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P.E. Citizens Strongly Oppose 19% Tax Increase

   Written by on May 1, 2014 at 3:25 pm

Prince Edward County Supervisors held a public hearing on April 22, 2014, on the proposed County budget for next year (FY15, which goes from July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015.) A part of the proposed budget is an increase in the County real estate tax rate from $.42 per $100 of the assessed value of real estate to $.50 per $100 of the assessed value. This would be an increase in real estate tax rate of slightly more than 19%. Thirteen citizens spoke during the hearing. Twelve opposed any tax increase, while one spoke in favor of a $.02, instead of $.08 increase. No one spoke in favor of the proposed budget, or suggested increases for any County budget item.

The first speaker was Leonard Picotte, from Prospect. Admiral Picotte said that the default position by a local government should not be to raise taxes. He complained about the allocation to Prince Edward County Schools, mentioning the high cost per student and the lack of achievement. Admiral Picotte said that the County is not getting what it is paying for in schools, and that the history of education in Prince Edward should not affect what is happening now. Admiral Picotte criticized the $68,000 allocation to the YMCA. He questioned why there are 300 citizens who are members without paying membership fees. (Supervisors also recently gave the YMCA an interest-free $50,000 loan.) Admiral Picotte said the health insurance provided to County employees is too generous, since the employee pays none of the premium and the deductible is quite low. Finally, Admiral Picotte suggested that Supervisors start over with a zero-based budget. (In Zero-Based Budgeting, any request from an agency or group would have to justify every dollar in the request, without reference to previous allocations.)

Sam Campbell said that Supervisors Simpson, Jones, and McKay have consistently voted to spend millions of dollars on projects that do not help citizens at all. (Mr. Campbell was referring to projects such as the $4 million for Granite Falls Boulevard, the $2 million for the Sandy River Reservoir water project, and the $2.5 million to purchase utilities to serve the Manor Golf Course. None of these projects has been successful so far.) Mr. Campbell also mentioned the possibility that Prince Edward would have to pay more than $2.5 million in penalties in 2018 because of the high cost of health insurance being offered to Prince Edward employees. Mr. Campbell was referring to the 40% excise tax on “Cadillac” employee health plans (those that cost more than $10,200 per year) starting in 2018.

Citizen John Young said the County should be more efficient in its operations. He also mentioned the excessive amount spent on County employee health care. Cindy Koether talked about Supervisors wasting money on projects such as the “water project debacle” and the Granite Falls Project. She said there was always some scheme in the works to be financed with borrowed money. Ms. Koether said that money is spent on unwise projects, and then taxes have to be raised in order to pay for necessary services. She said supervisors need to prioritize their spending.

Citizen Henry Shelton, who often speaks during the Citizen Participation portion of Supervisors’ meetings, said he was opposed to a 19% tax increase, and questioned how County money is spent. He said supervisors should not be planning to loan the YMCA $150,000 (over a three year period), which Mr. Shelton said would probably not be paid back. He also mentioned the lack of achievement of Prince Edward school students. Patrick Murphy said Prince Edward does not need to follow suit of other counties in raising taxes. He recommended only a $.02 real estate tax increase instead of the $.08 in the proposed budget, and said that this $.02 increase should only be used to support County volunteer fire and rescue departments. He mentioned a number of possible areas in which Supervisors could increase income or reduce costs. Mr. Murphy suggested selling land on which taxes are due, reducing the amount spent on economic development and tourism, eliminating loans to businesses, and reducing excessive County expenditures on regulation of biosolids and allocations to local colleges. He said he had identified a total savings of $400,000. He also criticized the jobs produced from County economic development funds, and the output of Prince Edward Public Schools relative to the amount spent per student. Mr. Murphy refused to stop speaking when Supervisor Chairman Howard Simpson told him that his time had expired. Although they did not provide details as had most speakers, Citizens Nettie Jennings, Linda Medlin, Joe Huddleston, and James Holcomb said they were totally opposed to any tax increase.

Cornell Walker said that if not for the money Supervisors spent on the Sandy River Reservoir Project and the Granite Falls Project, we would not need a public hearing to talk about tax increases. He also questioned the proposed budget document itself, asking who checks the County Administrator’s figures. He asked what happened to the budget surplus from last year. Kenneth Jackson said he was appalled at the actions of some supervisors at the April 15 Board Work Session when funding for the Farmville-Prince Edward Community Library was held hostage unless the YMCA was supported in a certain way. He said Supervisors may have to make a few people mad in order to avoid hurting everyone. He said the County Administration and Supervisors should be “knuckling down” and prioritizing needs. Mr. Jackson said that Supervisors should demand more accountability from the YMCA and County schools.

The last citizen speaker, Bemeche Hicks, repeated the most common complaint about the proposed FY2015 Budget: the excessive amount spent by the County on employee health insurance. He said all companies require employees to pay a part of their health insurance costs. At a number of different Board meetings, Supervisor Bob Timmons has tried to convince Supervisors to make a modest change in funding for employee health insurance. At the present time, the County pays 100% of employee health insurance premium cost, with only a $100 deductible. Mr. Timmons suggested changing the deductible to $500 or $1000, but with the County paying at least half of this deductible. The $500 deductible plan should save about $90,000 per year, with the $1000 plan expected to save even more. At the Board meeting on April 8, 2014, Mr. Timmons made a formal motion to adopt the $500 deductible plan. He and Supervisors Pete Campbell and Pattie Cooper-Jones voted for the proposal. The other five supervisors voted against it.

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