And the Punchline is: Photo ID’s required to vote in Virginia

February 25, 2013

Carol Lindstrom VA, VA government, VOTE, Your Tax Money Comments Off

Can you believe all of the hoopla that is being made about how it is a necessity to require photo id’s for people to be able to vote? This is being done to stop all of those people from coming in and falsely voting. Except where is the evidence this is occurring? (Be sure to cite your source if you’re going to argue that it does happen. In the state Legislature in Virginia one elected official was able to come up with one instance he had heard about from an elections official  — that someone who had voted earlier, might have come and gotten back in line later but left — was it a twin? Was it someone who thought he might have left his ID or phone or something and came back to look for it? Since the person didn’t try to vote and didn’t apparently talk to the person who reported the incident to the elected official, guess we’ll never know

Anyway, depending upon what all happens this is going to be an expense for Virginia tax payers of somewhere between $800,000 and $21,000,000, depending upon who is asked.

The most blatant argument for having photo id’s is that stuff like phone bills and such can be faked.

Duh! Hello there. Back in the 60′s it was easy enough to get a fake id to be able to get beer. In the 70′s where the clubs became popular, the only thing that was possibly more popular than the “Hustle” was the making and buying of fake id’s in order to get into the clubs.

Now days, it is even easier. A quick Google search will give you hundreds of documents telling you the best ways to create fake id’s. You can even find places that sell them! So, we’re now going to expect our elections officers to be experts in correctly identifying fake id’s?

Problem-solving requires a two-pronged approach:

  1. Clearly identify a problem
  2. Do something to solve the problem

Neither of those criteria have been met in this case.

Photo id’s are not going to do anything more than increase costs to taxpayers, create a few additional headaches for those poll workers who are going to have to stand there and debate with someone as to whether their id is valid or nor, or create even more headaches for poll workers if there is a problem with the official id that the person has. (Did I mention that a chunk of the cost is going to be doing that media blitz thing that they did last year with the new voter ID cards all the heck over again? Last year that cost about $250,000. All wasted if this photo ID thing becomes official.)

If the whole thing weren’t so sad it would be funny. (Of course, if Saturday Night Live is watching, it could be both!)

I can think of quite a few ways that money could be put to better use by our lawmakers.

For a bit of extra insight into this new “fade” spreading across the country, check out http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/10/29/121029fa_fact_mayer?currentPage=all

In the meantime, get ready to carry Grandma, who has voted for the last 40 years without a photo id, over somewhere to get her mug shot taken.

2013 VA General Assembly: Medicaid Expansion?

January 3, 2013

Carol Lindstrom Uncategorized Comments Off

Okay, so I dogged off for awhile and haven’t written anything in a while. I’ve been pretty busy with some other stuff going on and there have been a few personal challenges. Also, the fact that Christiansburg is now seen as having raised the bar for open government in the region, I found myself having to re-evaluate what I really wanted to write about.

I’ve missed a few of the C’burg Town Council meetings but since they are all recorded and online these days, it is pretty easy to keep up with things. My attention, recently, has shifted to what is happening in the General Assembly this year.  So, let me jump right in to the controversy.

As of 1/3/2013 a grand total of 753 bills have been filed (with more coming in daily). 323 of those have died already as they were left in committee. The rest remain in varying degrees of health awaiting the actions of legislators.

Two of the most watched bills are likely to be the House and Senate versions of the Budget Bill. The Governor presents a budget and then the House and Senate get to modify it with their concerns addressed. Ultimately, it must end up with a package that both can accept.

The budget is one HUGE can of worms. Decisions made at the federal level concerning revenue and expenditures affect what money is available to be directed to the states. Some of that can be automatic, yet other $$$’s can be accepted or rejected by the Governor and General Assembly by decisions that they make.

When federal funds are lost, rejected, or cut, the state has less money to use at the state level and for distribution to counties, cities, and towns. Counties, cities, and towns are where the “buck passing” stops. That is where hard decisions end up being made that affect you and me. Which roads get repaired, which sections of the water system gets upgrade, how many police officers are on the road, what new equipment can be obtained by fire/rescue, what hours the library is open, what community health and mental health resources are available to those with limited income, and a whole lot more.

