Unfortunately, in my opinion, one issue that did not come up in the study (at least not directly) was the impact of the “Digital Divide” in education.

From Wikipedia: Digital Divide:

The Digital Divide refers to any inequalities between groups, broadly construed, in terms of access to, use of, or knowledge of information and communication technologies.^[1][2] The digital divide in the United States (and other countries) refers to inequalities between individuals, households, businesses, and geographic areas at different socioeconomic and other demographic levels, while^[3][4][5] the Global digital divide designates countries as the units of analysis and examines the divide between developing and developed countries on an international scale.^[2]

As more and more people are pushing for transforming much of our educational system onto the internet (usually as a cost reducing measure), I felt it might be worth taking a look at the impact of the digital divide on education. What I found is pretty darned scary. Let me share some of those items with you:

From Education World: http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech041.shtml

Caught in the Digital Divide

As record numbers of Americans go online, the gap between those who have access to technology and those who don’t may be widening. Education World looks at the digital divide and what it means to educators. Included: Links to information and resources on the digital divide.

A ‘RACIAL RAVINE’?

Blacks and Hispanics are not the only minority groups caught in the digital divide. According to Evans Craig, of the Albuquerque High Performance Computing Center in New Mexico, the divide also affects Native Americans. In The Native Digital Divide: A Review of Online Literature, a study of the divide in the southwestern United States, Craig states, “The main telecommunications artery for the southwest runs parallel with the Rio Grande. A telecommunications artery similar to the Silicon Valley is generally referred to as the Rio Grande Corridor (RGC). Along the Rio Grande are the Pueblo reservations. The RGC runs through these reservations. … How many of [those people] have access to the RGC? Zero! Although the lines run right through the reservations, people do not have access. Why not? Is the cost too prohibitive to put digital centers there?”

A SOCIAL SPLIT?

The digital divide is not strictly a racial issue, however. The divide also affects rural areas of the country. According to the NTIA report, people living in urban areas are 50 percent more likely to have Internet access than people who live in rural areas are. Smaller telephone and cable providers simply cannot afford to provide the technology to their customers.

Adult learners, many of whom are recent immigrants, are also victims of the digital divide. Sarah Phinney, the distance learning coordinator at Porterville Adult School in central California, told Education World, “In my seven years’ experience working with this population [of adult learners], I have found that a great number of the students we serve, especially those who speak English as a second language, are computer illiterate and thus are on the lean side of the divide.”

IS IT THE PRINCIPLE OR THE INTEREST?

Many people, however, question whether a digital divide fueled by ethnic, geographic, societal, or economic factors exists. The major issue, say the digital dissenters, is not a lack of access to technology but a lack of interest in technology. The educational system does not adequately address that lack of interest, they say.

WHAT’S BEING DONE

In a world increasingly dependent on computer technology, answers to the question of how to prepare students for the workplace of the future are not easy to come by. Finding them is imperative, however. According to the TechWeek article cited above, the difference in home Internet access between people at the highest and lowest education levels increased by 25 percent between 1997 and 1998. The digital divide appears likely to become self-perpetuating– the most highly educated have the greatest access to technology, and those with the greatest access to technology become better educated. Children from families who don’t have access to today’s computer technology will have a hard time catching up in tomorrow’s technological job market.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

You can find out more about the digital divide with the following links to resources and reports.

• Falling Through the Net III The U.S. Department of Commerce digital divide site includes downloadable versions of all the reports in the Falling Through the Net series.
• Japan PM Gets Advice on ‘Digital Divide’ This news article demonstrates that the digital divide isn’t just a U.S. problem.
• Digital Divide Network The Benton Foundation and the National Urban League sponsor this network of professionals working to bridge the digital divide.
• Digital Divide This Public Broadcasting System site discusses gender and race as it explores the digital divide in classrooms and the workplace.
• Distance Learning at About.com This site provides links and information about the digital divide.
• What is the Digital Divide? ABCNEWS.com puts its spin on the digital divide and what it means to the world.
• Bridging the Digital Divide: The Impact of Race on Computer Access and Internet Use This study by professors at Vanderbilt University looks at how the digital divide affects society.

