Supervisors find support for schools, if not increase

Nobody stood up and specifically said they supported a six-cent tax rate increase.
At Tuesday night's Orange County Board of Supervisors' budget public hearing, citizens spoke in favor of education and not-for-profit organizations, and others against the full measure of the proposed tax hike.
More than 30 citizens, including the entire school board, attended Tuesday's public hearing, with just over a dozen signing up to speak.
Supervisors voted in March to advertise an increase in the tax rate from .47 cents to .53 cents per $100 of assessed value as a means of creating a balanced budget while protecting county schools and providing vital services to citizens. At the time, precisely how deep state cuts to schools would be was up in the air, and county officials were up against the clock; to advertise the tax rate according to schedule. Since then, state budget figures have provided more clarity for school and county officials. By law, supervisors can adopt a lower rate, but they can't adopt a rate higher than what's advertised.
Tuesday's hearing was the next step in a lengthy budget process that began months ago with county staff formulating a budget that was presented to supervisors a month ago. Since then, board members have added and subtracted items to achieve a $115.8 million budget.
Citizens had the opportunity to speak on the proposed capital improvements plan, the proposed budget and proposed tax rates Tuesday night.
Speaker Carla Bangs said the board is not attuned to the current economic crisis and insensitive to taxpayers with inflated property values.
"We've got three supervisors pushing to give even more money to schools. We hear it's all about the children, but it shouldn't be only about the children," she said. "It needs to be somewhat about the parents.”
Karl Santone suggested the board take a look at services that are "required and desired."
Santone said he supported education funding, but wondered why the county budgets nearly $2 million for the Orange County Airport.
"How many people in Orange County desire and require an airport?" he asked. "A lot of that money comes from the state and federal government, but it's still money, taxpayer money."
And, the $1.98 million budgeted for the airport could go a long way toward offsetting the loss of more than 80 school positions.
Meanwhile, John Bangs suggested the new Locust Grove Middle School currently under construction was a county gamble that didn't pay off.
"The boards gambled the economy would improve and lost. Now it will cost employees their jobs," he said. "You want the taxpayers to pay off your gambling debts."
But Orange County High School Principal Gene Kotulka countered that supporting education was a solid investment in the community.
"The best way to keep property values high is a great education system," he told the board. "Cutting education resources is not the answer." He said he wants all 1,581 students at OCHS to be successful and supports the board's efforts to provide level funding for the schools.
"If that means a tax increase, then that's what's right for our kids," he said.
And parent, teacher and Orange County Education Association President Wanda Jones reminded the board the county's future is at stake with education funding.
"I, like others, prefer not to have a tax increase," she said. "But I also understand education is the future of our county and our children. I'm concerned about jobs in Orange County and I'm concerned about my fellow employees."
Other speakers lobbied for support for agencies such as Rapidan Better Housing, Healthy Families Orange, the Rappahannock- Rapidan Community Services Board, Rappahannock Legal Services and the Rappahannock-Rapidan Medical Reserve Corps.
Board members made no comments at Tuesday's hearing and took no action. The board will hold a work session Thursday evening and is expected to adopt the budget at Tuesday's regular board meeting.