Budget Meeting April 18 2012- NL Transcript

http://www.newsleader.com/interactive/article/20120418/NEWS01/120418006/REPLAY-Augusta-County-tax-rate-budget-public-hearing 

7:01	Calvin Trice:  A large but not capacity crowd turned out for the Augusta County public hearing on proposed tax increases and the budget.

7:03	Calvin Trice:  Dozens of people have full-color, about 1-foot-by-two-feet placards with "Invest in Kids" with a photo of children below. http://www.newsleader.com/interactive/article/20120418/NEWS01/120418006/REPLAY-Augusta-County-tax-rate-budget-public-hearing

7:05	Calvin Trice:  Twenty-seven people signed up to speak, Board of Supervisors Chairman Tracy Pyles told the crowd. Pyles asked people to try to limit their time, try not repeat what's been said and not applaud or show emotion.

7:13	Calvin Trice:  The first speaker is Bill Shirley, chairman of the Augusta County Republican Party. The party has upheld the principle, "that fiscal responsibility and budgetary restraint must be exercised at all levels of government," Shirley said.

7:15	Calvin Trice:  What jumps out at him was the $66 million in debt the county has. The county should "attack" the debt and ensure public safety, Shirley said.

7:16	Calvin Trice:  "I'm calling on you to do the things necessary not to raise taxes," Shirley said.

7:17	Calvin Trice:  The county should find ways to cut spending, Shirley said.

7:18	Calvin Trice:  North River Supervisor Marshall Pattie passed out a statement explaining his decision not to raise taxes. The county government should borrow from is substantial reserves until the economy improves, the statement said.

7:19	Calvin Trice:  Bruce Richmond, of the local Tea Party chapter, agreed with Shirley. The county should avoid raising taxes, Richmond said.

7:20	Calvin Trice:  "I urge you not to increase the tax rate," Richmond said. "You need to hold the line."

7:24	Calvin Trice:  Pattie's statement refers to all the residents who were struggling through the difficult economy. "Raising taxes on these families to protect our surplus is unjust," his statement says.

7:27	Calvin Trice:  Resident Betty Baber: "Our last assessments were a joke. The bottom had fallen out of our economy, and yet our assessments went up." The county should use its reserves rather than raise the tax rates, Vaber said.

7:31

Calvin Trice:  Dr. Edward Long, Crimora: The county should use reserves as a "rainy day" fund as it has before to balance the budget, Long noted. Clearly there should not be a concern that the fund will cease to exist if it is used to balanced the budget. Use reserves and cut spending to avoid raising taxes, Long said.

7:33	Calvin Trice:  Georgia Long: I do believe in fiscal responsibility and budgetary restraint. "There's ways that we can do things by not raising taxes," Long said.

7:38	Calvin Trice:  The county already taxes dogs, why not tax cats, there's a lot of revenue running around out there? - County man who's opposed to the proposed tax increase.

7:41

Calvin Trice:  Mike Harmon said he speaks for the county's 2000-plus employees. The 3-cent tax increase advertised by this board seems to be a reasonable increase. The teams he's coached in the county have been successful because he took care of his people. The county should take care of its people, Harmon said.

7:43	Calvin Trice:  Harmon, a teacher at Buffalo Gap High School, was the first to speak in favor of the tax increase. Another teacher who followed him agreed.

7:44	Calvin Trice:  Bruce Rogers, New Hope: He said he lives on a fixed income and opposes an increase in any local taxes.

7:47	Calvin Trice:  Woman who lives in the Middle River District: gut the rest of the county government to pay for the core services. Don't raise taxes.

7:50	Calvin Trice:  Karen Olivares supports the tax increase. "Let's make Augusta County a place we all want to live in, raise our children and grow our economy," she said.

7:53	Calvin Trice:  Stark Smith: Three cents is a "very minimum" property tax increase. "We need to fund education, Smith said. "We have to pay our teachers, our fireman and our police officers."

7:56	Calvin Trice:  One county man fears that a little tax increase this year will lead to another little increase next year. "Consider what is the role of government." Consider not providing things to people things they can provide themselves, he said.

7:59	Calvin Trice:  Vickie Henderson: You cannot fund jobs and personnel raises with capital funds (the county's reserves), she said.

8:00	Calvin Trice:  Henderson: Please raise my taxes.