Many of these decisions affect those in the lowest of income levels. To gain a better understanding of how this can impact some Counties more than others, check out the data at this website: USDA ERS – County-level Data Sets: Poverty. (select State of Virginia)

There are 95 counties in the state of Virginia. In that list Montgomery County rates as the 22nd highest i poverty level. Just take a moment to look at that darned map! The pockets of poverty will show you which areas are going to be the most affected by cuts from all levels of government.

Not only do we in Montgomery County stand to lose a great deal via budget cuts, particularly where social services are concerned, but, looking at the map, those same budget cuts could be further exasperated by those neighboring areas which are likely to be hit hard as well since we count on surrounding areas to come in to shop at the Mall, buy groceries, etc.

The issue of the Expansion of Medicaid will be one of those addressed in the budget this year. The darker areas on the map will give you an idea of the areas most likely to be affected by the expansion of Medicaid. So…..

What is it about Medicaid Expansion that Could be Important to our area?

The absence of Medicaid in the budget presented by Governor McDonnell, is not necessarily the end of the road for Medicaid Expansion in Virginia. The Virginia General Assembly will now have an opportunity to make modifications to the budget, and one such modification could be putting Medicaid Expansion into it.

There are some who argue that the system must be reformed first. But, the better option might be to expand and then reform.

What are some of the key issues in this?

  • Expansion of Medicaid would provide roughly 400,000 Virginians with health care. A large portion of these people are the “working poor” of Virginia.  A particular note is that of those “working poor” many of them work in some of the largest employment sectors of the state: (a) tourism, (b) retail trade, (c) educational, Health, and social services, (d) Construction, (e) Professional, scientific, management, administrative, and waste management services.
  • A Weldon Cooper Center Report Virginia Medicaid Now and Under Health Reform, by Dustin A. Cable, provides some interesting information: (1) Parents with young children and a family of roughly over $7,000/yr are not eligible because they make too much money. Adults, regardless of income, unless they are aged, blind, or disabled are not eligible for medicaid. *It should be noted that Virginia ranks in the top 10 states for income and in the bottom 10 states for Medicaid. In fact, Virginia’s 30% of federal poverty level income eligibility limit ranks as 44th as 43 states contribute more of their money to Medicaid. (2)  Figure 3 shows how the expansion of Medicaid would impact specific counties in Virginia.
  • The Federal government would cover 100% of these costs for the 1st three years and 90% of the cost after that period.
  • Almost 1/2 of the 400,000 individuals who in this group are employeed in low-wage service related jobs of which we have a ton of in this area.
  • Many more such issues are discussed in the articles to which links have been provided in the left-hand column.

One thing that has not been mentioned is what this expansion could possibly do for the overall health of all Virginians. Those without insurance often wait to seek treatment until they absolutely must. That means that those with infectious diseases (colds, flu, and more virulent diseases) are more likely to continue working during the early stages of an illness, finally going to a hospital when they are sickest. In the meantime, how many more people have been exposed to those diseases needlessly. Early intervention and treatment have are key components to preventing the spread of diseases.

To find out who your elected officials are and how to contact them:

For some additional reading on the topic of Medicaid Expansion:

Medicaid home

http://www.kff.org/medicaid/upload/8384.pdf

Governor McDonnell has not included Medicaid Expansion in Virginia.

Governor McDonnell lays out budget amendments | WTVR.com …

Health Care Reform Update — December 17, 2012 | Mintz Levin …

McDonnell: Va. won’t set up its own insurance exchange

Additional Resources on Medicaid Expansion

Hospitals caught in the Medicaid middle

Va. looks to reform Medicaid program

Medicaid Expansion in Virginia Would Improve Health and Reduce Costs

Medicaid Expansion in Virginia under the New Health Care Law

The ACA Medicaid Expansion in Virginia

Medicaid Expansion: Possible Impact on State and Local Government

The Affordable Care Act: Medicaid Expansion

Brinksmanshipon Obama Medicaid expansion for poor

A quick look at the Census Bureau will confirm some of the concern for how this area could be affected.

In the Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford, VA Metro Area There are a total of 74,898 in the workforce. The Median earnings for males is $31,800 and the median earnings for females is$ 22,171, with an overall median earnings of $26,990. Those working in service related industries number 14,176 and have a median earnings for males of $12,265 and females of $12,001, with an overall median earning of $12,090.

