SchoolMatters Weblog

Albemarle OKs $334.7 million budget

4/10/08 * Daily Progress [full story]

Silence.

It’s a rarity at an Albemarle County Board of Supervisors meeting, but with supervisors at a more than three-hour impasse over the county’s fiscal 2009 real-estate tax rate Wednesday, it seemed all points and rebuttals had been made.

The meeting started at 2 p.m. and a rate of 71 cents per $100 assessed value was adopted around 6:30 p.m. — after a break for sandwiches — but the tax agreement wasn’t reached without some compromise and creativity. The rate was ultimately approved 4-2, with Supervisors Lindsay G. Dorrier Jr. and Kenneth C. Boyd opposing.

At 71 cents, the typical owner of a home valued at $300,000 will pay $74 more than at the current tax rate of 68 cents per $100 assessed value, according to a county budget analyst.

County Supervisors adopt 71 cent tax rate; School request satisfied

The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors started their budget and tax rate discussion at 2PM today and by about 6:45 PM we had a tax rate.  The Board was split 3-3 for much of the day with half the board favoring a 70 cent tax rate (Boyd, Dorrier, Rooker) and the other half favoring 71 cents (Mallek, Slutzky, Thomas).  In the end, the Board adopted, by a 4-2 vote, a 71 cent real estate property tax rate with the stipulation that one cent of tax revenues (about $1.6 million) be set aside and only used if projected revenues are less than budgeted during the next fiscal year.  Any funds not utilized for revenue shortfalls will be returned to the Capital Improvements Program (CIP) budget at the end of the year.

The County's 2007 tax rate was 68 cents.  Thus a 71 cent tax rate represents a 3 cent increase. In their discussions, Supervisors said the resulting tax increase for the average household in the County would be about $30 a year. [Update 4/10/08: That $30 was the difference between the 70 and 71 cent rates.  Daily Progress reports overall increase is $74 for average household.  By my calculations, it is $93 a year if you hold the median sales price of an Albemarle home constant. See my comment on this post below.  Sorry for the confusion.  BW]

As a result of this action, I expect the Albemarle County School Board's $151.3 million budget request for 2008-09 to be fully funded. Speaking as one Board member and not on behalf of the School Board, I believe this is in no small part thanks to the support of our community at the numerous public hearings and in communications sent to the Board of Supervisors.  THANK YOU!  They got the message loud and clear and every Supervisor expressed their desire to support our schools at today's meeting.  Even those that voted against the final tax rate (Boyd/Dorrier) were willing to support 70 or 70.5 cents which also would have satisfied the school funding request when combined with a one penny transfer from the capital budget, as had been recommended by County Executive Bob Tucker.

In summary, the School Division will receive additional revenues based on the reallocation of one penny in capital funds towards operational expenses, plus the impact of the tax rate being increased (schools will have access to revenues generated from 2 cents of tax rate increase, with the third penny being held in the local government contingency fund).

The School Board will have a budget work session on Thursday, April 17, 2008 to finalize its budget.  The Board has said previously that it will continue with some cuts (e.g. central office expenditures) regardless of the revenues available as part of its implementation of recommendations in the Resource Utilization Study.  Other cuts (e.g. strings & world languages staffing subsidies) or additions (e.g. specialty centers) that were identified in various contingency plans and previously considered by the Board will be on the table for final review.

Brian Wheeler

Access to the Access Albemarle project

The Daily Progress printed a story today about an information technology project known as Access Albemarle.  Since I expect a lot of constituent questions about this use of taxpayer dollars, I want to share what little information I have on this matter.

Access Albemarle is a project to replace local government's mainframe computing and financial management systems.  The school division was very excited about the commencement of this project several years ago as it promised to give us significantly improved financial management capabilities.

Speaking as one School Board member and not on behalf of the board, I can tell you information has been very hard to come by on this project.  I have been told I cannot learn about the status of the project unless I come to a closed meeting on the subject.  I am told this is because of the legal issues around the contract negotiations with Microsoft. 

Frankly, I think this is a disservice to the public who would benefit from knowing the goals, investments made, and exact status of this project.  I trust the Board of Supervisors has more information at their disposal from their closed meetings, and I hope that such information can be more broadly shared now with schools and the public.  School Board member Steve Koleszar is quoted in the article because he volunteered a couple of months ago to represent the School Division at a private briefing on the project.

