Comments (3)

By Marc, October 17, 2011 4:30 pm

I think it’s fairly well documented on how Mudslide Mark Dudenhefer has voted to cut millions in funding for Stafford County Public Schools and in 2011 he voted against increasing funds to the school board by $1 million. We’ve previously talked about Mudslide’s chain-sawing of the school’s operating budget and the resulting effects on our school system.

What we haven’t discussed is the self-purported myth that Rock Hill Supervisor Cord “Not So” Sterling has fought to increase funding to our school system. Let me say this very clearly: Cord is no friend of our schools.

As the 7th richest county in America, Stafford County pays its teachers 13% below the national average – according to the U.S. Census Bureau and Stafford County Public Schools. Prince William County, our northern neighbors and the 9th richest county in America, pays its teachers 18% more and the City of Alexandria, the 39th richest county in America, pays its teachers 38% more – according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Virginia Department of Education. Our other neighbor Spotsylvania County, which isn’t even one of the richest counties in the nation, pays its teachers 4% more. According to Stafford County Public Schools, the average teacher salary is $50,692.

How are we supposed to keep our outstanding teachers, if we can’t even pay them competitive salaries? You know it isn’t cheap to live in the 7th richest county in America.

I’m sure that Sterling and Mudslide will try to further slice and dice the numbers and ask county staff to develop some sort of report to show just how supportive they are of our schools. Maybe they can claim a computer “glitch” like Sheriff Jett.

Just how bad have things gotten for Stafford County Public Schools? Sterling and Mudslide cut school funding back to 2006/7 levels as the percentage of schools making Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) fell from 95% to 33%. That’s what I call results?!

Worse yet, according to Independent Rock Hill Supervisor candidate Dean Fetterolf, the amount of funds transferred to schools as a percentage of total county spending has fallen more than 16% since 2006. Yet, in 4 of the last 6 years schools saved and returned nearly $8 million to the county general fund. During this recession our neighbors increased their funding above their existing required local effort levels by an average of 20%. Stafford cut its by 30%!

These draconian reductions in funding have had a direct impact on our classrooms. Stafford County now sports the 5th highest K-7 student ratio in Virginia.

Sterling and Mudslide are either in denial about our schools or intentionally trying to mislead voters on the state of our schools. It’s an election year and they really want your vote.

It isn’t only our teachers and students that Sterling and Mudslide have turned their backs on, but also critical school support staff that keep our schools running smoothly. Back in December of 2009, they voted to deny salary increases to certain categories of school employees (including bus drivers and cafeteria workers).

Stafford school cafeteria workers that have been on the job for 10 years are making 11% less per hour (18% for those on the job 20 years) than their counterparts in Spotsylvania County. School bus drivers that have been on the job 10 years are making 8% less per hour compared to their counterparts in Spotsylvania County too.

If I were Sterling and Mudslide, I wouldn’t be sitting down for a school lunch anytime soon.

We need representatives who show their support for our schools through actions and not empty rhetoric. We need representatives who understand that a top-notch education system is an economic incentive for attracting new businesses and families. We need representatives who understand offering competitive salaries to teachers (and those other support personnel) are essential in attracting and retaining them.

We need representatives like Dean Fetterolf (I-Rock Hill) and Esteban Garces (D-2nd VA House District).

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By Marc, September 21, 2011 6:07 pm

If I were Paul Milde (R-Aquia), I’d too want to forget all about the $40 Million public safety radio communication system. I recently wrote about how bad of a deal this was for Stafford taxpayers.

At last night’s Board of Supervisors meeting, the board was presented with an updated Telecommunication Plan – which was to be voted on as an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan.

Director of Planning and Zoning, Jeff Harvey, got things started by presenting the key points of the proposed Telecommunication Plan – which is meant to address broadband communication in its various forms and the guidelines for placement of towers throughout the county. Of particular note, the plan “encourages the placement of telecommunication towers on county owned properties.”

What ensued was an unexpected discussion on tower leases and the public safety radio communication system between Anthony Romanello and Paul Milde.

Milde wondered whether it was “legal” for the county to be in the business of building towers and leasing towers to individual users.

