Following the "Mushiness" in Albemarle's Priority-Based Budgeting Plod

Thoroughly convinced I am now that the Albemarle Board of Supervisors just enjoys hearing themselves talk while their — actually our — high-paid County staff obfuscate and procrastinate.

The September 29th two-hour work session on priority-based budgeting objectives was just another repeat performance of the bureaucratic babble that has been plodding along for months.

At the Board’s September 14th work session on this poorly-written, undefined, and ambiguous document, the public was told that on September 29th we would finally see what the Supervisors’ Tier One priorities would require in "resources."

So, what did we get? Nothing. No dollar figures yet provided for what is to be a two-year “balanced” budget for FY2017 through FY2019. In fact, not one person among the six Democrat Supervisors or staff members Tom Foley, Lee Catlin, Bill Letteri, or Doug Walker could bring themselves to mouth even once the word “money.” The word of the morning was “resources.” Resources!

Hey, guys, I’ve got news for you. Those green, paper things that come out of taxpayers’ wallets and purses to fund your amorphous priorities — those are called dollars. MONEY! The only “resources” government has are the tax dollars you take from us. And don’t give me the line that “resources” can also be employees, equipment, infrastructure, partnerships, etc. In government, everything costs money. Your “resources” are our money. Say the damn word!

I should have known I was going to be wasting two hours listening to the live video streaming of this work session when Assistant County Executive Lee Catlin opened by saying it was going to be “Power Point free.” Once again that meant the public wouldn’t have in our possession — contemporaneously with the Supervisors — the documents they had in their hands for their discussions about our money. So much for Albemarle government’s alleged commitment to transparency.

We were even told at the beginning of the work session by Ms. Catlin that the six Supervisors had in their possession several pages of Tier 1, 2, and 3 priorities — some on white paper, some on yellow — “given to you some time ago” that now had some wording changes. Later in the work session we were told by Albemarle Budget Director Lori Allshouse “I have placed at your desks a version of the ‘Program and Services Inventory.’” I downloaded this 26 pages later from the County website, but where was its availability so the public could see it while the Supervisors were discussing and asking money questions about it?

But back to the morning’s budget babble.

Supervisor Rick Randolph (D, Scottsville) talked about “sleepers” among lower tier priorities that might “ripen” and eventually rise to a higher tier. Huh?

Ms. Catlin’s reaction: “I do like the ‘ripening’ word.”

Wallet warning to Albemarle taxpayers: I suspect the more “ripe” some lower tier budget priorities become, the costlier this rotting fruit will become.

When the Board was asked what it thought of the language that staff had used in the Supervisors’ Tier 1 priorities, Supervisor Norman Dill (D, Rivanna) called it: “mushiness.”

Thanks, Norman.

I have called the County staff's priority-based budgeting language “vague and ambiguous and unmeasurable.” I like Norm’s term better.

Unfortunately, I didn’t hear anyone among County Executive Tom Foley’s administrative entourage propose any changes to their “mush.”

When Deputy County Executive Doug Walker took to the microphone, his assignment was “to take a preliminary look at resource needs,” according to Catlin. He was supposed to talk about the MONEY! This is the money the Supervisors’ Tier, 1, 2, and 3 priorities will require in FY2017, FY2018, and FY2019. Instead, Mr. Walker provided comments like the following:

“We’ll need some detailed action plans.”

“A particular case of spot blight [coming November 2] will require some resources.”

“There are no specific resources identified for the near term.”

Why even come to the meeting and say nothing when the assignment was to tell taxpayers what the Board’s priorities might cost?

Yes, I know I’m not fashioning any friendships saying such things, but I really don’t care when taxpayers are paying big dollars for such administrative emptiness!

We also got to hear from Bill Letteri, who has a different administrative title that I can’t remember and that I'm not going to take the time to look up. Like Mr. Walker, Bill also basically said nothing. He had no figures for the “resources” [his word] needed for such things as future courthouse costs, additional social services employees, or other income sources that Albemarle County might tap. The best he could add on this last one was that “discussions are moving forward.” Yawn. He also conveniently skipped over an employee compensation priority in the Supervisors’ list. I’m guessing that’s just too hot of a topic right now with three Supervisors up for election next year.

This segment of the work session concluded — incredulously to me, — with Supervisor Ann Mallek (D, White Hall) saying “It’s exciting to be thinking in a different way in hopes of getting different results.”

My take? I felt like I had been listening for two hours to the standard definition of stupidity — government repeating the same old stuff and getting the same result: high-priced mush.

Lastly, let me conclude with a prediction: Supervisor Brad Sheffield (D, Rio) and Supervisor Diantha McKeel (D, Jack Jouett) have already decided to seek re-election in November 2017. They already seem to be campaigning through their priority-setting words and deeds on the Board.

At this work session, both were laser-focused on protecting any priorities related to their voter-dense (numerically, not mentally), urban districts that spread east and west from the vicinity of their $80 million Rio/29 interchange. Brad blamed the previous Board for the loss of the Deschutes Brewery, and Diantha agreed. They both want to see — and have solid backing in the Board’s Tier 1 priorities — for several fast-lane items favorable to their districts. These have to do with zoning changes, business revitalization, putting more money into “our deteriorating urban areas” as McKeel said, and with Sheffield posing the empire-building question: “Do we need to create a Public Works Department?”

Alas, all I can say is stay tuned for more of the same.

October 11 is the next work session on what Lee Catlin called “a revised Strategic Plan for adoption.” Wonder if there will be any price tags — MONEY, not “resources” — attached by that date. Then there is to be a rerun of all this with the Albemarle School Board on October 12.

And, oh yes, get this: County Executive Tom Foley finally will present his Two-Year Priority-Based Budget Plan conveniently on November 9 — the day AFTER the election.

No mushiness in that decision.