Shenandoah County’s budget just increased, and one of the main reasons is the addition of paid fire and rescue.  The simple answer is “just raise taxes”; I think that simple answer is –in the long run– simply wrong.

Unfortunately in this year there’s no other way to pay for the additions, so the funds have to come from the general revenue… paid by taxes.  But in the long run, as early as next year perhaps, there are several other ways to reduce the tax burden.

One way to offset costs is to charge for service; almost all insurance covers the cost of medical treatment and transport.  Several other counties do this, and even have a way to reduce the charges for county residents.  This might be one way to reduce the huge burden that I-81 accidents create on local emergency responders.

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Over the weekend, letter and calls poured in from teachers and concerned parents about reductions on teaching positions, staff cuts and programs. Petitions were circulating in the schools, and letters sent home with students for their parents to read, urging them to oppose ‘cutting an already bare-bones budget’.

Just as an experiment, get a stack of religious literature and try distributing it inside the lobby of a high school. Try getting parents to sign Green Party or Libertarian petitions as they come to pick up their children. My bet is either experiment will last 5 seconds before you have to leave, or law enforcement is called.

In this case, it’s the educational lobby, using your own money to extract even more money from you! According to this letter, sent home with student, the 9% increase is called a cut; with everything and everyone from bus drivers to special-ed teachers in danger of being axed.

By Monday, parents of autistic and other special-needs student were calling, concerned about threats to institutionalize their children because of cutbacks. Whoever deceived those parents –preying on their worst fears— is a loathsome, disgusting excuse for a human being.

In the real world, people who exploit victims that way –selling quack-cures to cancer sufferers, or non-existent burial plots to grieving widows— are given a jail cells. In the government-world, stampeding taxpayers for the sake of 1% more of the budget gets rewarded.

And yes, in the end the tactic prevailed. The Board of Supervisors is set to approve a $60.9 million school budget; $5.6 million more instead of $5.1 million more than last year.

Based on the 40+ emails and equal number of phone calls, Shenandoah County Supervisors are “recklessly slashing an already bare-bones school budget to the core”. More innane comments can be found here [click].   Here’s the huge (gigantic, enormous, stupendous, gargantuan, etc) difference between the School Board’s proposal and the Supervisor’s proposal.

$60,926,763 versus $60,276,763

The light blue enrollment line is just for reference.  This year’s proposal in in red (School Board’s) and the Supervisors’ is in green.  That’s the “cut”. 

Just for an exersize, the solid blue line is what the budget would be if the costs followed student enrollment and inflation.  You can see that the actual budgets are now about $10 million higher than that –even with the “huge cut”– and is increasing faster than enrollment and inflation, Consumer Price Index, or the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics wage index.

Where’s all the money going?  Teachers claim they’re not paid enough, but Shenandoah County Schools’ budgets are rising like rockets.  In the last five years enrollment’s increased about 12% and inflation’s about 13%, which combine for a 27% increase.  But the budget’s skyrocketed by  54% , twice that amount!  Good grief!  Where’s it going?

Fot those who can’t follow the numbers, here’s the picture:

Very simply, money going to the schools is rising far faster than students. 

Enrollment starts in 2001 about 5500 and is projected to go to 6300 kids.  The budget started at $44 million ($39.5 million, adjusted for inflation) and goes to $60.9 million. 

None of this includes building monies, the ‘bricks-n-mortar’ capital costs; this is operating money.  Capital payments would add more yet, making the yearly total about $65.9 million, or about $10,500 per-child each year.

So where’s money going?

Things are coming down to the wire on Shenandoah County’s budget process.  I’m sure a few items slipped by, but few escaped reductions –or reductions in requested increases– from the Board of Supervisors.  Most requests were scrutinized closely and unjustified dollars shaved off.

The schools must be special.  Coming in with a requested 10% increase over last year ($55.3 million last year, $60.9 million now) two suggestions to reduce that amount were made.   Both Supervisors said they wanted to keep proposed teacher raises.  One was for a 8.9% increase, and the other a 9.1% increase in the schools’ budget.

Oh! the indignation!  It’s a CUT!  The school lobby went into high gear, cranking out phone calls and emails demanding full funding.  I never knew teachers (apparently) has so much free time to send long emails from school:

“I don’t understand how you can justify deep cuts to a bare-bones budget proposal“  Barebones? 10% is barebones?

“Please don’t cut the funds needed for out raises.” Instructional raises were specifically protected, even four gud spellurs.

“….Dr. Northern DID NOT INCREASE the Education Budget.“  Hmmm.  Somehow it swelled by over $5 million, and I don’t think it was from the tooth fairy (More on that later)

“What are you thinking?  Or are you thinking?  We didn’t ask for an increase in funds.    ….. We provide a free education for children.”  Good heavens. Free? Seriously, where do you think your salary comes from?

