Board to hear from citizens on budget

by Susan Gibbs
Published: April 24, 2008

Nobody on Greene’s Board of Supervisors is talking about raising taxes this year.
Chairman Steve Catalano said earlier this month: “I am dedicated to shrinking government rather than raising taxes in such a difficult year.”
The Board’s vice-chairman, Buggs Peyton says he, too, is opposed to raising taxes.
“I am taking into consideration the escalating price of gasoline, the slowdown in the housing market, and the increase in unemployment,” Peyton says.
And, Peyton adds, “I don’t foresee any change until after the presidential election.”
Board Member Jeri Allen says: “Gas is going up. Groceries are going up. It’s the wrong time to raise taxes.”
Board Member Carl Schmitt says, “Given the state of our economy and its impact on local people, I believe we need to hold the tax line this year.”
And, Board Member Mike Skeens says he does not want to raise taxes either. “It’s tough on everybody right now.”
But in order for that to happen, “funding for all agencies has to remain as approved during the budget workshops,” says Greene’s Finance Director and Assistant County Administrator Tracy Morris.
In other words, County agencies will not be getting all that they have asked for - unless members of the public convince Board members otherwise. They will have an opportunity to do so next Tuesday night, April 29, when the Board holds its public hearing on the subject at 7:30 p.m. at the William Monroe High School Performing Arts Center.
Demonstrations held for the last two years have gotten a couple of agencies more money.
Last year, of the 42 citizens voicing their concerns, 28 were requesting that the School District’s request be fully funded.
Kim Powell, business and facilities director for the District, told the Board that unless the District was fully funded: “We cannot give our staff a raise that would even keep up with the federal Social Security Cost of Living Allowance Increase; we will struggle with managing health care costs and maintaining the current benefit package for our staff; we will not invest in equipment to improve the safety and security of our facilities.”
The need for textbooks was also mentioned - though at the Board’s budget workshop held earlier this month, Allen called attention to the fact that those textbooks had not been purchased.
Perhaps as a result, the Board of Supervisors upped its allocation to the District following the public hearing. The Board upped its allocation to the District again prior to passing the budget at its next regularly scheduled meeting.
In 2006, folks from the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library staged an emotionally charged campaign after the Board announced it was not planning to grant the Library’s request for additional County funds.
That campaign included: letters written to the editor of the Greene County Record; volunteers stationed in the lobby outside the Library collecting signatures on a petition; e-mails and phone calls to the Board’s members; and, a news release posted on the Library’s website.
The campaign called out both broadcast and print journalists and enough citizens to fill nearly a third of the Performing Arts Center.
Two television cameras were rolling and at least two print journalists were taking notes when the campaign reached its climax.
Escorted by her father, nine-year-old Sarah Walls Mathis of Ruckersville walked from the back of the Performing Arts Center, down the length of the aisle to the podium.
When Sarah stepped to the microphone, she introduced herself as a library patron. “Please fund the Stanardsville [sic] library,” she began. “I am a home schooler. Public schools have their own libraries. But home schoolers don’t have a library in their houses.”
Sarah continued: “I read this book about Sojourner Truth … I was afraid to speak in front of a crowd (but when) I read that she was brave enough to speak in front of a crowd, I (decided) to speak.”
The child received a standing ovation and the Library got more money.
And three years ago, in 2005, though there were no such demonstrations, the County had just come through a trying period.
A day after the Board, by a 3-2 tally, voted to end a two-year controversy surrounding the expansion of William Monroe High School by authorizing the School District to award a construction project, the School Board presented its proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2005-2006 to the public.
That year, Superintendent of Schools Ray Dingledine listed textbooks as one of the school’s priorities.
The textbooks - to replace some that had been used for years—were to be purchased through a four-year lease/purchase arrangement that was to have an annual impact of $38,000 per year.
Will a demonstration get anyone more money this year?
“We like to hear from people if they are respectful in their approaches,” said Catalano. “But this year with the Board’s attitude about taxes, and state reductions in aid, we don’t have a lot of money left over.
“You can’t get blood out of a turnip,” he concluded.