Comments (6)

By Marc, March 8, 2010 7:20 pm

Last week Forbes released a list of the top 25 richest counties in the nation. Stafford County was ranked as the 12^th richest county in the nation, with the median household income at $89,536.00 and the percentage of residents 25 or older with Bachelor’s Degree or Higher at 36%.

An extremely good measure of how much a county actually invests in education is how much they spend per student (per pupil). What you will find is startling. How can the 12^th richest county in the entire nation rank near the bottom of Virginia and the nation in per pupil spending? To put that in further context, Virginia is ranked only 37^th in the nation in per pupil spending. So, we rank at the bottom of a state that ranks only 37^th in the nation in per pupil spending. This would be almost laughable, if it wasn’t so sad.

According to the latest available data from the National Center for Education and Statistics (NCES, 2006-2007), Stafford County spends $8,900 per pupil. That ranks them 86^th (out of the 132 districts that NCES had data for) in Virginia for per pupil spending. Stafford County, the 12^th richest county in the nation, ranks 87^th in Virginia in per pupil spending. Again, Virginia ranks in the bottom of the nation in per pupil spending and Stafford County ranks in the bottom of Virginia for per pupil spending. If you don’t see anything wrong with this, you should!

Based on per pupil spending, it should also be no wonder that Stafford County’s average teacher’s salary (per the Stafford Superintendent’s FY’11 Budget) is below the state and national averages. An average teacher in Stafford County makes $51,341. This is $808 below the state average and $4,734 below the national average. That’s right, a teacher in the 12^th richest county in the nation makes 10 percent less than the national average.

What our elected officials fail to realize is that investing in education is one of the best investments that you can make. This is further evidenced by Bill Howell’s (R-28^th) recent attempt to mislead constituents on the subject.

Last week the Republican majority on the Board of Supervisors, including Howell disciple Supervisor Susan Stimpson (R-Falmouth), made things even worse for Stafford County schools in FY’11 by failing to appropriate $3.6 million in debt service savings to them that that they planned on using to offset the $26 million deficit (soon to be more thanks to Howell) they are facing. Combine this with the fact that the Republicans on the Board of Supervisors voted to repeal BPOL and covered it in the FY’10 budget by spending part of a school surplus, impacting our schools negatively to the tune of $7.4 million, it should be no surprise to folks that our local and statewide elected officials don’t have their priorities straight.

The 12^th richest county in the nation currently has 53 percent of our schools failing to meet Annual Yearly Progress requirements. Enough is enough already. We need leaders who understand the clear correlation between future economic growth and well-educated children. Howell and his Republican counterparts on the Stafford County Board of Supervisors are out of touch with reality.

The 12^th richest county shouldn’t be in a race to the bottom in our schools, but a race to the top!

Comments (9)

By Marc, February 9, 2010 7:40 pm

In case you missed it (given all of our winter weather), the Republican majority on the Stafford County Board of Supervisors repealed the Business, Professional and Occupational License (BPOL) tax on February 2, 2010. I pretty much said that this was a forgone conclusion in my last post on the subject here. I’m not going to reiterate all the points I’ve already made on the topic, so if you’re interested check out my last post.

For those that were unable to attend the public hearing, I decided to put together a little video of highlights lowlights. I actually think that the Republicans can teach a course on the art of twisting the facts. As Albert Einstein once said,

If the facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts.

A few key takeaways before you go. I certainly have some issues with BPOL in general; however, what troubles me the most is the fact that Stafford Republicans continue to misrepresent the facts to further their position on the issue.

They refuse on leveling with residents on how they plan on addressing the huge shortfalls present in the FY ’11 budget. Yeah the $26 million school shortfall and the upwards of $19 million shortfall in the county budget.

It still makes no sense to me that Republicans would use a surplus, which could have been used to lessen the impact of the tremendous shortfalls projected in the upcoming budget, to repeal an annual revenue source that some predict would equate to $140 million over the next 20-years.

