Albemarle's Spring 2016 "Community Engagement Festival" Flops

Albemarle County’s “Community Engagement Festival” during this spring budget season has been mostly a flop, in my view. This month’s series of Staff-steered Power Point performances was destined to fail right from the start when the all-Democrat Board of Supervisors agreed with County Executive Tom Foley that Supervisors should not engage, interact with, comment on, or answer the public’s questions. That’s why I renamed many of these sham constituent meetings TAX INCREA$E Town Halls from the get-go.

The staff-led meetings at Jack Jouett Middle School, Monticello High School, and Western Albemarle High School consistently drew two and three times the number of County employees and government officials than members of the public unaffiliated with local government. The slide shows continually gobbled up 60-75% of the time at these meetings. The slides prepared and presented by County staff never once showed that the proposed new budget represents an effective tax rate increase of 4.07% if passed by the BOS come mid-April. Staff never once let this tax rate increase number pass through their lips, never once uttered the words “pay raise” for County employees’ 2% “market increase,” and never once showed or talked about current, comparative tax rates AND median property values for Albemarle’s peer counties. What they talked about instead was pennies, pennies on the tax rate, which sound small and don't mean much without being presented and discussed within the financial context of residential real estate re-assessments.

So far this spring I have attended three TAX INCREA$E Community Engagement Sessions, attended three TAX INCREA$E District Meetings, participated in two online TAX INCREA$E Webinars (one with Q&A session questions planted by unidentified County staff members), and I have listened to video streaming of three BOS meetings/work sessions on Albemarle’s FY2017 TAX INCREA$E proposal. Other than Supervisors Ann Mallek (D, White Hall) and Rick Randolph (D, Scottsville), I’m not aware of any other Supervisor who scheduled any face-to-face meetings with constituents where Supervisors would have to answer the public's questions in front of other members of "We The People" without County staff present to filter the message or soften responses.

Presumably, the County staff and Supervisors have fielded some budget questions and comments privately or by e-mail this spring. Hopefully, they have been answered or replied to — or will be — before the Public Hearing on the budget this coming Wednesday evening, March 30. (County Office Building Lane Auditorium, 6 p.m.)

As instructed on Albemarle’s Office of Management and Budget website, I e-mailed my questions to gobudget@albemarle.org on March 22, 2016.

Here is the obviously pre-written, automated reply I received less than an hour later:

"Thank you for submitting your comments to the gobudget@albemarle.org email address and for your engagement in the FY 2017 Albemarle County budget process. Please be assured that your email has been received and will be shared with County Executive staff and the Board of Supervisors."

Notice that there is no reference to questions, only "comments," nor any promise of answers.

After copying my questions to Supervisor Brad Sheffield (D, Rio), I received a reply that same evening from County Executive Foley saying:

“The work to answer these questions is underway.”

Here is the content of my e-mail:

At the March 15 budget meeting at Jack Jouett Middle School, Tom Foley said the following: “Call the County Executive’s Office and we will get you the answers you’re looking for.” If you want me to call, I will. But if e-mail contact is acceptable, I look forward to the answers to the following questions by the morning of March 30, 2016 before that evening’s budget public hearing.

Thanks.

Gary Grant (Rio District)

Earlysville, VA

(1) Who are Albemarle’s peer communities in the “World of Work” compensation information?

(2) Does the term “market increase” mean the same thing as “pay raise?” If not, what is your definition of “market increase?”

(3) On page 52 of your budget summary the 2015 Consumer Price Index increase is shown as about two-tenths of one percent. The Social Security COLA for 2016 was zero. Why are you including a 2% pay raise in Albemarle’s FY2017 proposed budget?

(4) How many pennies on the proposed 2.5 cent tax rate increase will a 2% salary hike require?

(5) How many Albemarle County employees (general government and school division) are earning more than $100,000 per year in total compensation (salary and benefits)?

(6) How much do Albemarle taxpayers pay toward the healthcare premiums of a single County employee and to those on a family plan?

(7) At Supervisor Ann Mallek’s March 7th White Hall District meeting in Earlysville she said she would ask Albemarle County staff to include median home values for Albemarle’s peer counties in the presentations given to the public. I haven’t seen this yet in 5 public budget sessions I’ve attended. Did Supervisor Mallek communicate her request to anyone in the Budget Office or to Mr. Foley?

(8) Why do your budget presentations not include a slide that shows that raising the tax rate from 81.9 cents to 84.4 cents is a 3% increase and with reassessments included the effective tax increase is 4.07%?

(9) What is the most current median home value figure for residential properties in Albemarle County? What is it for each of Albemarle’s seven peer counties?

(10) Why on page 50 of your budget summary do you use data from 2014 instead of more current tax rate data? Why do you not include a column for the comparative median home values?

(11) How much of the proposed $375 million FY2017 budget for Albemarle do you attribute to the County’s growth in population over the past year?

(12) How much money is in the FY2017 Budget for purchase of development rights under the ACE program?

(13) What is the cost to operate the Ivy Fire/Rescue station in FY2017?

Stay in touch with Whatever Albemarle, as I will be sharing what I learn from gobudget@albemarle.org.

And lest anyone feel that by me asking questions and leveling critiques, I’m against all taxes or tax increases or paying my fair share in a government of, by, and for “We The People,” rest assured that I am not.

What I am of, by, and for is a responsive, unfiltered, informational process that is honestly, openly, and engagingly complete.