From An Online Journal of IDEA, UCLA’s Institute for Democracy, Education & Access – The Digital Divide Spring 2001, Vol. 1, No.2

The Next Digital Divides by Howard Besser, co-Director UCLA/Pacific Bell Initiative for 21st Century Literacies.

While these focus primarily on education, what is also of note is that there is another divide that is seldom talked about by anyone. That digital divide is the one that is growing rapidly. For those over 55 years of age, we have seen tremendous changes in the internet and computers over the decades. Some of us jumped into the fray early on and “teethed” stuff like the TRS-80, or the Apple II computer. Others did not. In fact, some of those others may have developed a bad feeling about computers (even fear) as the computer age evolved during the last years of their employment and many were pushed aside and replaced by those “new fangled” machines. My own mother was one of those people forced into an early retirement because of the rapidly changing technology. To this day, even though I bought her a Mac and set everything up, I cannot get her to so much as send me an email. Fortunately, the grandchildren have used it.

Of course, many people have managed to bridge that divide successfully. Some by the “grab a root and growl” method of just jumping in and doing it. Others have taken classes through professional companies that now offer such services or through their public libraries, churches, or other sources. But many, just either refuse to use a computer or try to use it for only email. Many of these people do not have the basic knowledge of computers that allows them to effectively use them without having to pay someone to come out and do routine maintenance on their computers like run a “defrag”, clear a cache, or upgrading their browser.

There is an interesting paper online by Jerry Garfunkel “The Digital Divide Between Age Groups” that shows some of the numbers relating to this digital divide due to age. It does not, of course, take into account the cost prohibitive features of internet access and maintenance of a computer but it does give some interesting insights. This author groups ages as 65+, 50-64, 30-49, and 18-29. He provides a chart based upon 2004 data that shows the following:

Age Group	% online
Americans age 65 +	22%
Americans age 50-64	58%
Americans age 30-49	75%
Americans age 18-29	77%

this chart was created from data reported in
Older Americans and the Internet, (2004, Fox,S.)

and then look at the huge amount of information that is now available online for voters, you quickly see that those age groups most likely to vote are the ones who are least likely to have access that information on the internet.

The Digital Divide looks to be something that can affect voting patterns as well as education and other aspects of life. The Digital Divide might just help to explain some of what we are seeing as to splits in political parties is occurring or why I sometimes talk with people who have no idea of the voting records of candidates they support. The information is getting out there, but is it getting to the people who turn out to vote?

Add to that the information previously discussed about the Digital Divide and race and socio-economic status and what seems to be left is that a large number of potential/likely voters do not have access to much of the online information. Instead, they rely on newspapers, debates, political advertisements, or someone knocking on their door to get that information.

Maybe some of that money used to fund primaries (see: The Burgs – Make political parties pay for their primaries by Christian Trejbal on 1/8/12) could be better used to provide some programs to increase “computer literacy” for those groups negatively affected by the Digital Divide. Maybe taxpayer money would be better used to provide information that empowers voters to make informed decisions. Or, maybe someone will study this more and come up with a whole different perspective:)

Why 2 hearing? Well, the job of the planning commission is significantly different from that of council, and they are suppose to make a recommendation to council about the proposal based on the comprehensive plan and existing land use codes. At the core of the problem, in my opinion, is the fact that once something is presented at a public hearing before council (including the joint public hearing) there is little opportunity to really work with citizens and developers/property owners to come up with a solution that works best for all involved.

The planning commission public hearings are the perfect time for citizens and developers/property owners to express concerns and SOLUTIONS. Some have argued that this will make the process longer (by about 2 weeks) and that this works against developers/property owners who may be under time constraints. I propose that an additional 2 weeks that allow for citizen participation and input, as well as an opportunity for the developer/property owner to identify issues that were not noted in the original proposal and work with their “neighbors” to come up with modifications that work, is not a bad thing. In fact, it creates a situation where the project has the greatest degree of success and citizens are happier with the results.  Of course, it does require some investment on the part of citizens and the developer/landowner who must be willing to work together to come up with the best solution.