” I was shocked“ | “I am appalled” | “….you have no respect for the teachers or administrators and the job that they do” | “Your lack of consideration for the children of this county and their parents is a unbelievable.” | “Then tell me why you want to cut educational funding?  Maybe you are homeschooling?” | “…the budget cuts that are being proposed are outrageous.” | “the schools need more, not less money to operate efficiently“ 

Etcetera, etcetera.  After a while they jumble together; but I’ll note that more than half were polite.

Not a single caller or email had a clue what the budget actually was.  Not a clue. Over five million dollars more than last year, yet less than $2 million for teacher’s pay and new positions. Not a single teacher was aware of the actual figures.

The Supervisors –every single one– support the instructional pay raises and new positions.  They are needed. But every other department in the county has taken cuts to non-critical items, some deep cuts.  The indignation is misplaced.

As chair of the Board’s budget committe, I haven’t covered myself with glory setting this year’s budget.  With new Supervisors, new directions, and some hefty new expenses, Shenandoah County’s budget is coming in over $3 million above target.

Much of the added costs are driven by more people in the county.  With the growth in the Strasburg and Woodstock areas, social services of all sorts are swamped.  More people make more demands; from the library to the sheriff’s department to the landfill, all are doing more work. (more…)

Virginia’s been known as a pro-business, low-tax state.  JLARC estimated us at the 41st lowest taxed state.  That’s over now.

 The Warner/Chichester 2004 tax increase pushed us to the #31 slot.  If Governor Kaine’s proposal takes effect, we’ll be in 17th place.  Paul Harris points out that we’re already the 20th highest for local taxes.

Elephant Ears has a range of scenarios (Scenario 1, Scenario 2, Scenario 3) on whether this will cost Virginia familes another $600 a year or not.  Gov. Kaine said –unmistakeably– no tax increases until a lockbox was setup.  Two months into his term and that promise was abandoned, ‘cast aside like an old worn glove’.

The Governor Kaine Tax Song; or Sing Along with Tim (click for tune)

Where have all my dollars gone,
 long time passing
Where have all my dollars gone
 long time ago
Gone to Richmond every one
When will we ever learn
when will we ever learn.

Someone just informed me that –though commenting was allowed– registration to comment didn’t have a link.  Now fixed.

 Thank you dear ’someone’.

For those who don’t know, Patrick was a teenager in Scotland who was kidnapped by pirates.  He was taken to Ireland –a heathen nation— and sold into slavery, tending sheep for his master.  He later escaped, returned home, and was sent to school in Europe where it was safer.

In schooling, Patrick decided to become a priest.  He was later ordained and worked at a church near his parents’ home.  Sometime later, he asked for transfer to Ireland to tend a handful of Christians living there.  The church fathers denied him, and transferred him to a far-north area.

Years later, Fr. Patrick was allowed to return.  When he did, he asked for the Irish assignment again; this time it was allowed.  The rest is history.

Some Patrick FAQ
Patrick as a first name is Irish, in commemoration of the Saint.  Patrick as a last name is originally Scottish, it’s the family name.  Patricks born in America are Americans, and a few of us are blessed to be Virginians too.

Patrick was the first missionary; the first person to venture outside the Roman Empire and protection to preach Christianity and establish churches. 

The Irish Church wasn’t the same as the rest of the Romanized world, but it was in Ireland that Latin –and the words of the Bible—were kept alive during the Dark Ages.

There’s two separate –but interconnected— issues in zoning for residences: density and growth rate.  Shenandoah is facing a large growth rate, more than the culture can handle, and in 2003 passed large-lot zoning in an attempt to slow it.  After almost three years the rate is .….. about the same.

There can be any number of explanations, but the results from across the country appear the same: Large-lot zoning doesn’t slow residential growth.  All over the region and state, large-lot’s been tried and never succeeded in reducing growth rates.

Say the word “density” to a local homeowners association and brace yourself for brickbats. Say it to a group of Washington area business, development and political leaders, as economist Richard Florida did at a conference the other day, and you get a spontaneous burst of applause.

The Washington post article (free registration required)goes on to point out the hefty savings on infrastructure –another way of saying future taxes— by forcing higher densities in public service areas.

Before anyone goes off half-cocked, this isn’t a pitch to ‘pack the most’est houses into the least’est space’.  But the experts in land planning are starting to see that what (to them) seemed a logical method doesn’t do what was wanted, and often had some serious negative effects.

One of America’s leading planners, Edward Glaeser of Harvard, was featured in a NYT Magazine article (free registration required) and had the same outlook.  Though mostly about Glaeser, this piece give more explanation on the reasons scattered development patterns fail. 

Hard to believe someone from Harvard has as much common-sense, but Glaeser’s reputation is built on masses of accurate and scrupulous facts.  It’s worth the reading to see the connections between planning, zoning, growth rates and costs.