Romanello said, “We certainly could have as part of our public radio communication system. The direction from the board, which was probably six years ago now, was no new towers. So we made a conscious decision to work with the existing infrastructure that was in the county, which is why were in most cases we are leasing.”

Milde then realizing that he had stepped in it shot back to Romanello that he wasn’t talking about the public safety radio communication system. If I were Milde, I’d try to avoid talking about this at all costs. After all, he voted for Sheriff Jett’s outrageous deal in the first place.

Romanello responded by saying that “I understand that but that would have been an opportunity to go into that business and then to have leased out that space or the existing capacity to the private sector.”

As I’ve previously noted, Supervisors including Milde and Mark Dudenhefer (R-Garrisonville) had previously directed the consultant to “only consider the existing shorter towers [(existing infrastructure)] rather than a potentially less expensive option with fewer taller towers.” Cost containment was not a requirement.

I’m not suggesting that we should have built the towers on county-owned land, but no consideration was given to cheaper options. Romanello’s quote suggests that had we built the towers and leased out any remaining capacity to the private sector that we could have generated revenue for the county. Instead, we negotiated many “sweetheart” long-term leases with outrageous annual escalation rates. What an outstanding job by Sheriff Jett, Milde and Dudenhefer.

I had previously noted my opposition to the way that the radio system was financed – through more expensive Lease Revenue Bonds versus cheaper General Obligation Bonds. Lease Revenue Bonds guarantee repayment from the revenues generated by a specific revenue-generating entity associated with the purpose of the bonds. In Romanello’s example, leasing out excess capacity on the towers would have generated revenue; thus, a case could have been made for these more expensive bonds, if the revenue generated was enough to justify them. However, I still believe voters should have had a say on a procurement of this size.

Where was Milde’s curiosity when he was voting in favor of the public safety radio communication system in the first place? Milde “doesn’t know what the tower owners are charging per spot”? Obviously he has a short-term memory. Let’s review a few examples of what he voted for.

The Thorny Point tower site is costing us $57,000/year with a 15% escalation rate every five years and the Powell tower site is costing us $51,000/year with the same escalation rate as Thorny Point, as a few examples. Let’s not forget that the Free-Lane Star is earning $1.3M from us for one of the towers over the next 30 years (hmm, I wonder). I’ve also been told that the Free-Lance Star had been approached for many years by many parties to lease this tower and those parties were repeatedly turned aside. I guess Jett and company offered them a deal that they couldn’t refuse.

I never cease to be amazed. Thank goodness voters have other options this year: Chuck Feldbush (I-Stafford) for Sheriff, Tim Barbrow (I-Stafford) for Commonwealth’s Attorney and Dean Fetterolf (I-Rock Hill), Charles Latimer (D-George Washington) and Fred Sweat (D-Griffis-Widewater) for Supervisors.

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By Marc, September 1, 2011 10:36 pm

On August 30, 2011, the Stafford County Registrar certified those candidates, in Stafford, who qualified to be on the ballot in the November 8, 2011 general election.

For those interested, here’s a quick rundown of the results.

The Commonwealth’s Attorney race will see Timothy W. Barbrow (I-Stafford) taking on Eric L. Olsen (R-Stafford). To me, this is the race to watch this year. This is the first time in 72 years that a Chichester isn’t on the ballot for this office and it should be very competitive, especially after Olsen’s missteps and controversies (see “Law & Order-gate“, the Switz donation and swirling residency questions). Not to mention the huge amount of buzz around Tim’s candidacy and the fact that he is garnering, from talking to folks in the legal community, a pretty wide swath of early bi-partisan support.

The Sheriff’s race will see retired Prince William County police detective Chuck Feldbush (I-Stafford) taking on incumbent Charles E. Jett (R-Stafford).

The other constitutional offices up for election are all one-horse races:

Soil and Water Conservation Director Tri-County/City District: Mike Lovitt (I-Stafford)
Treasurer: Laura M. Rudy (R-Stafford)
Commissioner of Revenue: Scott A. Mayausky (R-Stafford)

It’s amazing that after all of the county’s accounting problems that Rudy went unchallenged for treasurer. Here’s hoping for a write-in campaign against her.