I know that there are a few people out there who will read the headline, form an opinion, and proceed to try to slap down my comments. I sincerely hope that those people will take the time to not simply argue but will share their sources of information. It is nice to have facts to look at, and who knows, maybe there enough facts to change my mind:)

Christiansburg: The “silent partner in Montgomery County”?

May 20, 2012

Carol Lindstrom Blacksburg, Census, Christiansburg, VA, Citizen Participation, Education, Local Government, Montgomery County, Your Tax Money Comments Off

In a recent editorial found in The Burgs, posted May 20, 2012 “A city of Christiansburg isn’t a crazy idea” pretty well summed up some of the most recent issues hitting the rumor mill in Christianburg. Specifically:

  1. Moving Christiansburg Council Meetings so that they do not conflict with Montgomery County School Board Meetings.
  2. City status for Christiansburg

Since I was at that meeting (and the one before when the ideas were first introduced), I’ve had a good bit of time to review things. Suffice it to say that I have a few opinions on these issues. The most important thing that I noted was the direct relationships between those two issues.

Moving of Christiansburg Council Meetings

I think it would be nice, but not necessary. In the past, before Christiansburg Town Council started providing video recordings of their meetings and when Public Hearings were often held on the same night as the proposal was voted in, this would have been a fine idea. Now days the meetings are spread out and the public has access to video files (hopefully these will also be available on TV since that was part of the agreement with the cable company that got permission to move into Christiansburg to provide service … the same cable company that I dropped when within the first 3 months they did what they said they would not do and raised rates).

City Status for Christiansburg

I think it is time, if not past time, to start taking a realistic look at this as an option. Christiansburg carries the bulk of the retail revenues for the entire county and then ends up sharing that money with other jurisdictions. Christiansburg residents have very little to say about how that money is used because of the way in which voting districts are established in Montgomery County. In short, Christiansburg does not have fair representation on either the Board of Supervisors or the School Boards for Montgomery County.

In large part, this is due to the gross distortion in population created by Virginia Tech students. Blacksburg has the strongest voice in both of those elected bodies. Since Tech students rarely get involved in the activities of the School Board or Board of Supervisors, this means that the non-student base of Blacksburg residents are in a position to drive the decisions of both Boards. If you look at the true numbers of residents of Blacksburg and Christiansburg, you’ll find that Christiansburg’s population is actually higher than Blacksburg’s. So, just how well are the interests of Christiansburg citizens represented?

  • Bloomberg Businessweek, Nov 15, 2012, Virginia Town is Best Place in the U.S. to Raise Kids (speaking of Blacksburg)
    • Opening sentence: “More than half the population of Blacksburg, Va., is Virginia Tech students, ” (pop. shown as 41,383)
    • 1st paragraph of section EDUCATED MIDDLE CLASS: Blacksburg’s large university population brings its median age to a low 22 years, but the town is also home to thousands of families. About one-third of households are family households, including 13.3 percent that have children under age 18, according to 2010 Census data.

Wow! Blacksburg’s looking pretty good there! But, at whose expense? Let’s look at some data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Christiansburg Blacksburg Montgomery County Virginia
Population, 2010 21041 42620 94392 8001024
Persons under 5 years, percent, 2010 7.40% 2.50% 4.70% 6.40%
Persons under 18 years, percent, 2010 23.10% 8.30% 16.00% 23.20%
Business Quick Facts Christiansburg Blacksburg Montgomery County Virginia
Manufacturers shipments, 2007 ($1000) 394901 “suppressed to avoid disclosure of confidential information 838137 92417797
Merchant wholesaler sales, 2007 ($1000) 49706 20669 97297 60513396
Retail sales, 2007 ($1000) 746109 212386 1102647 105663299
Retail sales per capita, 2007 $39,004.00 $5,114.00 $12,350.00 $13,687.00
Accommodation and food services sales, 2007 ($1000) 87036 57511 148286 15340483

Based upon these numbers, it appears that Blacksburg is the largest contributor of the population. True, but are they the largest contributor of long-term residents, those people who have a vested interest in their community for years to come? Nope.

Christiansburg clearly holds the majority of pre-school and school-aged individuals in the area, yet Christiansburg residents have only one single dedicated voice representing them on the School Board.

