My Side of the Fence

The danger isn't going too far. It's that we don't go far enough.

CM Observations

We’ve interviewed for 3 days.  My business is going flat-out and I’m running it via text message….I’d like to have cut down the number of interviewees but I was in the minority so the Council interviewed the majority of the short list.  Can’t win ’em all…:)  In talking to these various candidates from all over the country, you learn a lot about our beloved Virginia.  You learn that Virginia has been credibly managed for a long time.  You also learn that the General Assembly deserves a lot of credit for its past decisions regarding funding sources.

After talking to all of those folks, I believe that there are two advantages that localities in Virginia have versus some other states: the first is that we’re a right to work state (love that phrase).  The stories that some of the candidates have related about their dealings with unions are amazing.  One guy lost his job due to the police union – they took radio ads out opposing his budget proposal!  Radio ads.  His Council flipped on him and fired him.  That’s amazing.

The second is that localities in VA have a diversified revenue stream (at least for now).  One of our candidates related that in his state they have some sort of sales/use tax and revenue sharing from the state via an income tax.  That’s it.  Both are strictly related to economic activity.  Therefore when economic activity plummeted during the Great Recession he had to crush his budget by 20%.  In a single year.  That’s just not good management but it’s what his state allows.  Contrast that with Manassas where we have been able to keep Real Estate bills pretty stable and the uptick in business activity revenues have paid for raises, etc.

Another state has a system whereby school boards propose their annual budget and, in order for it to be approved, it has to survive a referendum.  If it fails, and it usually does, the budget heads to the Council for resolution.  That’s just madness.  Why elect a school board if you’re going to require a referendum every year?

The diversified revenue thing is really important.  When my business was still just a couple of years old we had several large clients that were title companies.  This vertical is related to the real estate industry and you can imagine what happened to that market segment when the bottom fell out of the real estate market.  Fortunately for us, we realized this as a weakness and diversified our client base. Just good planning…and some luck.

19 Comments

  1. I hope you check out that what is said in these interviews are actually what happened. Always two sides to a story.

    We don’t need someone that was actually fired for a different reason than which was given.

  2. How many canditates were there?

  3. Similarly the candidates need to make sure what the profile says we are and what we actually do as a city match. Not saying hidden agendas aren’t everywhere, but be conscious of them so you can make the best decision for a successful career move — and a successful match for us.

  4. @Andy,

    I am fairly new to the politcal system in Manassas and I am a bit confused with a comment you made above – could you clarify?

    MCPS does not have to provide a detailed budget to the City Council?

  5. “Why elect a school board if you’re going to require a referendum every year?”

    Easy answer: most places that hold the voting have a seperate tax rate for their schools vs. the swipe from the GF like here. Gives the citizens a chance to have their say, especially if there is to be budget cuts. All citizens, those with kids and schools and those who either with no kids or their kids graduated, get an equal say in financing. If they want to keep or increase, allows the politicos to say “well, then your tax rate is going to be higher!” Of course, most places have low voter turnout for it, so cost for local government to run it sorta makes it less effective to do.

    Secondary benefit it gives citizens an annual shot at keeping the School Boards in line.

  6. @Ray: yeah, but if it’s seperate, shouldn’t the school budget go back to the school board?

    @4K: yes, the SB provides a detailed budget to us every year. However, the city simply shares 58% of our general fund revenues with the school. It’s a historical average that seems to provide funding that is in line (or slightly above) our peers. If you go back into the blog archives here or over at the Journal you’ll see we’ve pounded the revenue sharing agreement around but the current council has left it alone. I think it’s been in force for ~10 years or so?

  7. Andy, I am familiar with Maine more than anywhere and they have referendums. Yeah, it goes back to the School Board for management of the execution of it by Administration like many places. Just note the difference – since it is a seperate tax rate from the property et.al. taxes, voters have to agree to it. That “no taxation without representation” thing 🙂

  8. @Andy,
    Thanks for the clarification on the SB budget. Since MCPS gets 58% of the general fund revenues does anyone closely review the budget they submit?

  9. Andy,

    Would you define”detailed” please because the budget I see raises more questions than answers. I have asked for a better breakdown and the response to that was a request for a dollar amount larger than I had ($200). Thanks.

  10. On the Manassas City Schools website, are these the proposed detailed budgets that the School Board presents to City Council, or are the budgets more detailed?
    For example, the 8 page pdf document called “FY 2012 Budget Transmittal to City Council.”

    Page Source (see hyperlinks for pdf documents): http://manassascity.va.schoolwebpages.com/education/components/scrapbook/default.php?sectiondetailid=14835&

  11. Detailed Budget: what we see publicly is no way, no how a detailed budget. Look at what the City Manager produces – that is a detailed budget as you see a breakout by department, etc. To just have a line saying “Instruction $61Million” (for example) does not clarify what is under that. Look around at other school divisions in the State and you will see a line-item detailed budget showing where the dollars go. The consolidated summary presented on the slides is just that.

  12. So why isn’t the “detailed” budget for the schools posted online? A citizen should not have to pay 200.00 to see how their money is being spent.

  13. I bet we could get 200 people to contribute a $1.00 and share the report. If we charge 1.75 we could copy the report and sell it like a swim meet heat sheet :).

  14. “I have asked for a better breakdown and the response to that was a request for a dollar amount larger than I had ($200). ”

    Then ask that it be delivered electronically. As the document should be available for public review on demand, and I’m sure its an electronic document somewhere within the school board’s budget office, they must provide it electronically if asked. Thus, under the FOIA statutes, no copy charges and their should be no staff time charges as it should be a document that is readily available and require no research to locate. Of course if the administration is anything like PWC Schools, they don’t like to play by the FOIA rules.

  15. “The North Miami Beach police officer accused of trying to cast a Santeria
    spell over the city manager’s office to stop him from slashing police jobs was
    fired Monday.
    According to an internal affairs report, Officer Edith Torres tried to recruit
    the help of a janitor to sprinkle birdseed in the manager’s office.
    Torres believed the birdseed held mystical powers which would make
    the manager ‘go away’. ”
    (Miami Herald 12-6-2o11)

  16. “So why isn’t the “detailed” budget for the schools posted online? A citizen should not have to pay 200.00 to see how their money is being spent.”

    That is a great question, and I agree.

  17. “I bet we could get 200 people to contribute a $1.00 and share the report. If we charge 1.75 we could copy the report and sell it like a swim meet heat sheet ”

    I’m still amazed that the schoolboard would charge you $200.00 for a copy. How big is the darn thing? Where they going to get it copied, Kinkos? Single-sided, full-color glossy paper with z-fold charts and a plastic binding? When I served on the City Futures Taskforce, I received a hard copy of the budget. For the next three years, one came in the mail to my house. No questions asked. I was just “on the list”, although I could’ve read it online.

  18. aint got no crystal ball

    December 6, 2011 at 8:27 pm

    Mmmm, magic birdseed…thanks councilman R

  19. Just to clarify; I did not ask for the whole budget. I simply wanted a breakdown of 3 separate Departments: Special Ed, Gifted & Talented and ESOL (LEP).
    I wanted to know how much $ coming in from Fed and State, how much spent and what was it spent on for each department separately.
    The fee (I was told) was for administration because that is not how (normally) they break it down.
    I did read the whole budget and watched the slide shows put on at SB meetings, which is why I stated that our budget raises more questions than answers.

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