Both boards err in CHS bickering
Montgomery County residents need a “come to Jefferson” moment. If the current spat between supervisors and the school board about funding for repairs at Christiansburg High School is any indication, local democracy is not producing robust leadership.
Start with the board of supervisors.
When supervisors last year adopted one of the largest tax increases anyone remembers, they demonstrated at least some political courage. The increase should have been larger given the needs, but the 12-cent increase was a tough enough sell.
February 3, 2013 - 7:37 AM
There is plenty of blame to go around. There is a problem when a supervisor stands up at a school budget presentation, says he is only speaking as a citizen, then complains about “rich” and “elite” Blacksburg getting it all while “poor” Shawsville gets nothing. Gary Creed apparently doesn’t get out much and forgot about the two new and under-capacity schools in his district. When the leaders are the ones pitting one part of the county against another, there is a problem.
When school board members, while discussing cutting the field trip budget last year, weren’t aware that that line also covers hauling sports teams to away games, there is a problem. Either the budget information provided to board members isn’t detailed enough (an issue with the administration) or board members are not looking at all that is available to them to make decisions. Whatever the case, that is a problem.
Both boards (and many members of the public) are very good at talking about generalities at budget time instead of details. Large numbers are discussed but the direct impact (such as cutting the field trip budget) are glossed over. There is talk of buying less paper, but the actual cost of the paper is never revealed (granted, a small thing but just an example). Members of the public stand up and call for a stop to wasteful spending, but never give details of where to find said “waste.”
It is time for some outside-the-box thinking. There are four governments in Montgomery County (county, school system, two towns), with duplication in a number of areas. Does each government need to have a full human resources department and a complete payroll office? Does there really need to be four service garages taking care of four different fleets of vehicles? How many purchasing departments and warehouses are necessary? Each of these functions has a manager and support staff. Perhaps it is time to look at cooperative purchasing to get better deals (buying by the boxcar instead of the truckload for a lower unit cost) and consolidation of services to reduce staff and increase efficiency. Then it may be possible to keep budgets in line and put money where it is needed, into teachers and deputies and other law enforcement and safety (fire and rescue) services.
The Roanoke Times isn’t off the hook, either. Instead of a limited number of stories that preview public hearings and budget talks with a rehash of the same details, followed by a short recap of said meetings, how about some depth to the reporting? Don’t just accept the one-page handouts from administrators than only talk in large numbers, seek out the line-item budgets and tell the public just how much is spent on athletics (could be a factor in why “pay to play” was a good idea) and manager salaries and trips and retreats for board members. Make those budgets available (the county and school system sure don’t) so members of the public can see for themselves where their money is going — maybe then someone will stand up at a public hearing and question “waste” with some direct questions about a certain spending area. After all, the Roanoke Times is supposed to be a champion of open government, so use the FOIA to get what is necessary to really report the news.