Another important issue related to this process is the proposed change in the fees required. Example: Previoiusly, one fee was applied to all rezoning requests, regardless of the size of the property. Whether the person owned 1 acre or 40 acres made no difference. If it would ultimately lead to 4 homes on the property or 100, made no difference. If it affected 5 neighbors or 75 neighbors made no difference.

Town Council is be addressing this proposed fee change at their next meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2011. At that meeting a Public Hearing will be held to discuss the new fee structure. You’ll have to check the town’s website for the agenda for that council meeting for the specifics, but what it does is base fees on the size of the property involved. In essence, those proposals involving larger parcels and affecting more people will be covering their fair share of the costs of advertising and notifications rather than letting it fall upon taxpayers to ‘foot-the-bill’ for the difference. (A change well over due!)

While your waiting for the official council agenda version to appear, you can check out what was presented and voted on at the last planning commission meeting at: http://christiansburg.org/archives/66/12-12-2011%20PC%20Package.pdf

For properties less than 5 acres – $500

For properties of 5 -20 acres – $750

For properties greater than 20 acres – $1,000

It remains to be seen if the large property developers/landowners will show up in force to try to get council to vote this proposed change down or not, or if existing citizens and homeowners will show up to support this proposal. If you have an opinion on the matter, consider coming to the public hearing or writing/calling council members to express your opinion.

Overall, it would seem that a more fair and equitable distribution of the costs to the town for having the public hearings would be a welcome change (and a savings for tax dollars, perhaps even enough of a savings to make sure that there is money for the Fall and Spring cleanups!). The separate public hearings will allow for more citizen input and more opportunities would exist for the developer/landowner to work with citizens and the town to increase the likelihood that they can get approval of a project. To me, that looks like a clear win-win situation.

Money is tight. We all know and feel that! Stopping the spending of money is not going to do anyone any good. Careful, thoughtful spending of money is making an investment.

This became most clear to me last night when I attended part of a LWV forum on education where finance was the primary topic. While there was a lot of discussion and audience interaction about money and where it comes from to pay what, I felt that some good opportunities were missed. Please remember this article and this blog are my personal opinion. They, in no way, represent the opinion of the League of Women Voters of Montgomery County.

Here’s the low down as I see it.

People want to see education improved because improved education means better jobs for more people (if the jobs are available) and that has a net positive on the revenues of federal, state, and local governments.

People want to see spending cut at all levels of government.

People want to see that the money that is spent has the biggest possible return.

The question for me is how is that best accomplished. It was noted at the meeting last night that the State of Virginia is already seeing a loss in grant funding by not choosing to participate in the Common Core Curriculum. It was also noted that very little of the money coming into to schools is used at the high school level, and that funds for technology in the school room have all but vanished. Additionally, it was noted that Special Education takes a big hit financially by children being inappropriately put into Special Education classes when they don’t actually meet the critera/needs.

So, what should be done about it? Here are my thoughts.

To get the biggest “bang for the buck”, let’s invest highly in the educational opportunities of Head Start, covering that 0 to 5 year group. Why this group? Because if you look at the common denominators, money invested in that area will produce the highest rewards:

Early intervention to correctly identify special needs of children and families and implementation of services at the earliest stages of development.

These first 5 years are the years when so much of the rest of a child’s life is defined. This is where issues like self-esteem and self-worth can be dealt with most effectively.

By giving an opportunity to bring all children up to the same or similar level by the time they enter elementary school, you reduce the needs for remedial services and redundancy. Effectively reducing costs at elementary school level and .

The social skills learned in the 0-5 age group, last a lifetime. By helping to define and shape those skills you reduce the number of people involved in the juvenile justice system and in the adult penal system. (It costs $240.99 per day per youth to hold him/her in a juvenile justice facility – national average in 2009.) For some additional information on this topic you might want to check out “Survey of Youth in Residential Placement: Needs and Services“. I’m not talking about those core values and beliefs that one learns at home, I’m talking about the skills in communicating with others, learning to work with those of their own age.