For FY ’11, it was projected that BPOL would provide the county with $3.7 million of revenue. Combine the $3.7 million of BPOL revenue now lost with the $3.7 million of the surplus that must be used to cover the costs of repealing BPOL in the FY ’10 budget and the total impact to the FY ’11 budget is $7.4 million. So when the county is facing tough fiscal realities, the Republicans vote to make things even worse for the county, our schools, our roads, our law enforcement and our fire and rescue.  That $7.4 million could have meant that more teachers and deputies would be able to keep their jobs. It could have meant that some much needed road improvement projects were able to happen next year.

The Republicans have failed to have an honest debate with the public on the impact of the decisions that they are making. The reality is that Republicans will have one of two choices now: (1) Drastically reduce core services or (2) raise taxes on existing homeowners. They failed to level with residents during the BPOL debate and chose to avoid laying out the impact of their decisions.

Stafford County is the second fasting growing County in Virginia and, as such, has an ever-increasing need in maintaining and improving core services. As I stated previously, 53% of Stafford Schools do not currently meet Annual Yearly Progress requirements. Will businesses really choose to relocate to a school system that is failing? I think not.

Listen, I have no problem with repealing the BPOL tax as long as the Republicans showed how they planned on replacing this revenue source. BPOL is not a perfect tax, but it is one of the only tools that localities have on raising revenue locally that is not on the back of homeowners or consumers. If businesses have problems with the structure of BPOL, they need to work with their delegates and state senators to fully address them in the General Assembly. I do think that small businesses have some really good points on BPOL. What we need is an equitable tax structure for homeowners, consumers and businesses.

In the end, I’m most upset by the fact that the Republicans used a recently found surplus (due to an administrative error) to repeal BPOL. This is the same surplus that they cried about holding onto back in December when Democrats proposed spending it. I was equally critical of spending this surplus when Democrats tried to do it too.

This political posturing must end and the residents of Stafford County deserve to be put first again!

Comments (0)

By Marc, February 1, 2010 4:52 pm

…or a certain former Stafford County Supervisor named George Schwartz (D-Falmouth) (see Spaceballs).

In 2007, Stafford Democrats met with great success at the local level. Dr. Harry Crisp (D-George Washington) and Bob Woodson (D-Griffis-Widewater) defeated their Republican opponents and provided Democrats the necessary votes to flip the board majority from 4 votes Republican to 4 votes Democratic.

Enter George Schwartz (D-Falmouth) who pulled off a major upset victory in 2005 in the Falmouth Supervisor race against Mark Osborne (R-Falmouth). After the 2007 victories, Crisp, Woodson and Joe Brito (I-Hartwood) voted to elect George Schwartz as the new Chairman of the Stafford County Board of Supervisors; thus, putting a Democrat in charge for the first time.

Schwartz decided, immediately upon his election as Chairman, that Stafford’s implementation of the Business, Professional and Occupational License (BPOL) should be the first major piece of legislation that the new democratic majority take up. Schwartz was certainly no stranger to controversy, earning the nickname “Furious George” from his Republican opponents (and some Democrats). It is without a doubt that George possessed a strong intellect, but what would quickly become his Achilles heal was his poor temperament, “me first” attitude and his yearning for power. The potential was there for Schwartz, but unfortunately it was never realized.

Many democrats warned Schwartz that making BPOL the first issue that this new democratic-led board takes up was rife with many land mines. Schwartz mostly won his election in 2005, based on a populist message that developers needed to pay for their impact on our community (e.g. schools, roads, other infrastructure) and that homeowners should not be asked to subsidize this impact through higher property taxes. Fast forward to the end of 2007. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Bush recession began in December 2007. As we all know 2008 was a difficult time for many businesses and families, with employers shedding over a million jobs. The problem for Schwartz was that 2007 was not 2005. Secondly, the BPOL fee affects all businesses and not only developers.

