Charles City supervisors adopt $22.4 million budget with four-cent tax increase

Charles City’s Board of Supervisors adopted a recommended four-cent tax hike as part of a $22.4 million budget for fiscal year 2016-17 during its Tuesday night regular meeting. The increase means that the county’s real estate tax will shift from 72 cents to 76 cents per $100 of assessed value.

After receiving comments from citizens during an Apr. 19 public hearing (see related story on this website), supervisors convened for a work session prior to the regular meeting. During work session discussions, supervisors addressed issues pertaining to both the tax increase and concerns over the county’s fire and EMS services.

“I have had many sleepless nights poring over this,” said District 2 supervisor Bill Coada about the $22,437,085 figure for next year. “I strongly support our four-cent tax increase.

“We have got to fix this county,” he continued. “We have inherited a lot of problems and have to fix them in a timely manner.”

Coada commented that he doesn’t oppose the idea of earmarking funds to support fire and EMS services, but believes that results from a state study conducted over the past few months will provide guidance to county leaders.

“I fully support major improvements to our fire and EMS programs and if we want to earmark funds for it, I’m not against it,” he commented. “But I don’t want to add another dollar to it until we have a direction where we can go in.”

District 1 representative Gilbert Smith also favored the proposed budget and viewpoint on addressing the needs for emergency services.

“I support the recommendation from our staff for the four-cent increase for our CIP (Capital Improvement Plan) projects,” the District 1 leader commented. “I also support doing something for fire and EMS but I am too waiting for the results from the study.”

District 3 supervisor Floyd Miles Sr. addressed his concerns involving emergency services, noting three homes in his district had burnt down in recent months.

“We’re not the only ones having problems with fire and EMS in the state,” he said. “I had a lady come up to me and ask me if the board could justify spending $2.5 million for a library when we’re losing houses?

“I didn’t have a comeback for that,” Miles added.

But Smith reacted to Miles’ comment regarding the bond referendum that passed last November.

“These people are talking about how we can support the library, but where were they when the referendum came up in November?” questioned Smith.

“The referendum passed and it basically knocked EMS and fire services down the totem pole,” chimed in Coada.

Another concern for Miles is providing the schools an increase of $174,226 from local funding in comparison to this year’s budget. That amount was recommended by county finance director Michelle Johnson after state funding reduced schools by that amount due to a combination of a change in the local composite index and a projected decrease in the school’s enrollment.

“I would have a problem if this money was used to give raises to the top administration staff and not people like cafeteria workers,” the District 3 representative said. “I hope that when these funds are given that the schools will take a good hard look at it and how to use them.”

Public comment was received during the board’s regular meeting with residents pleading for emergency issues to be addressed this year.

“I appreciate the work of our volunteer firefighters but in the county’s comprehensive plan it says that fire and EMS would become a top priority for the county by 2020,” said Bob Epperson. “I believe that needs to be a top priority now.”

“I want the Board of Supervisors to take responsibility for the safety of people in Charles City County,” said a passionate Joann Murphy. “We don’t need a study to know that we need 24/7 coverage at each of the three stations.”

Supervisors reiterated their support to improve fire and EMS services, but District 2 supervisor Bill Coada’s presentation on the importance of the tax increase and CIP presentation was emphasized in a 25-slide powerpoint presentation.

Coada presented comparison pictures of county wastewater treatment plants from 2012 and 2015 in an effort to demonstrate the county’s need to correct the problems.

“We can’t fix Charles City on a two-cent or a four-cent tax increase,” the District 2 representative commented. “DEQ (Department of Environmental Quality) says we must complete projects by certain dates.

“Before I got on this board, the county was close to being fined $360,000,” Coada continued. “We worked with DEQ on a plan and we got that reduced. Over the past 19 years all we have been doing is patching our wastewater plants. The Hideaway and Mt. Zion projects will take $2.4 million to repair for just those two.

“The point I’m trying to make is that a lot of people have asked this board to take responsibility and this board has and will continue to take responsibility,” he began to conclude. “Previous boards have been dipping into the fund balance to balance the budget and now we have built it back up. This board has been frugal with the taxpayers’ money and we haven’t been wasting it.”