Is Spotsy just a place we live or a community we invest in?
As we grow as a community, we need to ensure public services are at a level we expect. We must also consider those voices that participate in the process, while respecting those that don’t have the time or inclination to speak. These individuals place their trust that you will ensure adequate services will be provided, part of which includes having trained and experienced County employees. It seems that without a show of good faith by this Board, the departures that have been briefed publicly several times could become a mass exodus sooner than later. It could have the added negative affect that it would cost more to alter the County's reputation as being just a training ground for neighboring localities, than paying a competitive salary today. By choosing a lower tax rate over working toward paying County employees a competitive salary, we're making it easier for our neighbors to keep their taxes lower while still attracting our most experienced employees with higher compensation. While we should not sprint to match Stafford's tax rate, we also should not make it easier for them, by keeping our tax rate so low we cannot compete for quality personnel.
Each budget cycle, you are tasked with balancing the short-term fiscal constraints with long-term County needs. If you underfund essential public services such as Fire Rescue and Emergency Management (FREM), Sheriff Department, DSS, and Schools today - you expose us to greater risk tomorrow.
Multiple Department heads have presented you with the warning signs. They are clear and becoming more difficult to refute. You are at a crossroads - choose the wrong path and you will be remembered as the Board that believed it was more important to suppress the tax rate rather than adequately invest in our community. As a Board you must either publicly dismiss the evidence as unpersuasive or begin to charter a course toward addressing these concerns.
There have been arguments from various groups pulling you in opposite directions. You have been provided with emotional pleas from individuals who will directly benefit from the advancement of a higher or lower tax rate. It’s your responsibility to peel back these emotional arguments, and consider the actual impacts, and whether the available data supports a specific course.
Some Board members may conclude that even if Public Safety and the Schools are provided with all their FY20 requests - they would still ask for more next year, so why bother? This is probably true. There will always be those we won’t be able to satisfy. Always those that advocate we aren’t doing enough. Always those that claim we have done too much already. These groups serve valuable purposes, because they remind the Board of the importance of getting the right balance between addressing the County's short and long-term needs.
You willfully signed up to navigate these issues for Spotsylvanians. Because you volunteered to serve you should embrace this role as mediator. If you navigate successfully, you should find yourself in a lonely position at the end of the budget cycle - having satisfied neither side completely. This is the essence of responsible governing on controversial issues.
We face difficult issues that involve many considerations. Regardless of how you decide to vote on the FY20 Budget, Tax Rate, and CIP, you owe our community the factors that weighed most heavily on you, the information you found most persuasive, and how it led you to your decision. That explanation probably won't satisfy everyone, but it will bring to light your vision for the future of Spotsylvania and let us all decide whether we want to be a part of it.
Todd Rump
Lee Hill District