Schwartz also was ill prepared for the aggressive marketing campaign put forth by the Republicans and the business community to derail BPOL, even though many warned him about this from the beginning. He simply dismissed many of his fellow Democrats and labeled them as not “real” democrats, even throwing off a well-respected local Democrat from Stafford’s Economic Development Authority (EDA). Schwartz’s answer to the aggressive marketing campaign put forth by the Republicans was silence.

If all of this wasn’t bad enough, the manner in which Schwartz eventually was able to pass BPOL provided endless fodder for Republicans. It was passed in the dead of night. Supervisors were so tired that some couldn’t even push the correct voting buttons. Personally, I don’t believe our elected officials should be conducting the people’s business in the dead of night and when they are obviously too tired to press the right buttons. Republicans seized on this and made the Schwartz-led board look foolish in a much-circulated YouTube video. To make matters worse, they decided to pass BPOL and delay actually collecting it until 2010. From a political perspective, this allowed Republicans to make the 2009 elections a referendum on BPOL.

In the days, weeks and months after passage of BPOL, Schwartz again failed to present any organized effort to explain it to the business community and homeowners. The Republicans were successful in creating a huge public outcry opposed to BPOL. Fast forward to 2009. Republicans were able to turn this opposition to BPOL into votes and regained a majority on the Board of Supervisors, sending Democrats into the minority for the next four years.

Also as a direct result tomorrow, Republicans will be voting to reinstitute the merchants’ capital tax and get rid of BPOL (I’ll have more to say about this in a subsequent post here).

I keep hearing cries of outrage from some fellow Democrats who pushed so hard for enacting BPOL that more must be done to save it before it is too late. Too late???? These folks need to wake up and understand that it is too late! If only these same folks were so vocal in opposition to Schwartz’s tactics back in 2008, Democrats might not be in the predicament they are today. Democrats must understand that ideas are important, but choosing the right leadership and candidates are just as important.

The failure in leadership of former Supervisor Schwartz has brought Democrats to where we are today. It is time to face the reality or be destined to repeat the past. It is time for Schwartz and his supporters to stop blaming everyone else and face the facts. To those who refuse to move forward, may the Schwartz be with you!

Comments (0)

By Marc, December 11, 2009 6:19 pm

In a follow-up to my post last week, the Stafford County School Board voted 5-2, late this past Tuesday evening, to provide almost ALL school employees a continuing pay rate increase (step increase) effective April 2010. The one group excluded from this increase is newly hired instructional staff, with teaching experience, hired this fiscal year (FY ’10), since they were already hired in at a higher step. This has been a sore subject for many returning teachers, who did not receive a cost-of-living raise or step increase this year; and, as a result, are making less in comparison to these new teachers, based in many cases on a similar amount of teaching experience. Those employees that are already topped out within the scale will receive stipends.

This vote was in response to a resolution passed (read more about it here) by the Stafford County Board of Supervisors last week that used a portion of a recently discovered surplus to provide bonuses for teachers, paraprofessionals, school nurses and sheriff deputies.

…At the end of the day, I’m happy that all school employees received a much deserved continual pay rate increase…This is by far a more equitable outcome than only providing raises (be it bonuses or step increases) to specific categories of school employees, as desired by the Board of Supervisors…The reality is that they would have and should have received raises earlier, if not for the “lost” school money that was recently discovered (i.e. the surplus)…

…The reason why they delayed this continuous pay rate increase until April 2010 is that the $1 million or so funds provided by the Board of Supervisors is only enough funds to provide this increase for a total of 3 months…It will cost approximately $4 million to fund this raise annually over a 12-month period…It is important to note that the fiscal year for the schools run from June to June…

Stafford County School Superintendent David Sawyer stated that the resolution passed by the Stafford County Board of Supervisors was non-biding and allowed the school board some leeway in spending the approximate $1 million they were provided. He presented several options and the school board eventually settled on the aforementioned distribution methodology, which provides a continuing pay rate increase for a much wider swath of school employees versus the narrow categories of school employees whom the Board of Supervisors prescribed bonuses.

