BY JONAS BEALS
Less than a week after confirmation that an accounting error left an extra $6.2 million in county coffers, the Stafford Board of Supervisors voted to start spending it.
Supervisors narrowly passed a resolution yesterday that uses $1.4 million of the surplus to give bonuses to certain school employees and sheriff's deputies.
The resolution, approved on a 4-3 vote, specifies that $1 million be allocated to teachers, $57,000 to school paraprofessionals, $15,000 to school nurses and $344,000 to deputies. Supervisors Joe Brito, George Schwartz and Bob Woodson voted against the resolution. Brito and Schwartz, who go off the board in January, said they supported salary increases instead of bonuses.
The vote came after a heated discussion by board members and admonitions from County Administrator Anthony Romanello and Commissioner of the Revenue Scott Mayausky. Both recommended supervisors wait and consider such financial decisions during spring budget discussions.
"This would make the challenge for the board next spring even more difficult," Romanello said, referencing projected revenue shortfalls. "Staff believes decisions like this one are best considered in the context of the budget process."
Though he voted for the bonuses, Supervisor Paul Milde called the proposal a political stunt and a gimmick perpetrated without proper consideration by a lame-duck board.
"Mr. Brito," Milde said. "Shame on you for subverting our process with a last-minute $1.4 million expenditure. Way to go out."
Brito added the resolution to the agenda just prior to yesterday's meeting. He said his intent was to bring Stafford teacher salaries in line with those in Spotsylvania.
Some board members expressed concern over using one-time money to increase salaries, a recurring expense. The surprise surplus resulted from an accounting error involving a transfer between the school system and county government in 2007. The situation was discovered earlier this year.
After the vote on the bonus resolution, Brito made a second proposal to return the remaining $4.8 million to taxpayers via rebates.
"What a novel idea," said Supervisor Harry Crisp, a Democrat. "It's unheard of that government should think about returning money to taxpayers."
Republican supervisors questioned the wisdom of such a move because of the current economy.
"This amounts to a $6.2 million raid of Stafford's accounts," Milde said. "I see Democrats trying to give away $6.2 million."
"We have a bleak financial outlook," Supervisor Cord Sterling added. "It's not a responsible way to govern. We need to put governance ahead of politics. Let's wait and figure this out during the normal budget process."
By that time, Republicans will have a majority on the board.
The taxpayer rebate proposal would require a public hearing to adopt an ordinance. By a 5-2 vote, supervisors scheduled that public hearing for Dec. 15. Supervisors Milde and Mark Dudenhefer dissented.
A number of failed substitute motions preceded the vote to authorize a public hearing, including a motion by Milde to suspend the collection of the business, professional and occupational license tax.
County Treasurer Laura Rudy, who would be directly involved in any rebate scenario, estimated that if every property owner in the county were to be reimbursed, it would require 45,000-46,000 checks and a considerable amount of work.
Mayausky warned that if passed, the rebate would come as the county finalizes real estate reassessments. He told the board that the county is facing a 20 percent drop in the value of the county's real estate base--an approximate $30 million gap.
"The best thing would be to hold off until you see the complete revenue picture," he said.
The proposed rebate ordinance would give the county the ability to return real property tax revenues to taxpayers in any fiscal year with a surplus.
Jonas Beals: 540/368-5036
Email: jbeals@freelancestar.com