Much of the money spent in this country on child abuse intervention and prevention is related to neglect more than actual abuse. The early identification of such problems and early intervention offered by Head Start could save a small fortune in taxpayer money by starting the process early. Identifying issues pertaining to nutrition and mental health at an early age can ultimately reduce the “special needs” funding in later school years.

I haven’t said anything new here. All of what I have said can be backed up with tons of reports and documents. We have long known the importance of programs such as Head Start and the role of early intervention in reducing the need for far more long term services as a child grows up.

What I can’t understand is WHY something has not been done to invest more in these early formative years to prevent the costs for a lifetime of service needs. I mean, worst case scenario, we would not need as many social services or lawyers, would not need as many detention facilities, would not need as many prisons …. oh…maybe I’ve just answered my own question. Maybe there are those who see social services, incarceration, and all of the personnel and properties (paid for by taxpayer money) as businesses. Keeping businesses open, keeping the revolving doors of detention facilities well greased and beds full might just be the incentive to keep from helping to stop the process.

How much money is spent is, of course, important. How effective that expenditure is should be even more important. So, for me, it’s simply focus on the 0-5 age group as a prime target area. Money invested there has a greater potential of return than all of the others. I’m not saying that other funding should be cut, not by any means. But, early intervention MUST be the key to making effective long-term changes that will save taxpayers money and open the doors of opportunity to more Americans. (It also doesn’t hurt that we would have healthier and happier citizens contributing to our economic growth once the barriers of poverty and lack of education are effectively countered.

Just my opinion. I had to leave the meeting early last night and didn’t get to ask the panelist about this issue, but a very quick search using Google provided me with hundreds of documents supporting my arguments.

I hear candidates talking about “I’m gonna do this.” “I’m gonna do that.” but there is something routinely missing. “How ya gonna pay for this or that?”

The effective and efficient handling of taxpayer money is not about hording it so that it draws interest over the years. Heck! If I had enough extra money, I could do that with my own money. If you’re getting enough of my tax money to horde it away, then give it back and let me handle it for myself. Having enough set aside for a rainy day is one thing. Sitting on top of resources, treating them as if they were your own little private funds, drawing minimal interest, is irresponsible.

That very passive “no work required” approach is not what I hire elected officials to do. I want them to take my tax money and invest it but not to sit in a bank somewhere. I want to see it invested in making some good commonsense decisions for citizens. While applicable at all levels of government, this is particularly true when the money stream hits home, right in local government.

Federal and State resources are dwindling. Local City, County, and Town governments are going to have to use their local tax bases to pick up the slack. That simply means that taxes have to increase OR every penny spent has to get the biggest “bang for the buck”.  The money invested must show a clear return or at least show that money spent today to do something will save money because putting it off until later will allow the costs to rise.

For instance, delaying the repair and maintenance of roads. Delay for a year or two those repairs that do need to be made and guess what happens, the cost of labor goes up, the cost of material goes up, the amount of repairs needed increases and so a year or two later, you are having to spend $1.5 million on repairs that would have cost only $1 million if they had been dealt with at the time. In the meantime, what if an accident occurs because of the failure to maintain those roads and someone files a lawsuit. Oh, heck don’t worry about it the attorneys and insurance company will take care of anything that comes up. Okay, let’s look at that route. Attorneys cost money. Law Suits result in insurance rates going up (that’s a long-term expense). And, the initial problem, in this case road repair, still has to be done and gets done at the higher cost rather than the initial cost. If you are getting a visual of a “snowball” of taxpayer money rolling steadily away from the control of taxpayers, you’re getting my general idea.

This is not just about road repairs. It concerns all aspects of government spending. Not getting equipment replaced until it falls apart can mean having increased repair/maintenance costs over time and less efficient use of fuels. Not taking care of the general repair/maintenance of school buildings could result in a building collapse. Not providing the quality of training required by staff can result in things being done in less efficient ways creating a long-term expense to taxpayers.  And, the list goes on and on and on.