According to the FLS, Superintendent Sawyer stated that the School Board’s decision was a

”bold step, in light of the fiscal circumstances.”

…As I stated last week, I think that all school employees (minus the administrators) deserved a continuing pay rate increase (step increase) over a bonus; however, I had grave concern over using the surplus to fund it…As I stated, I feel that if the board stops wasting money on staffing a large transportation department when they have no money or responsibility for transportation and stop wasting money on overpriced, exuberant procurements such as the radio communication system, when a cheaper one would have sufficed, then they would have plenty of funds to support our schools…

…I fear that unintended consequences of the Supervisors actions in spending the surplus funds may be the eventual layoff of school employees, pay cuts, larger class sizes or other unpalatable cuts, especially if state and local revenues continue to decline; Gov.-elect McDonnell (R-VA) follows through on his promise to raid the General Fund to pay for his transportation initiatives at the expense of Education funds; and the board doesn’t do a better job of prioritizing and spending our tax dollars…

…The Dude and Milde are also hell bent on repealing the business tax…How is this fiscally responsible when it is likely that the county will be facing a budget shortfall this fiscal year, due to likely declining revenues locally and statewide…So in a time of falling revenues they actually want to cause an even more dire fiscal situation…Of course they will disingenuously spew outrage over the usage of surplus funds for other purposes, since they want to use it to repeal the business tax…There will be a time and a place to discuss the merits or non-merits of the business tax and whether a return to the merchants capital tax is better or not and now is not the time…If this is so urgent why isn’t Spotsylvania or the City of Fredericksburg raising this issue too…

…It is likely that once this surplus is depleted that the only two options that supervisors will have at their disposal is to either cut core services or raise our property taxes, both of which would be hard to swallow right now…Our core services such as the schools, police and fire and rescue must be protected…

…I’ve also been closely following the discussion on the $7 million of appropriated FY’10 funds that have yet to be transferred to the schools…Several folks have brought this up as a major problem within other discussion forums…This sort of “hold-back” has been standard within the county for some time…The County Administrator regularly holds-back a percentage of money each year from each county department (7% this year)…A mid-year review is conducted in mid-January where budgets are reviewed and expected revenue projections are re-analyzed…Without holding back these funds, it would be very difficult to balance the budget based on revised revenue projections…I’ve been told that folks have expressed concern that if the funds are not transferred immediately to the schools that they will lose matching funds from the federal government…It is my understanding that this is not the case and that the school has met the current funding requirements, based on the funds already transferred…If I’m wrong, which is possible, I would welcome any corrections in the comments…

Comments (3)

By Marc, December 4, 2009 2:02 pm

As most are no doubt already aware, an accounting error between the school board and the county two years ago, recently confirmed by the results of audits, has led to a sudden $6.2 million surplus in county coffers.

This past Tuesday at the regular meeting of the Stafford County Board of Supervisors, the board approved a resolution authorizing the appropriation of a portion of the aforementioned surplus – approximately $1.4 million to be exact. Supervisor Joe Brito (I-Hartwood) introduced a resolution that would have provided a 1.5% continuous pay rate increase to school employees.

A heated discussion ensued between board members. The result was a substitute motion put forth by the Republicans that nixed the 1.5% continuous pay rate increase for school employees, which would have brought pay in line with Spotsylvania County. The substitute motion, instead, proposed a one-time bonus be paid to certain categories of school employees and to sheriff deputies. This substitute motion eventually carried with all Republicans on board and Supervisor Crisp (D-George Washington) voting in favor of it. Supervisors Schwartz (D-Falmouth), Woodson (D-Griffis-Widewater) and Brito (I-Hartwood) voted against the resolution.

…Listen, ALL school employees (minus the overpaid administrators) deserve a continuous pay rate increase after two years of salaries remaining essentially stagnant while health care premiums have continued to soar, which has ultimately led to a decrease in employees net pay; however, is dipping into this surplus to pay for this increase advisable…The answer to me is NO…In November, State Sen. Ed Houck (D-Spotsylvania) warned the Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors that (from the FLS):

The state’s biennial budget has already been cut by $7 billion, he said, and to finish out the current fiscal year, Houck said it is likely the state could have to make $200 million to $300 million more in cuts to make up for falling revenues.

