Brushing away some governmental cobwebs
Time to brush away some miscellaneous governmental cobwebs from my Whatever Albemarle desktop.
• In a recent radio interview on WINA’s The Schilling Show I accidentally misspoke about the percentage of black population locally. I incorrectly said “The African American population of Charlottesville/Albemarle is 26%.” What I was trying to say was the following: The Jefferson Area Board for Aging’s (JABA) Charlottesville/Albemarle client population is 26% black. Thanks to Peter Thompson and Michael Guthrie of The Senior Center, Inc. for catching this and bringing it to my attention. They provided undated U.S. Census figures indicating that 12.7% of Charlottesville/Albemarle’s population is black. However, they also provided figures that Albemarle’s population is 9.9% black and that Charlottesville’s is 19.9%. By my math, when the average of these two figures is calculated, the result is 14.5% not 12.7%. So, perhaps I’m not the only one accidentally misspeaking.
• The main reason why I am opposed to the Albemarle Board of Supervisors considering giving away $2 million taxpayer dollars to The Senior Center, Inc. for the Center’s new $22 million building in the Belvedere area is that I don’t believe public money should be used for private projects. While The Senior Center, Inc. is a bona fide non-profit agency under IRS rules, I consider it to be a private club. Its members pay an annual membership fee. The racial demographics of The Senior Center, Inc.’s membership and the stingy information transparency of its director on this are also an issue for me. Director Peter Thompson, would not reveal the percentage of The Senior Center, Inc.’s black membership unless I made an appointment and met with him in person in his office. By contrast, JABA provided this information about its clients via e-mail in less than an hour of being asked. The Senior Center, Inc., in my view, has a lot of work to do to prove that County taxpayers should hand over $2 million — or even one tax dollar — to this private agency. And, for the record, Albemarle Supervisor Brad Sheffield (D, Rio), who lives in Belvedere, supports this $2 million handout and has already stated publicly that he won’t recuse himself if this money grab comes to a vote before the Board of Supervisors. Meanwhile, Sheffield faces re-election in November 2017 in the home territory of The Senior Center, Inc. — whose current building serves as a Rio voting precinct.
• Bottom line: The Senior Center, Inc., according to Director Thompson, has a black membership of 4-5%. Compared to the figures from both JABA and the U.S. Census, you have more work to do, Peter, other than just trying to snatch $2 million from Albemarle taxpayers.
• The Albemarle BOS over the past two weeks, with the concurrence of County Executive Tom Foley, has unanimously elevated two high-ranking current employees to even higher posts within County government. Finance Department employee Peter Lynch was named the new Albemarle County Assessor, and current Deputy County Attorney Greg Kamptner was selected as the new County Attorney (effective June 1). I have no axe to grind with either of these men. I don’t know either of them. I do know who they are. Unless proven differently, I trust that they know how to do their jobs for the benefit of Albemarle taxpayers. The axe that I do have to grind is one that belongs to the Board and the County Executive. When announcing such prominent positions in local government, they should also include what taxpayers are going to be paying them. Knowing a government employee’s compensation is one way taxpayers have of evaluating whether or not the job being done by the public employee is worth the “investment.” Besides, this information is a public record that belongs to the public. So, BOS and County Exec., start including this information as routine without having to be asked via Virginia FOIA (Freedom of Information Act).
Peter Lynch Total Compensation as Assessor = $133,661
Salary: $102,000
Benefits: $31,661
Greg Kamptner Total Compensation as County Attorney = $229,453
Salary: $160,000
Deferred Compensation: $24,000
Benefits: $45,453
• Message to the all Democrat Albemarle Board of Supervisors and to the all Democrat Charlottesville City Council: keep the historic Albemarle County Courts in Historic Court Square downtown. Settle your differences. Figures out the parking. Do your job!
• Message to the residents of Albemarle County: Yes, the BOS and County Executive created and performed a ridiculous public engagement system for this spring’s budget season. Starting the entire process with County Executive Tom Foley announcing that Supervisors were NOT to engage in questions and comments with the public at public engagement meetings was completely ridiculous. Even so, County residents, do not compound such judgment errors by your elected, hired, and appointed government officials by not showing up and giving them an earful at every opportunity available to you! You are not heard when you don’t show up. Your new higher tax rate, higher assessment, higher budget, and coming bond referendum should provide you with millions of reasons why.