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Stafford supervisors end the year with a bang as they debate allocation of a surprise county surplus Date published: 12/27/2009
BY JONAS BEALS Money problems weigh heavily on any relationship, but it's usually a lack of cash--rather than a surplus--that causes a split. Earlier this month, the Stafford County Board of Supervisors found itself holding an extra $6.2 million. It resulted in perhaps the most explosive partisan infighting seen in two years of sporadic party-line bickering. December will end in a mandatory separation. There has been a certain amount of tension among board members at most meetings this year, but the surplus appeared at the perfect time to spark conflict. Supervisors reached a boiling point during their Dec. 15 meeting when four of the seven voted to allocate the bulk of the surplus to support a retirement trust fund. Supervisor Harry Crisp said the vote on the surplus "brought matters to a head." At the meeting, Crisp raised his voice on what he felt was "bullying" from Supervisor Paul Milde. Milde had vehemently objected to Crisp's "springing" his proposal on the board. "Perhaps it brought some emotion out into the open that had been under the surface," Crisp said. "Unfortunately, it came out in strong language. We should be above that sort of thing. It was totally painful." MAKING CHANGE The current board has a 3-3-1 split. George Schwartz, Bob Woodson and Crisp are Democrats; Cord Sterling, Mark Dudenhefer and Milde are Republicans; Joe Brito Republicans, more or less the minority party for the past two years, will have an ironclad 5-2 majority come January. When the extra $6.2 million showed up on the books, the board voted 4-3 at its Dec. 1 meeting to spend $1.4 million of it. That was not a party-line vote, as Crisp, a Democrat, sided with Republicans Sterling, Dudenhefer and Milde. About $1 million went to raises for school employees, and the remainder went to the Sheriff's Office for bonuses. Board Democrats then floated a proposal to return the remaining $4.8 million to taxpayers, but that resolution was tabled at the Dec. 15 meeting. Instead, a 4-1 vote allocated the remaining surplus to a retirement benefit trust fund for county and school employee health care. Dudenhefer was the sole dissenting vote, Sterling was absent and Milde refused to vote. Milde walked out of the meeting after the vote.
will help stabilize the Counties finances before the credit rating agencies evaluate the County for the issuance of the $70 million road and $29 million park bonds. If the County?s Annual Required Contribution (ARC) is not funded this year then the liability will increase by $300K a year for the next 30 years. It's either pay now or pay more later.
In response to Mister B: What good are stable healthcare benefits and retirements for county employees if they are laid off because of a even larger budget hole. Thank god two of those idiots are out. Maybe now we can have a board that's fiscally responsible and knows what they're doing.
including school bus drivers, cafeteria workers, teachers, deputies and fire and rescue personnel can all breath a sigh of relief knowing that the actions of four members of the Board helped stabilize their healthcare benefits and the County's finances.
When Mr. Schwartz became Chairman, he made a big deal & policy changes about ethics, decorum, and tighter rules for board members to get items put on the agenda. Even specifying how many agenda items board members could have. Also a big written policy about name calling & decorum, read it at the beginning of every meeting. I don't recall him ever striking his gavel asking Woodson to stop, per Schwartz's own rules. Previously - he'd had no problem censuring GOP board members in what he perceived as bad taste
I was in the chambers and bore witness to the whole thing. Woodson was the one slinging the personal insults, nothing original, just very slanderous remarks coached by his "handlers" . Not an original thought or anything to back him up. Woodson is a public official who needs to think before he opens his mouth. Woodson unabashedly displayed a double standard for following the rules of the Board. It's okay to break the Board ethics rules instituted by the Dem's, as long as it favors the Dems.
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