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04-10-2012 Adjourned MeetingPublic Hearing-School and Annual Budget FY2012/13 April 10, 2012 Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors Monday, April 10, 2012 Public Hearings FY2012/13 Pittsylvania County School and Annual County Budget VIRGINIA: The Adjourned Meeting of the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors was held on Monday, April 10, 2012 in the Pittsylvania County School Educational and Cultural auditorium located at 39 Banks Street in Chatham, Virginia. Tim R. Barber, Chairman, called the meeting to order at 7:11p.m. The following members were present: Tim Barber Tunstall District Coy E. Harville Westover District James Snead Dan River District Jessie L. Barksdale Banister District Jerry A. Hagerman Callands-Gretna District Marshall Ecker Staunton River District Brenda H. Bowman Chatham-Blairs District Mr. William D. Sleeper, County Administrator, Mr. J. Vaden Hunt, County Attorney, Ms. Kimberly Van Der Hyde, Director of Finance, and Ms. Rebecca Flippen, Deputy Clerk to the Board, were also present. Mr. Barber led the Pledge of Allegiance. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Motion was made by Mr. Harville, seconded by Mr. Snead, to approve the agenda, which was unanimously approved by the Board. HEARING OF THE CITIZENS There were no sign ups to speak. PUBLIC HEARINGS FY2012/13 PROPOSED PITTSYLVANIA COUNTY SCHOOL BUDGET The Board of Supervisors of Pittsylvania County, Virginia, will hold a public hearing in the Pittsylvania County School Educational and Cultural auditorium located at 39 Bank Street in Chatham, Virginia Tuesday, April 10, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. to hear citizen input on the proposed school budget for fiscal year 2013. This budget proposes two (2) changes to the tax rate and two (2) new service fees. This budget proposes a 50¢ increase in personal property from $8.50 to $9.00 per $100 of assessed value, an increase of 4¢ on the real estate rate from 52¢ to 56¢ per $100 of assessed value, a new solid waste fee of $5.00 per month per household, a 25% increase in building permit fees, and new fire inspection fees. Separate public hearings will be held on the proposed solid waste fee, the proposed increase in building permit fees, and the proposed fire inspection fees. SCHOOL BOARD Adopted Proposed Public Hearing-School and Annual Budget FY2012/13 April 10, 2012 Budget Budget 2011-2012 2012-2013 REVENUES From Sales Tax 8,678,101 9,065,767 From State Funds 44,040,696 45,781,292 From Federal Funds 10,590,369 8,372,272 From Local Funds 13,696,012 14,790,922 Cafeteria Receipts 4,899,467 4,957,312 From Other Funds 1,778,631 4,203,334 Total $ 83,683,276 $ 87,170,899 EXPENDITURES Instruction 56,211,097 60,435,200 Admn./Attend & Health Svcs 3,190,947 3,296,594 Pupil Transportation 5,983,750 5,790,314 Operation & Maintenance 6,601,876 6,638,528 Non-Instructional Operations 2,805,478 2,877,459 Facilities 1,563,363 648,229 Technology 2,427,298 2,527,263 Cafeteria 4,899,467 4,957,312 Total $ 83,683,276 $ 87,170,899 Mr. Barber opened the public hearing at 7:12pm. Mr. Sleeper gave a synopsis of the proposed FY2012/13 School Budget and how decisions made by the Commonwealth’s General Assembly have greatly impacted local government in regards to their funding ability. The first person to speak was Ms. Anne Richards, of the Chatham-Blairs District and former county teacher, who made complaints about the county’s pay-back of Comprehensive Services Act when it seemed apparent that the school system did not supervise their program property and doesn’t think the County and taxpayers should be paying back this money; that it should come out of the school’s budget. Next, Mr. Gary Thomas of the Callands-Gretna, made comments on potential state increases to the school budgets, VSRS proposals on stepped payments, and comments on the State of Virginia using VRS funds to balance their last year’s budget. The Reverend Joan Tarpley-Robinson, of the Banister District and also a retired educator, stated that education is a must for the County and important for students who are competing in a global society; that students look to their adults to see they are able to compete in such a world so they can grow up to take care of us; and asked the Board to consider supporting a budget that will help children. Mr. Willie Fitzgerald, of the Callands-Gretna District and President of the local chapter of the NAACP, stated that even when economic times were good, past Boards only supported the schools with a minimum required budget and that at some point, new favorable jobs will not come into an area that doesn’t support a good education system. Mr. Fitzgerald stated that when people run for the supervisor positions, they claim they support education in the County and now it’s time to put up what they claimed during their campaigns and support the schools adequately. Public Hearing-School and Annual Budget FY2012/13 April 10, 2012 The citizens voted to improve the schools knowing it would result in increased taxes to pay those construction bonds and the supervisors should start imposing the taxes voted for. Mr. Fitzgerald concluded that financial times didn’t appear to be as bad as everyone makes out since residents are still out spending money for things like eating out and shopping. Mr. Joe Spence of the Dan River District wondered where all the lottery money that was supposed to be supporting the school systems was going; and believed that perhaps instead of all the high technology, kids should be taught again from regular books. The last person to speak was Ms. Deborah Lovelace from the Callands-Gretna District, who was a strong supporter of the education system; that