There is a big difference between simply “throwing money at something” and “effectively using” that money. Elected officials must be held responsible for making decisions that are in the best interest of the jurisdiction as a whole. Whether that responsibility is making the decision on how money is spent, or in establishing the policies and procedures for the oversight of the handling of the money, or making sure that staff hired to enforce the policies and procedures and doing their job, it is ultimately elected officials that are and should be held accountable.

In order to accomplish this, elected officials have to understand the impact of their decisions on the jurisdiction as a whole. It requires asking questions that can be answered. (Asking questions about things for which there are no answers is simply blowing smoke and misdirecting citizen attention.) If questions can’t be answered, then do the research to find out what other answerable questions might serve the same purpose and use those instead. Look at the long-term impact of spending decision, not just how they affect things today. Use some good judgment and above all DON’T make promises that you cannot keep. Any elected official who has the authority to raise taxes and tells you that they will not do so is nutz! They cannot predict the future any better than you or I can predict it. If things continue along the route of the loss of revenue from State and Federal sources, particularly for those things that can have a good potential for increasing the revenue stream in the future or lessening the future impact of problems, it may well become necessary to increase taxes. A good candidate will tell you that they can’t make that promise but here are the things that I want to do in order to offset those potential problems … (Oh, and make sure they give you the list of what they plan to do and how they plan to pay for it, oh and make sure that they have the additional resources to get it done such as public buy-in into the process and other participants (hired groups/individuals, other governments, social groups, etc.) are ready and waiting to make those promises come to life.

Promises are a dime a dozen … getting the job done is “priceless”. Invest that money in creating jobs, in keeping people safe, in educating people so that they have a better change at getting employed and buying homes to contribute to the tax revenue rather than be a drain on resources. Invest in the future. Don’t use that money unwisely, know the costs and benefits and make the best possible decision. Above all, don’t lie to me about what you are going to do. Those are some of the things that I look for in candidates.

Ever wonder whether your vote actually matters?

Is it really important to know who it is that you are voting for? What that person knows about the area he/she will be representing? What that person believes to be important issues? What has that person accomplished previously to help deal with the issues?

Well, here’s a bit of information that might make you wonder about exactly how important job creation and economic development are for Montgomery County. Although put in the context of Congressional Districts, you can pretty easily see that poverty is a major issue in this end of the State of Virginia. This data, as noted above, is taken from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Kids Count Data. The reason for that is simple. All too often, I’ve heard the excuse that “VT or RU students skew the data”. Now, unless there are a heck of a lot of VT or RU students who have children, that excuse will not work with this data. The Kids Count Data is ALL about children. There have to be children in the home for them to be included in the data. KidsCountDatabyCongressDistrict.

The first section contains a map of the Congressional Districts, the cite for the source of the data, and a note about missing data.

The next section (Population) is about the demographics of families with children and children in general.

Then, there is a section (Poverty) which has all of the data about poverty. (This is a real eye opener for those who are interested in economic development and job creation here, or for those who have never considered those to be major issues.)

Last, is a  section on Education, which has some very basic education information. I’m working on a different report that is by School District or System rather than by Congressional District. That is still in the works, but has been another real eye-opener.

With this data on poverty, I started by asking myself does poverty have an impact on education. Indeed it does, and I will carry that discussion to a future article. For now, I’ll settle for looking at the pattern of poverty and how that affects just about everything! Jobs mean people, people mean houses, people means people shopping and paying property and use taxes. Therefore, job creation and economic development means just about everything when it comes to keeping tax rates low, providing services, supporting schools, having volunteers firefighters and rescue squad members, keeping the doors of businesses (retail and restaurants) open, and many other things that people do not always relate to job creation and economic development.

In the Town of Christiansburg, the Aquatic Center has ended up being an economic driver in this area. It is NOT enough. We need more. We need decent paying jobs for people. If you take a moment to look at the education section, you’ll get a hint that those jobs do NOT all need to be for college graduates, nor do they need to be restaurant, hotel/motel, and retail jobs.