While local government staff and Board of Supervisors Chairman Ken Boyd express optimism in the article that Access Albemarle is getting back on track (the project is not managed by the school division), our schools have not been able to take advantage of many of the new features and capabilities we were expecting to have in our budgetary and financial systems, tools that will help us be more efficient and effective as an organization.  Delays, at a minimum, certainly represent missed opportunity.

Brian Wheeler

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3/20/08 * Daily Progress [full story]

$4 million buys 2 years of delay for Albemarle

Albemarle County officials have spent $4 million on software officials say will improve customer service, as well as streamline and modernize the county’s computer system.

But $4 million later, there’s still no system in place.

Known as Access Albemarle, the project has paired county officials with Microsoft to update and upgrade the county’s software, and the $4 million spent so far has gone toward the total project, including software, hardware and consultant fees.

The bulk of that cost, $3.5 million, went to Microsoft for consultant fees and software. Other costs include reusable software and hardware and services to improve the county’s business processes, at a price tag of $675,000.

Moran suggests possible cuts

2/27/08 * Daily Progress [full story]

Albemarle Superintendent Pam Moran provided the School Board Tuesday with three sets of recommended cuts, as the board works to fine tune its contingency plan to deal with shrinking revenue projections.

The School Board’s proposed budget currently totals $151.3 million - $2.3 million more than overall projected revenues.

The three sets of potential cuts were based on varying revenue levels.

If the School Board has to make up all of the projected shortfall - which would happen if the Board of Supervisors does not give schools an additional 2 cents on county’s tax rate - Moran recommended 18 cost savings measures that would balance the budget.

Schools say set tax rates sooner

2/20/08 * Daily Progress [full story]

Board asks Albemarle supervisors for earlier help on budget

The Albemarle School Board has asked the Board of Supervisors to set a tax rate for advertisement as early as possible so the School Board can determine sooner how much will need to be cut from its proposed $151.7 million proposed budget.

School Board Chairman Brian Wheeler made the request in a letter sent Monday to supervisor Chairman Kenneth C. Boyd.

As of now, the supervisors intend to set a tax rate in late March, at least seven days before a public hearing on the tax rate scheduled for April 2.

Boyd said Tuesday that he does not think the supervisors would be able to provide the School Board with local revenue information before late March.

Recently, county staff recommended that the supervisors adopt a 68-cent tax rate for fiscal 2009, the same rate as this year.

School Board approves $151.7 million funding request

On Thursday, the Albemarle County School Board unanimously approved a $151.7 million funding request for FY 2009 which will be sent to the Board of Supervisors next week.  That is a 2.57% increase over the current year's operational budget.  Revenues from all sources (federal, state, and local) are increasing by only 1.68%.  The funding request is $1.3 million more than the revenues that are expected to be available at this time. 

The request would have been about $2.16 million over expected revenues had County Executive Bob Tucker not made an additional $848,854 available earlier in the day by reducing the County's allocation to the capital budget.  Before that adjustment, the School Board's available local revenues were projected to increase by only $73,311 (or 0.074%).

After the vote, the Daily Progress asked me about my opinion as to whether the School Board should have submitted a "balanced budget" to the Board of Supervisors.  I responded, "Balanced to what?"  Earlier that day I was in Richmond with Governor Kaine and he said next week he would be releasing a revised state revenue forecast.  It is not going up.  Also that day the School Board learned Mr. Tucker was making more money available in the local government budget from the capital allocation.  That increased revenues at the very last minute before our vote.  Any guesses as to what the Supervisors will do to the tax rate?  All these factors make the budget a moving target this early in the process. 

Thus I voted with my colleagues to send what I believe is a funding request that best supports the school division's strategic goals--This community's priorities for public education. In the words of our Parent Council President, Mary Huffard Kegley Scott, "Strong public schools build strong communities."  This funding request moves the community's vision forward.

The School Board cut more than it added to the Superintendent's original request. I voted to eliminate almost a million dollars from the budget based upon recommendations from our recently completed resource utilization study.  That includes cuts of $400,000 in central office expenditures (on top of $200,000 last year) and $500,000 in transportation expenditures.  The funding request will also include a contingency plan detailing another $3 million in potential cuts.