teachers needed to be adequately compensated for all the hard work and effort they spend educating the children of Pittsylvania County; that there should be a better funneling of funds to each school than was occurring; and that to save money, school systems should start trimming positions and salaries from top administration before they cut out teaching positions. No one else signed to speak. FY2012/13 PROPOSED PITTYSLVANIA COUNTY BUDGET The Board of Supervisors of Pittsylvania County, Virginia, will hold a public hearing in the Pittsylvania County School Educational and Cultural auditorium located at 39 Bank Street in Chatham, Virginia Tuesday, April 10, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. to hear citizen input on the proposed 2012-2013 County Budget. This budget will not be considered for adoption until seven (7) days after the public hearing. This notice is published pursuant to Sections 15.2-2503, 15.2-2506, and 22.1-93 of the Code of Virginia, 1950, as amended. The following is a brief synopsis of the budget, which does include the school budget. This budget proposes two (2) changes to the tax rate and two (2) new service fees. This budget proposes a 50¢ increase in personal property from $8.50 to $9.00 per $100 of assessed value, an increase of 4¢ on the real estate rate from 52¢ to 56¢ per $100 of assessed value, a new solid waste fee of $5.00 per month per household, a 25% increase in building permit fees, and new fire inspection fees. Separate public hearings will be held on the proposed solid waste fee, the proposed increase in building permit fees, and the proposed fire inspection fees. GOVERNMENT 2011-2012 2012-2013 EXPENDITURES ADOPTED PROPOSED General Gov’t Expense 2,900,947 3,412,087 Judicial Admin. Expense 1,445,559 1,536,586 Public Safety 13,407,527 14,336,272 Health Dept./Social Services 14,533,843 12,862,488 Public Works 2,889,652 3,024,856 Education Expense 83,691,808 87,179,680 Parks, Rec. & Cultural 1,170,464 1,383,537 Grants 5,488,920 4,672,995 Community Dev. Expense 8,377,992 11,478,891 Capital Projects 43,664,250 41,240,002 Debt Service 10,615,708 11,047,660 School Renovations - 10,000 Transfers 18,213,400 19,482,937 Misc/Non-Departmental 122,056 122,500 TOTAL $ 206,522,126 $ 211,790,491 Public Hearing-School and Annual Budget FY2012/13 April 10, 2012 2011-2012 2012-2013 REVENUES ADOPTED PROPOSED Local Funds 42,531,082 47,877,120 State Funds 81,998,846 82,531,158 Federal Funds 16,652,502 16,828,125 CIP Carryover 830,450 469,502 Carryover 1,387,984 3,031,537 Bond/Loan Proceeds 42,539,000 39,200,000 School Bonds 2,368,862 2,370,112 Transfers 18,213,400 19,482,937 TOTAL $ 206,522,126 $ 211,790,491 Mr. Barber opened the public hearing at 7:44pm. Mr. Sleeper gave synopsis of the current County budget proposal, also noting impacts that the General Assembly has already made this year and that until the General Assembly voted on a State budget, it was highly likely the impacts would continue to occur on how localities would be able to fund their own budgets. Mr. Kerry Richards, of the Chatham-Blairs District, stated from the perspective of a senior citizen on a fixed income, many senior citizens in the County cannot afford a tax increase and the Board needed to take this into consideration before adopting a budget with tax increases. Mr. Gary Thomas of the Callands-Gretna District, made comments about County misfunding, referencing the Comprehensive Services Act pay-backs, concerned reassessments nothing but a real estate tax increase, and wanted more transparency in local government. Mr. Gerry Caprasio of the Staunton River District, was concerned about potential personal property tax increases, the potential Solid Waste Fees, and any overall tax/fee increases in the upcoming budget. Mr. George Stanhope of the Callands-Gretna District stated the schools should be paying back the CSA funds that were mishandled, questioned if the Industrial Development Authority was preparing to issue bonds and why aren’t the citizens allowed to vote on authority issued bonds, and that the school board wasted a lot of money on the storage buildings at the four high schools that could have gone towards teacher salaries, positions and education. Mr. Darriel Burnett of the Chatham-Blairs District stated nothing could really be done until the State finalizes its budget and once that was done, and the Board needed to start running the County like a business. Mr. Richard Shumate of the Westover District stated the County needed to stop new projects and stop working on industrial parks like the Mega Park until economic times were better. Mr. Steve Matherly of the Chatham-Blairs District stated the Board had no vision and with a vision and mission statement, they could not carry the County into better economic times. Mr. Joe Spence of the Dan River District stated the Sheriff’s Office and County were not providing adequate services to its citizens, and neither was the Health Department. Ms. Nancy Smith of the Tunstall District stated she felt the Solid Waste Fee would be double taxing since the citizens already paid taxes that were supposed to be helping support the landfill; that the Pittsylvania County Service Authority should be done away with and that department should come under the County government with a certified engineer as its director. Mr. James Dehart of the Westover District stated the County would have plenty of money if it would stop spending it on residential waterlines, industrial parks and other programs it didn’t have funds to construct. Public Hearing-School and Annual Budget FY2012/13 April 10, 2012 ADJOURNMENT Motion was made by Mr. Harville, seconded by Mr. Snead, to adjourn, which was unanimously approved by the Board. The meeting adjourned at 8:20pm.