Christiansburg clearly represents the major sources of revenues from sales, accommodations, and food services. Yet, again, has the smallest voices on the Board of Supervisors and on School Board.

Along with all of those sales and other revenues generated, the Town of Christianburg ends up picking up a lot of costs. Citizens of Christiansburg end up picking up the tab for extra law enforcement, fire, rescue, infrastructure, and more. Yet, they have the least amount of representation at the County level.

I think I’m picking up on a pattern here. How about you?

It is past time for Christiansburg citizens to demand fair representation. Redistricting is over and done for the next 10 years. But, this is not something new. This has been an ongoing pattern.

The fact that Christianburg Town Council Meetings were set before the School Board existed, and yet, the decision was made to set School Board meetings directly opposite Blacksburg Council Meetings, pretty much tells the story as far as I’m concerned. We wouldn’t want those Blacksburg residents to miss out on anything important, so let’s make sure they can come and Christianburg can just deal with things.

The fact that the School Board does not provide videos of it’s meetings tells another big story to me. The only reason for not having those meetings broadcast to the public would be because they want to keep the tight control and limit access. I have heard multiple rumors that the County has offered to record those meetings for them, but the School Board are refused the offer. I will be looking for an official statement on this following an email going out today.

Oh, I’m sure I’ve stepped on some toes with this article. But, what’s fair is fair. I’ve never let fear of condemnation by others stop me from having my say and I’m too darned old to change my ways now.

Christiansburg residents: Town Council is starting to look at the process of becoming a City. Becoming a City could mean some extra headaches, but it could also mean that YOU, the residents of Christiansburg, would have a much stronger voice and control in your government. YOU would have more control over your schools and would have a higher degree of holding people accountable.

Blacksburg Town Council and residents have done a great job of getting what Blacksburg wants, and that is exactly what they should be doing.

However, Christiansburg needs an equal voice and it is time for that voice to be found and to discover its power. Now that Christiansburg is providing videos of their meetings, I can start attending the School Board meetings. I should be able to find out a lot of information. But first, I need to review the state codes to see exactly what documents I might want to request. Or, maybe I can do that later during the process. Maybe I’ll see you at the next and future School Board Meetings.

 

Christiansburg, VA Farmer’s Market

May 10, 2012

Carol Lindstrom Uncategorized Comments Off

I’ve set up a page here to focus on the Christiansburg Farmer’s Market. Simply go to the 2012 Christianburg, VA Farmer’s Market link at the top to see what is happening. I’ll do the best that I can to keep this current, but free time to do things for free is really getting to be a premium these days!

This could be a great source for picking up some very special Mother’s Day gifts! You might also want to look at some of the special events for May 12th:)

Bring your bike to the Christiansburg Fix Fest – Christiansburg, VA …

http://nrvnews.com/area/christiansburg/29980-0512-fix-fest.html

 

 

Christiansburg Town Council to Look at City Status and Moving Meeting Dates.

May 6, 2012

Carol Lindstrom Christiansburg, VA, Citizen Participation, Economic Development, Education, Local Government, Your Tax Money , , , , , , , , Comments Off

It came as a bit of a surprise at the end of the May 1st Town Council Meeting when Councilmember Steve Huppert requested that the Town Council again look at moving their meeting dates so that they do not conflict with the Montgomery County School Board.

I’ve been supporting this move for some time now. It has become even more important to me now that the Town of Christiansburg is making it’s own videos of meetings. You see, I’ve got this camera that for several years now I’ve been using to record Christiansburg Town Council Meetings. It’s gathering dust. I haven’t figured out how to be 2 places at one time, but I would love to be able to provide for the Montgomery County School Board what I provided for the Town of Christiansburg, citizen recorded public meetings of the School Board posted online to share with the public. The decisions made by the School Board AND their discussions/deliberations are just too darned important not to provide access to citizens. If the Town of Christiansburg moves it’s meetings to another date, it will mean that I lose more nights of prime-time TV (like I have time to watch that anyway), but it would give me a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the School Board and to be able to share that information here.

