The Virginian Pilot’s article “Good News, Bad News” (Pilot, May 4, 2011) reports that that Virginia Beach real estate and personal property taxes will remain unchanged, but homeowners will start paying a trash bill and higher storm water fees. In the City Manager's inimitable words “If we kick the can down the road again, we’ll pay more later …” I guess he hasn’t noticed, but it is later, we are paying more, and we do not have any more money to pay (See blog $2B or not $2B: That is the Question).
The article implies that fee increases and raising the debt limit are needed to save Virginia Beach’s aging infrastructure. That is not what the proposed budget suggests. The year-to-year increase in proposed expenditures is approximately $35M. Buried in the $1.7B City Budget Proposal Executive Summary, the table entitled “City and School Expenditures by Expenditure Account” reveals that of the $35M increase, $20M is related to salary, $15M is related to fringe benefits, and $6M is related to increases in pay-as-you go capital improvement projects, which is offset by $6M in other operating categories. Similarly, the $176M increase in the debt limit is not intended to improve basic infrastructure such as water and sewer, but to fund private / public sector projects that favor big business, such as the convention center hotel and redevelopment of the dome site.
Virginia Beach citizens are late to the game. The budget approval process is moving toward a May 10, 2011 vote, and the only public input was solicited at a public meeting on April 21, Maundy Thursday. In spite of a clear message – that now is not the time to raise taxes , raise the debt, and increase spending – which was sent to City Council by Republican Party conservatives, the Virginia Taxpayer Alliance, Campaign for Liberty, and the Hampton Roads Tea Party, it appears that City Council intends to do so.
Immediately following the public meeting, the Hampton Roads Tea Party (HRTP) provided City Council with a letter identifying areas in which it proposed $43M in spending cuts. While some of the recommended cuts may not be able to be made this year because of ongoing contractual obligations, HRTP has stated that it will be watching closely to ensure that:
1. Council makes sure that the City does not obligate itself to similar expenditures in the future and takes the necessary steps to not perform or privatize services that are non-core, discretionary / core, discretionary and are more appropriately performed by private enterprise;
2. Council makes clearly visible the funding of Comprehensive Plan “sustainability” initiatives that are tied to unelected, third-party mandates and drive up the cost of business (i.e., “green” building requirements that have increased the cost of proposed new schools and facilities and have questionable ROI); and
3. Council establishes performance benchmarks that ties City performance to costs and performance standards in the private sector and not to other government entities and cities that are clearly inappropriate (i.e., benchmarking Virginia Beach to Fairfax County).
Citizens are also very concerned about the City raising the per capita debt limit to raise hundreds of millions of dollars over the next several years to fund private / public partnerships. Government is not the public’s investment banker. Government’s purpose is not to pick winners and losers in the private sector in order to grow government revenue. Government should be in the business of constitutionally-limited governance that provides a level playing field for all. The City should limit its focus to public safety, education, and infrastructure (roads, water, sewer, public buildings, etc.)
It appears that it is not going to be easy to win back fiscal control over our City government. But it is a battle many of us are willing to fight. Maybe Council is better served by listening to the inimitable words of Creedence Clearwater Revival, “I see the bad moon arising … I see trouble on the way … I see bad times today.”
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