ATTA Challenges County Government - It's time to Follow Through on Good Ideas

The Albemarle Truth in Taxation Alliance (ATTA) has been advocating for county government to identify and implement operational efficiencies and more careful capital expenditures. Better stewardship of tax revenues contributed by taxpayers leads to more responsible government.

ATTA has publicly recognized the Albemarle County School Board for conducting its Resource Utilization Review and paying heed to its results. ATTA is encouraged by the preliminary work being done by the School Board to implement the report's recommendations.

ATTA has repeatedly recommended that general county government should conduct a similar review and follow its recommendations. ATTA is encouraged at the growing support within the Board of Supervisors for such a review:

• Ken Boyd has been pushing for years for the county to perform a comprehensive evaluation of its budgeting process.
• Dennis Rooker (WINA, April 3, 2008) "... (we are) continuing to do a thorough look at the budget for efficiencies. I think that there will be momentum for the Board to do an efficiency study much like the Resource Utilization Study that schools just completed."
• David Slutzky indicated on (WINA, April 7, 2008) that he would support the county doing a similar exercise as the School Board has done.

It appears that we only need the support of one more supervisor to move forward.

ATTA suggests the following actions:

The School Division should continue its study and implementation of the findings in its Resource Utilization Study by doing the following:

• Identify each cost saving measure or change suggested by the Resource Utilization Study that are under consideration.
• Provide a timeline to the public for the analysis and implementation of each measure.
  As each of the measures move to implementation, publish estimated savings or cost additions to the school division for yearly operating or future capital expenditure.

Local Government, in the absence of a more comprehensive program, should continue its current Programs and Service Review initiative. The goal of this program is a 10% reduction in operating expenses, as targeted in the budget manual. However, optimum results would be achieved with commission of an outside group to conduct a 'Resource Utilization' type study, similar to that conducted by the School Division. This professional approach would provide:

• A thorough knowledge of government "best practices" and appropriate "benchmarks" to ensure that Albemarle County programs are both effective and efficient.
• A disciplined approach to the measurement of service levels, for example if 1.5 police offices per 1,000 population is a the objective standard, what can our citizens expect in specific benefits in terms of reduced crime, higher conviction rates etc.
• Thinking that is creative and innovative in recognition of opportunities.
• Clearly identified cost savings and a time line for implementation of more effective and efficient government.

In this way, the Board would continue to make progress immediately with its current Program and Service Review initiative, and then merge those efforts into a more comprehensive "Resource Utilization" activity.

ATTA challenges the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors to show its commitment to more responsible government today. While the tax rate is an important issue, how we get there is more important. It's time to change the process. It's time for the Board to demonstrate its commitment to efficient government and effective use of taxpayer's money.

Dennis Rooker (WINA, April 3, 2008): "Part of our job is to make sure the county operates like a business, to make certain that it's efficient."

It's time to stop talking; it's time to start acting.

There is no more blood in the turnip. There is no more tolerance in the taxpayer.

We call on county government to do what is right.

Albemarle Truth in Taxation's March Newsletter Now Available

You can now find the Albemarle Truth in Taxation's March newsletter over in our research section. Keith provides a Tax Rate 101 tutorial that describes the proper perspective with which to view changes in your tax rates, while Peter looks at a Supervisor's recent infamous "pizza and beer" comment and shows how one person's tax increase means less pizza and beer but, more commonly, another person's tax increase makes it harder to afford a Medicare co-pay or doctor's visit.

Introducing ATTA's Tax Calculator

Today we've added a very simple tool to our website that lets you see how your real estate taxes in Albemarle County would change under a variety of tax rates (current rate = $0.68/$100 of assessed value). Head on over, plug in your property's assessed value, change the tax rate assumption, and see what the upcoming county budget discussions mean to your pocketbook.