I voted to keep teacher salaries at the 4% average market increase.  I am not happy about voting to lower the merit pool for our classified staff from 4.35% to 3.35%.  We are still not paying our lowest paid classified staff a "living wage."

I voted to support a $200,000 research and development initiative related to the creation of specialty centers.  These programs could include an International Baccalaureate (IB) program as well as specialty science center.  Superintendent Moran had this as something to fund in the second year of her request. The School Board voted to move it forward a year.

NOTE: If you are interested in our specialty center initiatives, there will be a work session on this topic at our February 28, 2008 work session.  I view this $200,000 as a placeholder in the budget until we receive more information from staff and the community at the work session.

The School Board moved our budget process forward in the calendar in order to accommodate the state law that changed related to when local government has to advertise a proposed property tax rate.  Yesterday, Bob Tucker announced that the County did not have to comply with that law since property assessments increased by less than 1%.  Tucker said the Board of Supervisors would now wait until late March to advertise the tax rate (they have to do so 7 days before their April 2, 2008 public hearing). 

The Board of Supervisors had previously scheduled a public hearing for February 20, 2008 thinking they were going to have to advertise the tax rate shortly thereafter.  That public forum will still be held and that is the next opportunity for the public to provide feedback on the County budget.

Important dates on the budget calendar:

• February 20, 2008 * Public forum on preliminary budget priorities
• March 5, 2008 * Public hearing on County Executive's budget
• April 2, 2008 * Public hearing on final budget and Tax Rate
• April 9, 2008 * Board of Supervisors adopts budget

Finally, I want to thank the public for all the feedback I have received on the budget.  Your input does make a difference.

Brian Wheeler

Albemarle prepares to reduce budget

2/1/08 * Daily Progress [full story]

Due to decreasing revenue projections, Albemarle County school officials are scrambling to find ways to pare down Superintendent Pam Moran’s $152.3 million budget request.

The current overall revenue projection stands at $149.6 million, meaning that there is a $2.7 million deficit that needs to be dealt with.
....

The board was able to reach consensus that it would present a needs-based budget, with contingency plans for the various revenue scenarios, dependent on the tax rate that will be set by the Board of Supervisors as well as state revenue information.

“Because the revenue picture is in constant flux right now, it would be difficult for us to pick a revenue target and align our spending with that, until we know more from the state and the local government,” said School Board Chairman Brian Wheeler. “What the board is focused on is taking Dr. Moran’s recommendations and building a budget that best represents our strategic needs to the Board of Supervisors and have the supervisors understand, though, that because we do recognize that things are trending down in terms of revenue, we have a contingency plan that will list out different options in terms of cuts.”

School Board member Pam Moynihan perhaps summed up the situation best when she said that the board is “hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.”

County budget looks bleak

1/29/08 * Daily Progress [full story]

Bleak revenue projections have taken a turn for the worse in Albemarle County, and both school and local government officials are grappling with an economic picture that continues diving southward.

This time, it’s not the property assessment projections that caused officials to adjust their revenue picture - it’s primarily new construction estimates.

Officials thought new construction, both in commercial projects and homes, would increase by 2.4 percent this year. However, they have found that construction will likely only increase an estimated 1.6 percent, affecting how much the county collects. The newest annual property reassessments are .14 percent on average, a far cry from recent years when double-digit increases were the norm.

For local schools, the new projections will mean an estimated $2 million less than what school officials anticipated when they drafted their budget for the next fiscal year. Albemarle Superintendent Pam Moran’s recommended budget was already about $600,000 more than projected revenues.

Jackson Zimmerman, the school division’s director of fiscal services, said that while a decreased revenue projection was not unexpected, the size of it was.

“A few hundred thousand dollars less would not have been a surprise, but this is 10 times what we thought could happen,” Zimmerman said. “This will definitely change the tenor of the   budget discussions from this point forward.”

The School Board will hold a public hearing on Moran’s budget request at Monticello High School tonight at 6:30 p.m. and finalize its request Feb. 7.

“We were braced for some changes, but I don’t think we were prepared for this much of a change,” said School Board Chairman Brian Wheeler.

School budget faces new funding cuts

As with all my posts... This important message on the school budget represents my views as an individual School Board member.

Last year, the “January surprise” of the budget process was an ever dropping tax rate target that had the Albemarle County School Board constantly cutting and adjusting the budget for 2007-08.  The School Board ultimately passed a balanced budget (it has to by law), but a number of major initiatives went underfunded or unfunded.

