Council Take another whack at it

From Staff Reports / News Virginian
Published: May 20, 2007

Twenty percent.

That's how much more the average Waynesboro homeowner will pay in taxes.

Forty percent.

That's the proposed pay increase for a Library Assistant I at the Waynesboro Public Library.

Six-tenths of 1 percent.

That's how much the majority on Waynesboro's City Council has cut from the city manager's budget.

Those numbers don't add up.

Yes, the manager's budget initially called for a tax rate of 78 cents per $100 of assessed value. And the council has reduced that to 70 cents, a rate apparently backed by the majority of council members.

But, as Alicia Petska reported last week, virtually all of the 8-cent cut (about $1 million) is due to moving the stormwater maintenance and management program out of the general budget and into a special category to be funded by a utility tax. So although homeowners will pay a little less, many businesses will pay more toward the stormwater improvements, and, at the end of the day, a tax is still a tax.

During the budget process, the council cut another $350,000 or so from the manager's proposed budget, but in the meantime added $330,000 in expenses, resulting in a net cut of only about $20,000 from a budget of $40 million.

That, folks, is not good enough.

Although we do not support the cuts necessary to get the rate down to 63 cents, the alternative introduced by Councilman Frank Lucente, we do believe that the council should settle on a rate somewhere between 63 and 70 cents.

Where can the council make the necessary cuts- We suggest a closer look at the city's proposed compensation plan, recommended last month by an outside consulting firm. The plan will increase pay scales for a number of positions within city government to make them competitive with similar positions in other localities. That's fine, but the plan also then increases the incumbents' pay to align within the new salary ranges - with no thought given to individual job performances or the likelihood of the incumbents actually leaving Waynesboro government to work for another locality.

And the pay increases - such as that proposed for the Library Assistant I - are in some cases astronomical.

In other cases, they make no sense. One department head slated for an increase of more than $11,000 has been with the city only slightly more than a year - and another only since February. Those employees accepted those positions knowing the salary range. They have not had time to prove themselves worthy of such significant pay hikes. Certainly it makes sense to bring their salaries within the appropriate range - but over time, and tied to performance, not all at once.

Even the consultant's study offered implementation options that were less expensive than the plan proposed by the city manager. (More expensive options were offered also.) Choosing one of the less expensive options - and then phasing the plan in over time - seems only fair when Waynesboro residents are being asked to shoulder the burden of a 20-percent tax increase.

We have argued long and hard for improvements to the city's infrastructure. We applaud the council majority for supporting the new Capital Improvement Plan as well as the commitment of money for the Wayne Theatre renovation. These are important projects that will pay huge dividends in the future. But the capital projects also will require the investment of additional tax dollars as they are undertaken. Therefore, it's critical that the operating budget funded by the tax rate to be approved this spring be as lean as possible.

A 20-percent tax increase and 40-percent pay increases do not meet anyone's definition of lean.

Before it votes on the tax rates next week, we urge the council to take one more whack at the fat.

For a position-by-position look at the proposed pay raises, go to www.newsvirginian.com and click on this editorial in the Opinion section.