It is about time that we got serious about economic development. Rick Boucher got a lot done while he was in office, but again it was not enough. We need some manufacturing jobs here. For far too long, the jobs market has been driven by service and construction. We’ve all seen what happens with an economic down turn where those job sources start to dry up. Diversity is the key to surviving and Community Support for economic development.

Take a look at the numbers if you like. Then, do some studying on candidates at all levels of government in this Nov. 2011 election. Don’t let candidates get by with saying they are going to create jobs. Ask them what kind of jobs? Where? How much will it cost taxpayers? How will they pay for the incentives required to bring in new businesses? Make them give you a business plan to show how they will make this happen. Just saying “I’ll create jobs” is NOT enough! And, make them explain it in a way that you can understand. Don’t fall for that “smoke and mirrors” garbage of letting them talk “over you” or talk “down to you”. It’s your (our) future and money that is at stake here! OWN IT!!!!! Remind candidates of who they are hoping to be working for in the future.

More data will be coming soon.

Anyway, this older gentleman was talking about the ways things use to be built to last and how now days, it seems like anyone who can pick up a hammer and saw calls him/herself a builder. As I listened, I did a trip back in time to my younger years, many centuries ago, and suddenly had an idea. Could this be related to the loss of Unions?

When I was younger, Unions were all over the place. If you wanted to work as a carpenter, electrician, plumber, etc., you went through the Union. The Union didn’t just take money and say okay, you’re a member now, you can work. They actually had training programs, evaluations, and designated levels of mastery in the different skills.

Apprentice programs provided by Unions made sure that not only did someone have the knowledge to do the job, they had actual hands-on training by people who had obtained high levels of proficiency in their chosen fields. Of course, those people with such training typically got paid more than those without the training. Is it possible that the loss/weakening of Unions has resulted in people with lesser skill levels are doing the jobs? Is it possible that those individuals and companies hiring employees would rather have cheaper labor even if the quality of the end product is reduced? Is it possible that more oversight and inspections by governmental entities have resulted because of this change? Is it possible that more legislation has been required in order to try to maintain minimal standards because of this? Is it possible that a significant portion of tax money is now being required to “police” things that previously had been handled by the Unions through their training and oversight? Things have changed a lot over the years. Not all change is bad and not all change is good.

You have to admit it does make some interesting food for thought … well, I have to admit that it has done so for me.

Is it true? Well, one place to start looking is the Virginia Auditor of Public Accounts (APA). A lot of information can be found there if one but takes the time to look. However, I will note that you have to do a bit of reading as well just to understand what things mean. I figured it was about time for someone to take a look at the revenues and expenditures at different government levels to see if there really  is an argument for double taxation.

The APA does an annual report that includes data on revenue and expenses for all of the Counties, Cities, and Towns in Virginia. What I did was to cut and paste the information from Montgomery County, City of Radford, and the Towns of Christiansburg and Blacksburg so that if there is a difference between how tax revenues (and expenditures) are different, it can easily be seen. This file (pdf) is available here: LocalCompare2010. Although it is 30 pages total, use “bookmarks” to go to a specific section. Each section starts with a list of terms used and their definitions. All of the definitions used in Exhibit C including Exhibits C1-C8 can be found in the Exhibit C section. Section D did not provide any definitions in the APA report. For instance:

In Exhibit A – General Government Revenue and Expenditures, you will find that the Per Capita amount of local revenue for Christiansburg is more than twice that of Blacksburg. It is less than the City of Radford, but more than Montgomery County.