This year’s “January surprise” is the rapidly changing state and local revenue picture.  Once again, the funding request prepared by Superintendent Pam Moran for the School Board’s consideration is having fundamental financial assumptions shaken by matters outside the School Board’s control. 

Earlier this week, the School Board was facing a $832,637 funding gap for next year.  The School Board was told Tuesday to expect state revenues to drop by $250,000.  Not a huge amount.  I can deal with that in a $153 million budget.  We were also told that our competitive market for employee salaries was now forecasting smaller raises.  So compensation targets for classified employees were ratcheted back trimming that gap by $332,420.  Teacher salaries remained at the targeted 4% increase.  Still some more work to do, but certainly not impossible to balance the budget.

Yesterday however, I learned that local Albemarle County revenues for next year are now expected to drop by $2.16 million from the projection used by Dr. Moran in her December 2007 funding request to the School Board.

Let’s do the math.

In 2007-08, the schools were supposed to receive a transfer from local government of $98.4 million for operations (i.e. not debt service, capital, or self-sustaining).  That amount is 44.9% of the total County general fund expenditures of which 62% is funded by real estate property taxes.  (Note: This is from the perspective of the general fund for Albemarle and that there are other sources of local revenue) 

This year, we had been projecting since October a $100.67 million transfer from local government (assumes the real estate property tax rate would remain at $0.68).  That would have resulted in an additional $2.2 million from local government, or a 2.2% increase for the schools.  The lowest change in memory according to our staff.

Based on revised data from yesterday, that number is now projected to be $73,311 (0.074%) of TOTAL additional revenues from local government to the schools.  Yes, I have those commas and decimals in the right place.  Local government may look at reducing capital investments in community infrastructure to help plug the hole. 

But wait, there is more.  With real estate tax bills in the mail this week and dropping local property values, the County also has to face shortfalls in the CURRENT budget.  We had expected that and Dr. Moran had previously prepared the schools to accommodate a $2 million hit.  Yesterday local government informed the schools that the figure has reached the $3 million mark.  So the $98.4 million that we should have received from local government this school year is now $95.4 million.

Our community has some serious work to do.  My assessment of Dr. Moran’s funding request, as one School Board member, was that it ALREADY very lean and strategically focused.  Overall the projected growth of the budget was only 3.37%.  Yet, she figured out how to fund a $6.2 million initiative to ensure competitive compensation.  Given the budget was only growing by $5 million, she accomplished that by cutting positions and programs in other parts of the division.  An additional $73,311 from local government doesn’t go very far on a $6.2 million initiative. 

Further, in late 2007 the School Board hired the Commonwealth Educational Policy Institute (CEPI) at VCU to conduct a 5 month proactive study of the efficiency and effectiveness of our school operations.  Implementing the recommendations in this study will be an essential part of funding the future, but only so many adjustments can be made in the first year, and as I said previously, many cuts were already in the budget and other initiatives were already left unfunded or deferred to year two.

Unless the revenue picture changes for the better, the School Board will soon be in the process of planning reduction strategies with the Superintendent.  Those specifics will not be clear before the public hearing next week, but it is essential we hear from YOU regarding your priorities for our public schools.  What are you willing to do without?  What investments are you willing to make to accomplish the educational goals of this community?

The public hearing is being held at Monticello High School’s new auditorium this Tuesday, January 29, 2008 starting at 6:30 PM.  The sign-up sheet for speakers will be available starting at 4:30 PM.

Brian Wheeler

School Board revises compensation targets in budget

Last night, the Albemarle County School Board voted 6-1 to align its compensation targets in the FY2009-10 budget with the revised recommendations made by our Human Resources staff on January 14, 2008.  Those recommendations are as follows:

• 2% increase in classified scale.  (decreased by 1%)
• 3.35% merit increase for classified staff.  (decreased by 1%)
• Design teacher scale to meet market and distribute 4.0% along teacher scale. (no change from October recommendations)

The School Board reached this decision after receiving information that Governor Kaine's revised budget estimates indicate the County may receive around $250,000 less than previously anticipated in state revenues.

This adjustment in compensation plans is projected to save about $330,000 in the Superintendent's original $153 million funding request now under review by the School Board.  The public hearing on the School Board's budget is January 29, 2008.

Brian Wheeler