County Under Fire Over Rescue Station Spending

Thanks in large part to the extensive research completed by Peter Wurzer of the Albemarle Truth in Taxation Alliance, the Daily Progress has picked up the story of how Albemarle County residents are concerned about the significant cost overruns involved with the Hollymead Fire Rescue Station. The station's grand opening occurs at 2pm this afternoon.

The new station, originally budgeted at $3.7m in 2004, ended up costing nearly $5.9m. In response to concerns over the cost, county spokesperon Lee Catlin mentioned the needs for extra community rooms, office space, bunkrooms, and UVA design requirements.

While we take no issue with the need for a new fire rescue station in Hollymead, the issue is: should it have cost $5.9m, nearly 60% over budget?

• Should it contain a community meeting room when we already have on available at nearby Hollymead School?
• Should the bathrooms have four different kinds of tiles with tiled accent courses driving up costs?
• Should we have sculptured ceilings in the main hallway and lounge?
• Is a floor medallion needed at the intersection of the main hallways?
• Did we really have to have a portico on the back and four columns on the front?

The questions are not merely academic at this point, as there are two more fire rescue stations in the works. Can we come back down to earth and build a structure that meets appropriate needs without careless spending of taxpayer dollars?

Undoubtedly, the architectural requirements at North Fork necessitated some higher costs for the Hollymead station. Nonetheless, this was known well in advance, and doesn't answer the question of why the estimated cost was calculated so badly during the plan's inception.

As plans for the two future stations get underway, taxpayers need to be wary of any estimate that's provided by the county. Why? Look no further than Hollymead.

City/County Revenue Sharing 101 - The Annexation and Revenue Sharing Agreement between Albemarle County and the City of Charlottesville

Although the issue of revenue sharing came up during last year's budget discussions, it's back in fuller force this year as Board of Supervisor's chairman Ken Boyd has questioned some of the assumptions underlying the agreement.

The Annexation and Revenue Sharing Agreement was adopted by Charlottesville & Albemarle in 1982 due to Charlottesville’s threat to annex a large amount of Albemarle’s tax base (see the county's executive summary here).

How does it work? In return for the promise by Charlottesville not to annex our land (i.e., tax base), Albemarle pays a lump sum to Charlottesville every year based partially on our tax base.

Although state law later prohibited cities from being able to annex land from counties, the Revenue Sharing Agreement did not go away and remains in place today.

This year, the Revenue Sharing Agreement will result in a lump sum payment to Charlottesville of $13.6 million.

The Agreement (Section V) required Charlottesville and Albemarle to study the consolidation of services, such as fire and rescue emergency services. Nothing came of that effort.

Today--26 years later--there are no ongoing discussions about consolidating services. Yet Albemarle has paid Charlottesville over $600,000 per year for the last seven years for emergency services—and is considering to do so for another five years!

Why is Albemarle paying Charlottesville for services that should have been combined under the Agreement’s original intent?

Let’s ask the Albemarle Board of Supervisors to discuss in good faith with Charlottesville the consolidation of services—thereby making better use of our tax dollars!

A Different Perspective on the School Board Budget

Most likely, you've noticed that the local media has lately been taking much greater interest in the county budget discussions. Recently, the Daily Progress covered the school budget debate. Given relatively small enrollment growth, why is spending increasing so dramatically every single year?

Although there are certain clear reasons for why spending may need to increase above the current baseline (fuel prices, unfunded mandates, etc), a key question is- can our schools operate more efficiently so that the baseline could potentially be lowered?

This is not new ground. To see a wide array of options regarding how our schools could operate more efficiently, check out the Resource Utilization Study, recently completed on behalf of the School Board. After reading through it, you'll likely come to the conclusion that instead of automatically building cost increases on top of current spending, maybe we should be taking a closer look at how we're already spending existing funds.

Peter Wurzer Interviewed at Charlottesville News & Arts Weekly

For those of you interested in learning a little more about Peter and his efforts through the Albemarle Truth in Taxation Alliance, check out this brief C-ville.com interview with him.