Before anyone shouts about VT skewing the numbers, yes it is true that the on-campus students at Virginia Tech do skew the numbers for Blacksburg. I believe that accounts for about 8,000 in population. If you could remove those from the Population you would see a difference in per capita. Some would argue that you have to compare Christianburg only to another town without a University. That is not quite accurate. You would actually have to compare Christiansburg to another jurisdiction within roughly the same proximity of a University the size of VT and of RU, having a similar population, having similar land features and similar weather. In other words, you can’t really do a direct comparison between Christiansburg and/or Blacksburg with anywhere else in the State of Virginia. You can make some assumptions, but nothing is going to be a close enough match. Soil types and slopes have a direct impact on the cost of roads, sidewalks, paths, etc. and on the upkeep of those things. Being more prone to snow and ice because of difference in elevation requires that extra steps be taken to handle those issues. The number of university students and traffic generated by the university’s events and visitors, increase wear and tear on roads, increase rescue calls, increase demands on police departments, etc.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s look a bit at how what you pay in County taxes may just provide for different things than how your local tax money is used. This information can be found in the sections for Exhibit C & subsections of C1 thru C8.

• Judicial Administration: Although Blacksburg had to pay for some Judicial Administration last year, typically Towns do not pay into those funds. That is a service provided only at the County and City level, and all citizens, whether County or Town pay for and utilize those services. The per capita costs of those for Montgomery County were $28.02, for the City of Radford it was $74.35 (see Exhibit C2 for details)
• Education: Again, this is a financial burden upon the Counties and Cities, not upon Towns. The Towns have no costs for education. In Radford the 2010 data shows $6,229,026 in expenses and Montgomery County had $98,824,370. The Towns have no money invested in the schools and they also have virtually no control over the schools. Each Town however can have a tremendous impact on school by the way in which development occurs. Large growth in specific areas can cause overcrowding of schools, require that more schools be built, require that more mobile buildings are required to provide spaces for students, can result in needing more buses or changes in bus routes which increase costs to the County. Cities are self sustaining and their growth decisions are met by their own taxpayers. (see Exhibit C6 for details)
• Treasurer & Commissioner of Revenue: These are positions which Counties and Cities are required to have, not Towns.  The Treasurer’s Office for the City of Radford had expenses of $307,556 while Montgomery County’s expenses were $1,057,518. The City of Radford’s cost for Commission of Revenue was $158,333 while Montgomery Counties was $1,585,966. (see Exhibit C1 for details)
• Exhibit C3 focuses on Public Safety Expenditures and you will see that Correction and Detention (the jail system) falls again upon City and County expenses but are not a function of Town governments.
• Exhibit C3 also gives details showing that the per capita expenses for Christiansburg are far higher than any of the neighboring jurisdictions but runs only slightly above average. Blacksburg, again we can see the skew generated by VT students being counted in the census shows about half of Christiansburg’s. The costs to taxpayer for inspections is also far higher in Christiansburg than in the other jurisdictions. And, the County and City are required to provide “Other Protection” which the Towns do not.
• Exhibit C5 shows that Health and Mental Health & Retardation services are only provided by City and County governments. If either of the two Towns invest anything at all in those areas, it is actually a donation. Yet, by and far, with the population densities of the two Towns, it could well be that the vast majority of people receiving those services live with the boundaries of the Towns.
• In Exhibit C7, note that Christiansburg has expenses for Parks and Recreation that are more than twice the per capita of any of the other jurisdictions and yet only Christiansburg shows no investment in Cultural Enrichment.
• Exhibit E shows that while all jurisdictions are eligible for state and federal grants only Radford and Blacksburg have any showing as sources of funds.

I haven’t covered all of the areas here, but I hope that you will take the time to look at the full comparison report I set up, and perhaps wander over to the APA website to look at the full reports where you can see what other Cities, Towns, and Counties are doing.

Perhaps though, I have included enough information to help people see that County and Town taxes actually cover different things. Most of what town taxes are used for go to provide town residents with services that county residents do not have or to have elective services. After all, a town police department is not a requirement, the Sheriff’s department could handle all law enforcement (and just who would pick up the tab for the extra officers and equipment?). Fire and Rescue do not have to be supported by the Town, but isn’t it nice to have them close and to have the equipment that exceeds minimal standards?

