Landra Skelly speaks to the James City County Board of Supervisors during a budget hearing Tuesday. (Gregory Connolly/WYDaily)
Seven James City County citizens offered thoughts during a public hearing Tuesday on the county’s budget, touching on a range of issues including green building codes, debt levels, environmental regulations, stormwater management, county building needs and highway medians.
The purpose of the hearing was to gather initial feedback about citizen priorities for the upcoming budget, which is slated to be passed in April. The budget will fund county operations from July until June 2016. James City County operates on a two-year budget cycle, and the county is currently in the second year of the cycle, with $178,519,600 in total expenditures currently planned for the next year.
“It’s extremely important as we go forward making decisions on future expenditures on behalf of James City County we ensure we are not passing on costs to citizens when our citizens are trying to figure out how to buy the next cart of groceries,” Supervisor Mary Jones (Berkeley) said during the meeting.
Suzanne Mellen, the county’s assistant director of financial and management services, said revenues for the upcoming budget are expected to be close to what was originally planned. She said the county is carefully monitoring the state budget process. Legislators in Richmond are currently working to address a budget shortfall of more than $300 million.
No common theme emerged among the seven commenters, whose remarks touched on many areas of county spending.
Judy Fuss, speaking on behalf of the James City County Citizens Coalition, urged the supervisors to direct more funding to deal with stormwater issues without cutting funding elsewhere. Stormwater is the runoff from precipitation, which can transmit pollutants and cause flooding if not properly controlled.
She said recent budgets from the county have supplied the minimum amount of money required to avoid penalties but have not addressed a growing backlog of stormwater management projects. She also called for the county to reinstitute its neighborhood drainage program, which helped property owners deal with stormwater issues on their land. The program was canceled because it is not mandated by state or federal law.
Joe Swanenberg said the county’s sustainable building policy is not cost effective, suggesting that amending it could reduce costs on future county building projects. The policy is in place to try to reduce energy costs and promote water conservation by requiring the county to strive to implement certain standards on its buildings.
Landra Skelly said the county should move away from watershed management plans and agricultural stewardship programs as they are not mandated, infringe on property rights and only serve to cost taxpayers more money.
Petra Nadal said the county should require a warranty for construction projects of county buildings to cover for defects and problems that arise after the building has been placed into use by the county.
“From now on, buildings and everybody involved in building the building, up until the key gets put in your hand, are held responsible after the fact,” she suggested.
Chris Henderson suggested a public facilities plan, something he has previously suggested. He said he created a mock plan outlining construction over the next 20 years, incorporating projects like new schools, a new county office building, a fieldhouse and more. His mock plan was not meant to be taken literally but rather as a suggestion as to what a public facilities plan could look like.
“Begin the dialogue about what it is we want to be, where it is we want to go and then develop a plan on how to get there,” he said.
He also suggested next year’s budget include money to maintain highway medians.
Ed Oyer said he was concerned over the county’s debt levels. He asked the county to take a “hard look” at getting its debt under control.
“There are cities and counties in this country today filing bankruptcy over debt,” he said. “I don’t want to see us in that position. I’ve heard too many times in the past 42 years here how wealthy this county is. Well there’s an old saying and I quote that old saying ‘there is a limit to everything.’”
County Administrator Bryan Hill will present his proposed budget for the upcoming year in March. The supervisors will host budget work sessions in April, along with a public hearing to again gain feedback from citizens. The budget is slated to be passed in April.