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Fellow Citizens,
I am deeply concerned about the rampant misperceptions that are being discussed as fact concerning the city's FY-09 budget and the fate of the proposed Parks and Recreation facility construction. I have asked the staff to develop a series of informational briefings that will provide the status of the city's departments, and documentation showing the bang for the tax payer's buck in funding city operations. It became clear to me last Tuesday evening during the Public Hearings that many misperceptions abound in the city -- it time to set the record straight and put the correct information in the hands of our citizens. I don't expect that everyone will agree with all the decisions of the Governing Body -- I do mind when decisions are based on misrepresentation and without regard for the truth.
I was notified by several citizens of a flyer that has been placed in citizen's mailboxes; the eastern side of the city appears to have been the recipient of the flyers. Based on what I have been told of its contents, it sounds like a flyer that was prepared by someone who might be short on facts. Please watch the Governing Body meeting on Tuesday evening -- we will try to answer some questions posed by citizens at last week's public hearings, and will provide the facts concerning the Parks and Rec facility construction and the FY-09 budget. I don't believe we will be able to cover all the required material in one session, but this will be the first of a series of informational presentations that will arm citizens with factual information which can be used to make individual decisions.
Just to set the record straight, no police or firefighters are losing their jobs. The School Division positions that are being reduced are at the sole discretion of the School Board. It is true that the School Board, like the remainder of the city, has been required to reduce spending to remain within available dollars to fund operations. Within the city staff, we have reduced positions by implementing a hiring freeze. Within the School Division, the focus and priorities of staff must be addressed to the School Board. It is interesting to note a few facts relative to the School Division. For purposes of illustration, please assume the average salary with fringe benefits for staff positions is somewhere around $50,000; the School Board announced 41 reductions. That action alone generates
approximately $2 million in savings, in addition to the other actions the School Board reports they have taken to generate over $350,000 in additional savings. The reduction in city funding is just over Seven Hundred and twenty thousand dollars to the School Division. Those who point to the city's reduced school funding are missing some key points, and need to ask for more information from the School Board -- where are these additional savings being applied? I do not mean to infer that the School Board has done anything wrong -- my point is that the city is not singularly responsible for the harm that is reported to be caused by the budget shortfall or the staff reductions that have been announced. The student population has decreased due to the people who have left the city as a result of the housing crisis; that drives a reduction is state provided funding. When Cougar Upper Elementary School was proposed, and then heavily lobbied for by
faculty and staff, the case was always made by the School Board that the debt service could be afforded -- now the first debt service payment on Cougar Upper Elementary is coming due in FY-09.
What are the School Board's priorities? The message we heard at last Tuesday's Public Hearing was to cut taxes, but sustain funding to pay for teachers; the decision that prioritizes the funding to pay for teachers is a decision that resides with the School Board and should rightly be addressed there.
The construction of the Parks and Rec facility, if it were to be approved, would be funded as a capital project through the issuance of general obligation bonds. The financing has been structured to defer payments until 2012. As such, if the project is approved in May, and that's the earliest the issue can be considered, the impact to city funding would not occur until FY-12, when the payments against the debt service would first be felt within the city's overall budget. When someone makes the case that the proposed Parks and Rec facility has any impact on the city budget for FY-09, and that it is responsible for any personnel action described as a result of that budget, that's just plain wrong.
If you know the source of the flyer, I would appreciate it if you share the correct information with the author. While it is any citizen's right to advocate a position in support of, or in opposition to a project, I would at least like to present the flyer's author with the correct facts.
V/R
Frank Jones
Mayor
One Park Center Ct.
Manassas Park, VA 20111-2035
City Hall: (703) 335-8808
Cell: (703) 856-5019
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