinion the only objective of a tax decrease is to give relief to those people who are being driven out of the County. When looking at the current tax rate and the operating budget, and in comparison to other localities across the state, he thinks this County is run fairly effi- cient. In his opinion a $.02 cents decrease will not help those people who really need the help, but it is giving something to other people who can afford to pay their taxes. A decrease would be nothing more than a symbolic gesture because the person who really needs help is not going to be affected by $.02 cents. Mr. Perkins said he does not think this budget is the will of the people. If the people have the opportunity to vote on this budget, they would vote against it, or if they had an opportunity to vote on the tax rate, they would vote a tax rate reduction. That is the way he has to vote. He thinks this Board has gotten too involved in the budget, and is trying to fine tune it to the degree that he does not have the time to do. He suggests the Board consider taking the proposed budget and cut it by one percent. That gives the Board the dollars needed to implement a tax rate reduction. He would like to see a contingency or some reserve funds set aside for next year. He is as concerned about next year as he is about this year. Mr. Marshall agreed with Mr. Perkins. He thinks the Executive staff can decide where to make the cuts. He sees a lot that could be done with this budget, but it is not this Board's job to tell the staff how to run the County. Mr. Perkins said he could possibly support the County Executive's proposed budget because it has more than $500,000 that can be Set aside in a reserve fund. Me is not saying the Board should not get involved in the budget, but he thinks it should be more gross management rather than fine tune management. Mr. Bowerman said the County Executive recommended a budget, based on this Board's budget guidance, that retained the current level of service and provided no new initiatives. This Board reviewed the unfunded initiatives submitted by departments, agencies and the schools, and decided there were certain needs that should be funded. He think that is a legitimate decision for this Board to make. The Board has been able to reduce expenditures to the bare bones. He feels that is the responsibility of this Board. Mr. Marshall said he disagrees with where this Board's responsibility lie. His personal responsibility lies to those people who elected him and the people who elected him want a tax cut. Mr. Bain said he does not think this budget is even funding the real needs which he is not going to go into detail. Board members know what his concerns are. He thought a $.02 cents increase in the tax rate was appropri- ate. He is not satisfied with what he sees the Board trying to do with the schools. There are needs, not wants, that are not being funded in the school system which are a must for a quality education. He does not think this Board, as responsible local government officials, is doing its job. He has listened to the entire public hearing. He knows Mr. Bowerman has made a strong effort to bring the Board to a consensus, but he is undecided about how he will vote tonight. He agrees with Mr. Perkins in that next year the funding situation will probably be even worse than this year. He also has had a lot of phone calls, but he does not think this budget does what really needs to be done. Mr. Bowerman said he is a little disturbed because he is hearing that there are three people in support of his proposal and three people opposed; and the three opposed are opposed for different reasons. The Board is at a standstill. Mr. Martin commented that he is not hearing grounds for a compromise. Mr. Bowerman said if anybody has anything to propose, he would like to hear it. Mr. Marshall suggested a $.71 cents tax rate reduction on real property and a $.02 cents reduction on personal property. April 14, 1993 (Adjourned-Afternoon Meeting) (Page 3) 000003 Mr. Bowerman commented that would not meet Mr. Perkins objections of having a reserve for next year, nor would it fund any of the initiatives that the Board, collectively, felt was important. Mr. Martin said he cannot support any kind of tax decrease unless he can find a way to give it to the people who need it. A decrease would give money to people who can afford to pay and to people who do not mind paying the taxes. He would prefer to use that money to fund some of the needs. He cannot be convinced to support a reduction in the tax rate. Mr. Marshall said he thinks the tax rate should be reduced and let the County Executive and the Superintendent of Schools decide where best to make the cuts. Mr. Martin said he voted to go to public hearing with a $.73 cents real estate tax rate and now he is considering $.72 cents tax rate, therefore, he feels that he has compromised, and he cannot compromise to the point of reducing the rate. Mrs. Humphris said she feels the'same way. She feels as if the Board is back at the beginning of the meeting. She was willing to go to public hearing with a $.73 cents tax rate, which she might have supported gone, but she can be satisfied with a $.72 cents tax rate. She feels that the Board has listened to the public. She feels the Board is acting responsibly. The Board is supposed to make itself as knowledgeable as possible about the true needs in the County. Mr. Perkins said he is afraid that all levels of government, including county government, has a "cadillac" mentality. The County is faced next year with the added cost of a new middle school. He had suggested that the Board agree to adding on to existing middle schools, but that did not get approved because of State mandates. He thinks the Board should ignore state mandates for once and do what is best for the County rather than continue building new buildings. The biggest growth industry in this country for the last 50 years has been government and, yet, government governs less capably today than it did 100 years ago. Mr. Bowerman said he does not agree with any of Mr. Perkins comments. The issue of a new school was analyzed and discussed by the School Board, the Board of Supervisors and jointly by the two Boards. After all the information was analyzed, the Board voted on what it considered to be the most economical over a 20 year period of time. The information did not show that adding to existing middle schools was the most economical. He thinks the answer is to continue working through our state representatives in Richmond. Mr. Perkins said he is the only person on this Board who has a direct connection to the School system. His wife is a teacher and she comes home and tells him horror stories about the waste in the schools, the way teachers treat simple things such as paper, the way the copy machines are run, how much paper ends up in the trash cans never being used, and that is all because of wasteful attitudes. He thinks there is an attitude in this county that there is plenty of everything available and when it runs out, there is more to take its place. Mr. Bowerman said he thinks that is an absolute incorrect genera- lization and he does not think the majority of county employees have that attitude. He has not seen that attitude around him. Mr. Bain said he thinks there are some people in the schools who make mistakes and some who do waste things. He thinks it is more important to consider what teachers are doing without recompense and the materials they are purchasing themselves for which they should be compensated. Mr. Marshall said there are a lot of people in the private sector and working for the state who are taking pay cuts. These people spoke to the Board. This Board cannot continue to spend. Mr. Martin said he also has talked to a lot of these people. He has a lot of the people in his district whose assessments went up by large amounts. If he could do something to give them back their money, he would do it, but he cannot. He thinks the best thing this Board can do is continue to go to the General Assembly and find a way to give back to those people who really need it. Until then it is needless to do something that is nothing more than symbolic. Mr. Bowerman said he does not see any reason to continue this discussion at this time because no one seems to be willing to change his or her opinion. The discussion will continue at tonight's meeting. Agenda Item No. 3. Adjourn. With no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 4:45 P.M. ~ ~ / Chairman