Then, came an even bigger surprise when Councilmember Cord Hall asked that it be put on the agenda of the next meeting to begin discussions of the Town of Christiansburg moving to City status. Wow! I’ve heard this discussed previously and I had been against such a move. However, now that I’ve had some time to really look at a LOT of budget numbers for a lot of different jurisdictions, I’m no longer sure that this is not the best move that Christiansburg could make. Christiansburg is growing and even in this “down” economy, continues to grow. Christiansburg has a tremendous retail base for which the taxes are now directed to the County School System.

Christiansburg also has superb resources in the Recreation Center and Aquatic Center that could be used with a City School system and we could become the home of future Olympic Champions!!! Christiansburg citizens already take great pride in the schools located within it’s boundary even though those schools are part of the Montgomery County School System. How much greater would that pride be in a situation where they were truly Christiansburg Schools!

Christiansburg citizens would have control over their schools! They would have their own School Board, and we know how to use our votes to get the biggest bang for our voting “buck”. We would have to have our own library. Maybe one with more computers and greater public usage? It would be responsible to the citizens of Christiansburg, not to the whims of the County.

Perhaps more importantly, our elected officials would have more control over services. We’re already “donating” money to social services, the library, and other such services. There is grant money and other resources available to Cities that is not available to Towns.

But, all this really means is that an honest and true cost-benefit analysis would need to be done. It would need to be done without any bias and, for me, that means contacting the Weldon Cooper Center (Economic and Policy Studies section). This is not a decision to be taken lightly, nor is it one to be discounted out of fear of the unknown. I hope Town Council will take a serious look at this, but as far as I can see, with the research that I’ve managed to do, Christiansburg is in the perfect spot to go to City Status. All of those jurisdictions who have dropped or are planning to drop back from City to Town status have not had the retail network that Christiansburg has (with more to come) developed. We’ve got it and we should maximize the use of it by keeping that money here.

 

How Elected or Appointed Officials Hear. The Curse of Communication.

April 29, 2012

Carol Lindstrom Christiansburg, VA, Citizen Participation, Local Government Comments Off

Elected/appointed officials are, believe it or not, people. Yes! They really are. They are just like you and me and everyone else hanging out breathing air, eating, etc.

However, given their responsibilities to “serve the public”, communication become the key issue. Remember playing that game when you were a child where you take a group of people and one person starts by whispering something in someone’s ear and then that person passes it to the next person,  and so forth until the final person tells everyone what the “original statement” was? It use to be funny because of the strange distortions that would occur.

It is not so funny when it happens in situations where elected/appointed officials are expected to make decisions and deal with citizen concerns. In fact, it can create a tremendous “bone of contention” creating a lot of animosity, lack of trust, or loss of elections. Communication is THE KEY to good government. EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION is the “GOLDEN KEY to good government”.

So let’s begin by looking at effective communication by using one example. Today’s Roanoke Times had an article about Christiansburg’s new Town Manager.  “Headed in the right Direction by Sarah Cox. Oh? We just got a new one, I didn’t know that they needed another Town Manger. It appears that Randy Wingfield, former Planning Director has replaced Barry Helms as Christiansburg’s new Town Manager. Somehow, I think this will be as much of a surprise to Mr. Helms as it has been to the number of people who set my phone ringing bright and early this morning.

This article does not seem to have made it to the online version or I would send you the link. It can be found in the print version within the section for “Real Estate” in the 4/29/12 Sunday edition of the Roanoke Times.

The subtitle of the article is “new town manager offers positive outlook for Christiansburg”. It goes on to discuss how Mr. Wingfield, as Director of Planning has been instrumental in bringing Christiansburg to what it is today.  Specifically he was instrumental in Christiansburg’s expansion. He feels that “the town’s priorities are in order, including parks and recreation, trails and sidewalks and downtown streetscaping.”

Bringing 14 years of experience to the position is nice, and the article is written such that it appears Mr. Wingfield was instrumental in initiating many of the recent changes that have evolved in the Town. Well, that’s a nice thought, but no evidence exists to support that interpretation. In fact, just the opposite is true.

