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You may have read my recent blog about the recent tax hikes for our homes in Loudoun County. Jim Burton, Supervisor for Blue Ridge District, send me a response defending the tax increase. I am publishing his response without comments. Please click Read More to see the full response.
Dear Mr. Aksu,
Thank you for your email regarding the budget. Given the sheer volume of emails Board members received during the last six weeks, I am sending a fairly standard response at this time. However, as time allows, I will attempt to answer those of you who had specific questions about the process and the current environment.
This is one of the most difficult budget environments I can recall during my now thirteen years on the Board of Supervisor and I expect the Board's decision to set a tax rate of $1.14 will satisfy no one. However, I felt it to be the best compromise for this year. The following are some of the reasons I came to my decision to support a budget at this tax rate.
1). The Economy: Each day's news makes it very clear that the national economy is troubled. This has played out locally in lay-offs at several keynote businesses, in decreasing home values, and an explosion in foreclosures. Each day's emails to the Board include descriptions of the financial pain of many Loudoun residents. "Business as usual" was clearly not an option for the Board for this year's budget discussion and economic data seems to indicate that it will not be an option for next year's discussion either.
3). Support for Education: In all my years as a Supervisor, I can recall only one instance in which the Board fully funded the entire request made by the School Board. Yet, the excellence and quality of the educational experience for Loudoun students is unquestioned; our teachers and administrators competitively compensated. The budget passed yesterday provides a $55 million increase over last year in funding to the schools and an increase in per pupil spending. Used wisely, I believe this allocation will meet the needs of our students and teachers at a level that will continue to support the excellence in education that we all want and expect of the Loudoun school system.
I do want to clarify one misconception that emerged during this time. Under Virginia law the Board of Supervisors only controls the total allocation of funding to the school system. Specific spending decisions -- teacher raises, special needs, sports and academic programming -- are made by the School Board. Thus, the Board of Supervisors has no authority to specifically allocate a penny for a pay raise to teachers or any other employee of the school system. Only the School Board could make that decision, and I hope that they will use some of the additional $55 million to provide teachers with a pay increase.
3). Fiscal Conservatism: The County Administrator initially proposed a tax rate of $1.216. I had hoped to achieve a tax rate of $1.12 or even lower, but settled for the $1.14 tax rate adopted by the Board. While the tax rate increased from 96 cents to $1.14, the average homeowner's tax bill will actually only increase 6.58%. As is the case with averages, some homeowners' tax bills will increase more than others. In areas, such as much of Western Loudoun, where assessments actually went up, this increase may prove significant as it has in my case.
What changed my mind?
The need to protect our AAA credit rating by retaining a fiscal reserve;
The discovery that the budget approved by the last Board majority coupled with overly optimistic revenue projections left the County unable to fully fund the FY'08 budget with the FY'08 revenue collections;
A conviction that the extensive structural, procedural, and policy changes necessary for significant budgetary changes should only be made after a thorough analysis and consideration of the implications such changes would have on County delivery of services to its residence -- impossible to do in the pressure cooker of the current budget process.
A commitment by the entire Board (and some on the School Board) to immediately begin such an analysis within the Finance and Government Services Committee and the Joint School Board / Board of Supervisors Standing Committee.
Again, as I stated earlier, this was an extremely difficult budget environment and required the Board to make a number of highly difficult decisions. I look forward to continuing the work begun by the Joint School Board / Board of Supervisors Standing Committee on which I sit and initiating work on the County side by the Finance and Government Services Committee which I chair. I believe this effort will bear great fruit even if the economy should recover before next year.
Best regards,
Jim Burton
Supervisor, Blue Ridge District
Notice: Please be advised that all correspondence to government officials becomes part of the public record and may be subject to inspection under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.
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