Looking forward to the next two-year budget period, for which Gov. Tim Kaine will announce his plan next month, Houck said the state could be looking at another $3 billion in cuts.

That will be hard to do without cutting education funding again, and Houck said that at this point his goal is “to control permanent damage to our core services.”

…It is VERY likely that based on declining state revenues that education funding from the state will be cut…Not to mention that Gov.-elect McDonnell (R-Virginia) has proposed taking a significant amount of money ($5.4 billion) out of the general fund to pay for his transportation initiatives, which would undoubtedly lead to further reductions in education funding locally…

…I believe that if common sense prevailed on the board that our schools wouldn’t be getting short changed and school employees would be rewarded…Why is no one talking about the fact that the county has a large transportation department when they have no money or responsibility for transportation or why Supervisors Dudenhefer (R-Garrisonville) and Milde (R-Aquia) are so hell bent on spending $45 million on the $25 million radio communication system the county is buying…Why is Stafford County buying a $25 million radio communications system in the first place…This happens to be one of the most expensive systems around and it appears to me that Stafford County taxpayers would have be better served by a more appropriate choice in systems…It is clear to me that we need some major changes to the way procurements are conducted in this county…

…In the end certain categories of school employees and sheriff deputies will be getting bonuses, based on the aforementioned substitute resolution passing…I think that ALL school employees (minus the overpaid administrators) are deserving of this bonus, although I completely disagree with the fiscally irresponsible means by which this is being funded…While I have a great amount of respect for the job that sheriff deputies do, was it really necessary in these fiscal times to provide a second pay increase for deputies this year when many other county employees have received nothing….How about board members put aside their difference for a change and do right by Stafford County…

Supervisor Joe Brito (I-Hartwood) then proposed enacting a new ordinance that would allow Stafford County to return real property tax revenue to taxpayers in any fiscal year with a surplus. This proposal would have provided an equal payment amount to every taxpayer in Stafford County; however, an amendment was adopted to have the payments distributed on a pro-rata basis. The adoption of a county ordinance requires that a public hearing be held. On a 5-2 vote, with Brito (I-Hartwood), Schwartz (D-Falmouth), Crisp (D-George Washington), Woodson (D-Griffis-Widewater) and Sterling (R-Rock Hill) voting in the affirmative, a public hearing was scheduled on Dec. 15 to potentially adopt this ordinance.

…Consistent with my prior comments, I do not believe the surplus (now down to $4.8 million) should be touched, at this point, with expected state cuts coming down the pike…Providing rebates to taxpayers is not a bad thing; however, given our current economic fiscal condition it is fiscally irresponsible…

…The Republican outrage is also quite disingenuous (earth to Dudenheffer and Milde)…The only reason they are outraged is that they want to spend the surplus on repealing the business tax, which is also fiscally irresponsible at this point…Any decisions on spending this surplus should wait until there is a clearer picture from the state on the size of cuts to expect…

…If the same folks that are so against the business tax stopped wasting county money on overpriced consultants and procurements, the repeal of BPOL could be paid for several times over without cutting any services or dipping into any surpluses…

…Given where revenues are headed at the state level, if the surplus is spent there is a high likelihood that property taxes will have to be raised to offset this loss of revenue or there will be severe cuts to core services…Of course this might still happen if the downturn is severe enough, but why put the county in such a position…It’s time to put aside the partisan bickering and do what is right for Stafford County…

…I hear that Dudenheffer actually threatened Crisp with political retribution, after following him to his car to scold him for his support of the rebate ordinance…This sort of behavior is over-the-line, especially from someone who is rumored to be the next Chairman of the Stafford County Board of Supervisors…The “Dude” needs to get ahold of himself and his political ambitions, if this board has any chance of functioning in the near future…