I cannot help but wonder why it has taken 14 years of such guidance to suddenly begin to see some changes in the last couple of years.  During the course of that 14 years there were numerous discussion by Town Council concerning parks (not sports parks), trails, bikeway, walkways, sidewalks, beautification, and a myriad of other subjects. All of those pretty much died at the talking stage. Fortunately, there were a few things that kept being pushed by certain Council Members and we now have an effective website, we have sidewalks being built that actually connect people with destinations, we have trails being expanded, but, it took the force of council to get them going and it was a long uphill battle. Of course, there was a change in the make up of Town Council and in the Town’s Administration in the last couple of years, so that is one possible reason why these changes center over the last couple of years. Perhaps Mr. Wingfield had all of these goals in mind but was blocked?

Did I mention by the way, that 4 years later I am still waiting for documents for which I submitted a FOIA request? One of the first things that spurred me on in looking at open government was the fact that years of Planning Commission Meeting Minutes were missing from the public eye. There were some notes on meetings, years old, that were handwritten and so illegible as to be useless without Mr. Wingfield being present to translate.

As to priorities concerning parks, I have received so many phone calls and emails over these last few years wanting to know why Christiansburg couldn’t have one decent park that did not involved sports. This quote in the article pretty much sums up his perspective: “Christiansburg’s Aquatic Center which opened in July of 2010, and the Rec Center, which opened in 1997, exemplify recognition of enhancing “the health, fitness, recreational, and competitive needs throughout our region.”

This is where the “communication” thingie comes into play. Backing up to the Aquatic Center, many people understood Aquatic Center to mean a swimming pool. Citizens were pretty darned upset when they saw what they were getting and how it did not match their expectations. Citizens have asked for public parks over and over again, and received sports fields. The core of the matter comes down to how you define the terms. For instance, for some a park means a place to go play ball. (Where I grew up we called those ball fields.) For others, a park means a reasonably undamaged natural environment where people have a chance to go and enjoy bits of nature, picnic, and relax. (Again, in my youth, these meant large natural areas where you could picnic, walk, toss a ball around, etc. but in an unstructured environment.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary online recreation is: “refreshment of strength and spirits after work; also : a means of refreshment or diversion”, and in that sites Learner’s Dictionary: “something people do to relax or have fun : activities done for enjoyment”. Quite simply, ball fields are not all people’s choices for how to accomplish this.

So you get a bunch of different people talking about recreation or parks for recreation and you can see that based upon the individual’s perspective on what IS relaxing, there is a wide range of things that could be considered parks. Historically, Christiansburg has focused on sports facilities rather than other forms of recreation. If you want to play ball or swim, this is where to do it. If you want to be able to take our your camera and photograph wildflowers, birds, and other features of nature, you’re gonna have to leave town for that. If you want to swing a bat at a ball, kick a ball at a goal, or swim laps in a pool, you’re in luck. If you want to take a leisurely stroll in a natural environment that has a place where you can stop and have a picnic, then get in your car and go somewhere.

There have been recent discussion by Town Council concerning a park that would be in a more natural environment and would not include sports. For those people who just need some quiet time or a place to enjoy nature, this could be wonderful. Having areas where families could go on picnics, where groups of parents with small children could meet and let the children play in a safe environment as a group, would provide a wonderful asset to the community.

For now, I guess it will be a matter of “Let’s wait and see” to determine if we are “headed in the right direction” and to see if the right “critter” is in the harness to pull the load needed to get that job done. We will just have to see how Mr. Wingfield’s skills and expertise will be put to use. It will be interesting to see if “progression” or “regression” will become the keyword. Keep your eyes and ears open.

Above all, let your voice be heard. You can contact your Town Council members about your concerns, wants, and wishes. Just make sure that you clearly state what it is that you want.  Take the time to get someone else to look at what you’ve written, see if it means the same thing to them that it does to you. Be as specific as possible. If you specifically want parks with native plants such as wild flowers, then tell them that. Don’t expect them to know what your definition of a park is. If you want sidewalks, tell them specifically where and why you want those sidewalks, or for the other side of the coin, specifically where you do not want sidewalks and why.

Don’t expected elected and appointed officials to be mind readers make it clear.

 

 

Montgomery County School Board and the League of Women Voters

April 5, 2012

Carol Lindstrom Education, Montgomery County Comments Off

On 4/4/2012, the League of Women Voters of Montgomery County held a “Dessert and Conversation Meeting” with Montgomery County School Board. It was an RSVP event and the turn out was good. The following notes are my perceptions and opinions. I am not representing the position of any School Board Member or any group, just me in my little brain, scrambling things around as usual:) In fact, most of this is nothing more than the thoughts I had as various items were discussed. If you want a detailed, factual report…we’ll ya shoulda showed up!