In a bit of a surprise, Jack R. Cavalier (I-Griffis-Widewater) will look to re-capture the Griffis-Widewater supervisor seat that he lost 4 years ago to Bob Woodson (D-Griffis-Widewater) – who has chosen not to seek re election. Although, he’ll first have to get past O. Keith Angle II (R-Griffis-Widewater) and Fred C. Sweat (D-Griffis-Widewater) to win. This should be an interesting race.

The school board race in Rock Hill district is quite intriguing in that Heather H. Stefl (I-Stafford) is challenging incumbent Patricia A. Healy (I-Stafford). Both are Republicans; however, Patricia Healy has been an ardent supporter of our schools and is deeply respected by Democrats, Republicans and Independents – including me.

Stefl on the other hand represents the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party and serves as the treasurer of the Stafford County Republican Committee.

Stefl actually started out this campaign cycle serving as Jason Pelt’s (R-Stafford) campaign manager, as he sought the republican nomination for Commonwealth’s Attorney against Eric Olsen. Pelt understood that family came first, despite his political ambitions – which was something that Stefl couldn’t understand. So, Pelt parted ways with her.

I respect Pelt for putting family first. The fact that Stefl couldn’t balance family with politics tells me that she is incapable of balancing the well being of our children with her own political ambitions. It’s that simple. Healy is clearly the better choice on so many levels.

Here’s a summary of who else qualified for the remaining races:

George Washington Supervisor: Charles Latimer (D), Robert M. “Bob” Thomas Jr (R)
George Washington School Board: Byron K. Hinton (I), Dewayne McOsker Jr (I)
Rock Hill Supervisor: Dean D. Fetterolf (I), Cord A. Sterling (R)
Griffis-Widewater School Board: Dana H. Reinbolt (I)

In the coming weeks, I’ll try and cover all of these races in some detail.

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By Marc, August 30, 2011 3:40 pm

As many of my regular readers know, the issue that I’m most passionate about, locally, is strengthening our public education system – something the Republican-led Stafford County Board of Supervisors could care less about. Last year I wrote about how education was clearly not a priority for Stafford County Republicans, evident by the fact that they were spending $60 per day on inmates vs. $21 per day ($3 per hour) on each student.

Furthermore, the board also adopted an economic development plan, which made absolutely no mention of our public education system. They simply do not view a high-quality education system as an economic incentive, which couldn’t be further from the truth.

Enter Supervisor Cord Sterling (R-Rock Hill). In an unforgettable moment last year, he stood on the courthouse steps and launched a blistering attack on our school board – calling for them to be fired. Not what I would have done to establish a good working relationship with them.

With Cord’s seat up for re-election this year, voters can finally FIRE HIM!

Stafford Democrats came up empty in recruiting a candidate for this seat, but luckily voters have not. Dr. Dean Fetterolf (I-Rock Hill) believes Stafford is “Better off with Fetterolf” and SO DO I!

Pictured: Dr. Dean Fetterolf (I-Rock Hill)

For the last few years, Dean has chaired the School Board’s Finance and Budget Advisory Committee. There is not a single person more passionate and knowledgeable than Dean on what goes into building and, most importantly, maintaining a top-notch school system. He also understands that a quality school system can be used as a powerful economic incentive for attracting new businesses and families, which has a direct impact on our property values.

He rightfully notes that the amount of funds transferred to schools, as a percentage of total county spending, has fallen more than 16% since 2006. How does this compare to our neighbors? Despite a recession, our neighbors have increased their funding above their existing required local effort by an average of 20%. Stafford has CUT it by 30%. 30%!

Dean has put forth a 21st Century Globally Competitive funding goal plan for Stafford Schools:

• Reduce the 5th highest K-7 student teacher ratio in VA

• Improve Stafford’s 108 out of 132 ranking in per pupil expenditure
• Provide Competitive salaries for teachers and staff
• Help replace the 1000 computers that are 5-7 years old

• Help replace 88 old school buses

• Help fund $11M in future textbook purchases

• Replace Stafford High School

• Provide planning funds for a new CTE Facility
• Remodel or Replace 5 aging Southern Elementary Schools

It’s time to cut the CORD and vote Fetterolf for Rock Hill Supervisor on November 8th!