8:05

Calvin Trice:  Christine Short: Those supervisors who think it's necessary to raise taxes should think again. Citizens who don't what higher taxes should be willing to have services cut, Short said. "We need to say go ahead cut spending and not take you to task for cutting whatever needs to be cut."

8:08	Calvin Trice:  Susan Kubany: Ran for Commissioner of the Revenue last year. She called it the beginning of her political career and the end.

8:13	Calvin Trice:  Kubany: The salaries and the budgets for tax collections in the county seem excessive. She advocates for a zero-based budget so that departments would have to justify their budgets every year rather than basing them on the previous years.

8:15	Calvin Trice:  There are many, many places throughout the county government and school system where expenses could be cut without cutting core services, Kubany said.

8:17	Calvin Trice:  The last signed-up speaker strongly opposes tax increases.

8:17	Calvin Trice:  Public hearing closed.

8:18	Calvin Trice:  South River Supervisor David Beyeler: It's important to me to fund core services.

8:19	Calvin Trice:  Beyeler: I'm gonna wait to see what the state did with funding before he makes a decision on the tax rates.

8:20	Calvin Trice:  Middle River Supervisor Larry Wills: The thing that scared him the most was what's going to come down from the state and federal governments. The tax increases advertised could cover the extra retirement pension costs to the county.

8:21	Calvin Trice:  Wills: Augusta County has been run on a bare bones budget for the last 50 years. We're the ones who get hurt when the state passes on costs down to localities like the "no car tax pledge."

8:22	Calvin Trice:  Wills: You all asked that we look line-by-line at that budget. "We have, folks." The only thing new in spending in the budget is a couple of firemen for Mt. Solon and a couple of deputies.

8:24	Calvin Trice:  I don't like a tax increase any more than anyone else. The message he's gotten from constituents recently is, "don't short-change the core services. Don't short-change the schools."

8:26	Calvin Trice:  The capital improvement reserves are there so that the county can pay for building and equipment without having to borrow, Wills said.

8:29

Calvin Trice:  Riverheads Supervisor Michael Shull: He was raised on a farm, and he understands the hardships people are going through. As long as we can hold off on taxes, I'd like to see us do it. "Some day comes pay day. We may have to do it, but I'd like to hold the line right now," Shull said on possibly raising taxes.

8:30	Calvin Trice:  Wayne District Supervisor thanked the speakers for coming out, and that he wants to see the state budget that was passed today before he makes a decision on taxes.

8:31	Calvin Trice:  Beverley Manor Supervisor David Karaffa: The state passes down mandates that cost local governments money. Those representatives don't have to answer to you tonight, he said. "Well, we do."

8:32	Calvin Trice:  The capital reserves are set aside to pay for things like opening up a new cell when the landfill needs to, Karaffa said. Should we borrow money to do that and pay interest? he asked.

8:33	Calvin Trice:  He feels strongly about cuts needed for lobbying, but they won't amount to much in the budget, Karaffa said.

8:37

Calvin Trice:  North River Supervisor Marshall Pattie addressed issues from speakers and read from his statement. "We have a surplus of savings of taxpayer money. Let's use taxpayer money that has already been provided to us to cover our short-term expenditures before we go back and ask for more money."

8:39	Calvin Trice:  "This is an important decision but not a diffucult one," Pattie said. "I will not support a tax increase."

8:41	Calvin Trice:  Tracy Pyles: "There's not going to be a gain from increasing this tax, there never is."

8:44	Calvin Trice:  The county government has done "a lot of marvelous things" in recent years for parks, infrastructure and other things, Pyles said.. Augusta has gone from eight firemen to 58 firemen. "So many things we've done in this county. We can take a break," he said.

8:45	Calvin Trice:  As far as the capital reserve funds are concerned, we don't have those needs right now, Pyles said. He represents many blue collar people who don't want to see their taxes raised. The county shouldn't raise them, he said.

8:47	Calvin Trice:  Pyles said he can't support a tax hike.

8:47	Calvin Trice:  Public hearings for tonight are closed.

8:49	Calvin Trice:  Beyeler: The Augusta County Service Authority should look at consolidating services to keep rate increases for water and sewer down.

8:51	Calvin Trice:  Karaffa: He agrees with zero-based budgeting. The $37 million projected for reserve accounts. "There are a lot of things in these accounts are already promised and allocated," he said.