The event was held at Lucie Monroe’s at 1600 Roanoke Street in Christiansburg in their back meeting room. It was the perfect space for this event. Both food and conversation were excellent. Thanks to Lucie Monroe’s for providing such a great environment and wonderful food!

A large part of the conversation was devoted to (what else) taxes and school spending. Issues covered what could be cut if a tax increase was not made by the Board of Supervisors. The answer: Anything. Everything is on the table. Teachers, support staff, salaries, equipment, sports programs, you name it and it’s on the table for being cut.

Of course, the central issue is that mandated programs must come first. So, the first thought that I had was that interscholastic sports such as football, baseball, basketball, etc. are not mandated programs. It could well get to the point that those programs could be lost. When cuts have to be made at the Federal level, some of the financial support for programs is lost. That financial responsibility falls to the state. Then, in a political game of “hot potato”, the flow of financial responsibility goes right down the line to the local level. In areas where there is high employment and the pay scale is high and property values are up, this can have a minimal impact. Where property values are low and income levels are also low, this can be devastating.

There is another feature that comes to play in this situation. Elected officials hoping to get re-elected are hesitant to raise taxes so you end up with years of tax increase being postponed and put off. You end up with “patch jobs” being done on schools rather than fully fixing the problems with buildings. You end up where we are today.  If a 1% tax increase been implemented 10 years ago and that 1% be specifically set aside for school maintenance and improvements, we likely would not be looking a a significant increase now. We would not have schools in a state of disrepair. You can only patch something so many times before you ultimately have to do what needs to be done. Waiting 10 or 20 years to fix something completely, often means that the problem has gotten bigger and is going to cost more.

Each year the County does a Capital Improvements Program where various departments submit their request for money to undertake major improvements. The County then prioritizes those requests and distributes what money is available to those requests which rate highest on their priority list. This means that many of the requests from departments such as Schools are not even considered.  The vast majority of requests are postponed.  Each year this has to be re-done with prioritizes being reassigned. Any issue regarding health and safety will automatically get top billing for the few slots available. This is not a random assignment, State Code mandates that health and safety must come first.

There are those who will say that I “ain’t got no dog in that hunt” because I don’t own property or have children in school. That’s true. However, as a business owner, I can virtually guarantee that an increase in property taxes will have a direct impact on me. However, my “dog in the hunt” is this. One of those children being educated today, might well be the doctor that saves my life 10 years from now. One of those children may be the person to come up with a local business that produces 100 jobs for the County. One of them might find a cure for cancer or diabetes, or solve the problem of air pollution in a way that preserves the environment without putting any undo hardship on businesses.

The even “bigger dog in the hunt” is that someone paid taxes that allowed me to get the education that I did, that each of us did. My great grandparents, grandparents, and parents dealt with tax increases to insure that children got a good education. Sometimes those tax increases hit at times that hurt them financially, but they did it. I did it when I did own property and I’ll tighten my belt to deal with the loss of revenue that is likely to occur with my business if/when taxes are increased. I consider it an investment in my future, the future of Montgomery County, and the future of our Country. Our children and their education are our future.

So raise taxes BUT increase accountability! How? By doing what any citizen can do. Go to the Montgomery County Public Schools website (http://www.mcps.org/home), click on the “About Us” button and look at the information that is available. Look at the budget, capital projects, redistricting, testing, and more. Take some ownership in your schools by attending School Board meetings. Use their sight to access Virginia Dept. of Education Resources that are available such as the “Report Cards” for each of the schools in Montgomery County, or the one that your children attend. SOL scores are also available via link. There is some information (i.e., audits) that are not yet available online, but can be requested via Freedom of Information Act. Go to the Auditor of Public Accounts website and look at the 2011 Comparative Report of Local Government. Page C6 of the spreadsheet will give you information on Education. You can look at Montgomery County and/or compare it to other areas. You can use this to show you where the money was spent AND, the section showing the source of funds for expenditures! That was a real eye opener.

There is a great deal of information about our schools that anyone can find, if they but take the time. Take a close look at the Percent of Average columns as a way of seeing how our expenses compare to those of other areas. Most of all, get out to a School Board meeting, you elected these people, you should take the time to see what you’re getting. Who has done their homework? Who is trying to come up with solutions? Nothing can hurt out schools like apathy on the part of citizens.

Well, that incredible dessert is settling in and demanding some downtime. For those who didn’t make the meeting, you missed great food and great discussion. Thanks again to Lucie Monroe’s!! (Those gluten-free donuts are absolutely wonderful even though I don’t need gluten-free!)

Keep your eyes and ears open for information about the Montgomery County Educational Foundation. There is a lot of new and positive energy being poured into it and we could all reap the benefits from some of the work that they will be doing.

Christiansburg Budget Worksession: Subtopic of Stormwater

March 28, 2012

Carol Lindstrom Christiansburg, VA, Environment, Local Government, Montgomery County, Your Tax Money Comments Off

I attended the Town Council Budget worksession last night (video will be coming on that as the town did record the meeting! So watch christiansburg.org for the video).

Several times during the discussion “stormwater” was mentioned, including comments made about the possibility of the Town needing to look at a stormwater management plan in the near future.

Now, those who know me, know that stormwater always sets off alarms for me. The Town of Christiansburg has not had the best record on stormwater in the past, but it is clearly becoming something that is finally being addressed.

Historically, the Town has done “patchwork fixes” to deal with stormwater issues. It now looks like they are making an effort to start addressing the major issue that the existing system is inadequate for protecting the safety and security of citizens.

The issue is not just about Christiansburg citizens. Of course, we’ve had the flooding issues in various areas around town. Personally, I think the Town staff is doing a great job of trying to fix problems as they arise. Now, the Town Council has an opportunity to start addressing the issue with an eye to the future rather than trying to do a patch to prevent yesterday’s flooding from happening tomorrow.

I wonder if some of the impetus of this might be related to the impact stormwater has on local waterways. You can find some interesting information on the DEQ’s Draft 2012 Impaired Water report Factsheet for Montgomery County concerning e-coli. Interesting reading her for those who are concerned about the environment.

In fact, you might be interested in looking at the entire Draft 2012 305(b)/303(d) Water Quality Assessment Integrated Report to see how you might be affected. There is a series of maps that help put things in perspective as to what happens when you don’t take care of problems locally and how they create even bigger problems for other people. It’s a lot like dumping your trash in someone else’s yard. Then they dump their trash and your trash in the next person’s yard. (See the map including Montgomery County here.)

Unfortunately, rapid development without doing proactive stormwater management means that taxpayers will ultimately pick up the bill. It is nice to see the Town of Christiansburg finally being proactive in managing existing stormwater and in taking a look at how new development will impact existing conditions.

Sunlight in Virginia: Waldo Jaquith has opened a huge doorway for citizens!

March 26, 2012

Carol Lindstrom Citizen Participation, FOIA, VA government Comments Off

Waldo Jaquith is the man in by book when it comes to open government. Richmond Sunlight has been the greatest thing since “pockets in pants” as far as I was concerned. Well now, he’s gone even further by providing another fantastic resource for the citizens of Virginia (and elected officials if they will but take the time to look). We now have State Codes in a form better than “handles on a wheelbarrow”!

It is a user friendly internet version of the Virgina State Codes that is absolutely wonderful!

The name of the site is Virginia Decoded and I’m will be spending a lot of time there!

Mr. Jaquith puts the web version in a common sense application that makes finding what you need far easier than searching through the State’s database.

My deepest gratitude to a gentleman who has done so much to help citizens get the transparency and openness that they deserve. I hope to have a chance to meet my Jaquith one of these days. He is one of my heroes!

Check it out!

Of course, I gotta wonder why the State couldn’t have done something user friendly long ago.

Sorry to have so long between posts but I’ve got several irons in the fire right now, some of which you’ll be hearing about here in the near future:) My mom always said that I was most dangerous when I was quiet:)

Sunshine Week: Christiansburg (oops I forgot to mention)

March 11, 2012

Carol Lindstrom Christiansburg, VA, Land Use, Local Government Comments Off

….(prev. entry) a much larger Planning Commission. Welcome to our two newest representatives of the community – Mr. Collins & Ms. Parsons. (See last Planning Meeting – very short one!)

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