Perhaps there is enough information here to help people see what a move from Town to City status is likely to cost Town taxpayers in the long run. A lot of people want to see things done differently with the schools. Ranting at Town officials about school problems will not help to accomplish that. Take those issues to the County and the County School Board.

Lastly, perhaps it is a bit more clear that there really are no duplicate taxes for Town dwellers. I suppose you could always try to get the Town to give up Town status and just become a part of the County in order to have only 1 tax ticket, but you’d have to be willing to give up a bit of the “comforts” associated with living in a Town.

So now, it’s off to work on other projects for me. It appears that there is a huge issue with poverty in this end of the state that gets overlooked by some of our state and federal lawmakers. Poverty affects all of us because of the impact it has on education, jobs, economic development, tax revenues, etc…etc…etc.

These are some of the questions that could be coming up at a meeting on Sept. 22 in Christiansburg. The meeting is open to the public and here is the information from the League of Women Voters of Montgomery County, VA (click here to get this notice in a pdf format that you can print out and share with friends, family, and neighbors):

On September 22, 2011 , from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. , the League of Women Voters of Montgomery County and the Christiansburg Branch of the Montgomery-Floyd Regional Library will be co-sponsoring an event that you might be interested in attending. The event is a “citizen-driven” discussion of the Role of the Federal Government in Public Education. In particular, we are looking at the impact that national standards such as the Common Core Standards can have on our local schools.

Forty-four of the Fifty States have voluntarily adopted the Common Core Standards as a means of implementing a National basic standard for public education at the K-12 level. Virginia is one of only six states that has chosen not to participate. How is this decision likely to affect students in the state of Virginia? What are the potential impacts to taxpayers? Will this affect the costs of higher education? How will students be evaluated? What guidelines for teaching are required? How will educators and schools be evaluated? Those are just a few of the questions that arise when you take the time to look at the myriad of information available on the Common Core Standards. To see some of this information , go to the League of Women Voters of Montgomery County Education Study website at http://www.lwvmcva.org/EducationStudy/. Along with the informational links provided in the text ofthe page, there are two links on the right hand side for Background Papers for the LWV-US and Other Resources for Information that you may find useful.

The meeting involves a series of short, informational videos (10 minutes or less) and small group discussions. After each video, participants will have a chance to discuss the issues, potential problems, and possible solutions related to the role and impact of the Federal government at the local level. The  information obtained from the small groups will be put together to help develop a better picture of what the citizens of Montgomery County identify as strengths, weaknesses, and solutions to problems with education locally. This format is the same style that was used for Christiansburg’s “Priority-Based Budgeting Process”, Montgomery County’s Comprehensive Planning Process, and the current Christiansburg Planning Process. In this case, it is the citizens, parents, and educators who are the experts from whom we are requesting information.

Although the focus is to address issues pertaining to the role of Federal Government in education, decisions at the federal level have an impact on local schools. Should the Common Core Standards become Federal requirements, Virginia will need to move in that direction in order to have continued access to federal funds or to have those funds expanded. By beginning to understand what the Common Core Standard, citizens will be in a better position to help empower our students and educators to deal with the transition. Should the Standards not become a federal mandate, the process will help us, as citizens to better understand the problems with our educational system and to be a part of the process of making our schools the very best that they can be.

Come join us for an opportunity to learn and share. We certainly cannot deal with all of the issues facing our schools in one two hour meeting, but perhaps by taking it one piece at a time, we can come up with some ideas that will be useful and help make some positive changes where they are needed. There will be a break during the meeting and refreshments.

**To get the latest information on this and other programs being presented by the League of Women Voters of Montgomery County, VA, such as upcoming candidate forums and how you can submit questions for candidates, check out their website at: http://www.lwvmcva.org/

In Christiansburg, this process has, quite simply, failed. We are now seeing taxpayer money having to be used to deal with such issues OR the issues, in many cases, are simply being ignored. In the last case, it is citizens who bought their homes, in good faith, who end up with the out-of-pocket expenses of more or higher insurance rates, costs of deductible (if the insurance will cover the damage), or having to pay for all damages directly.

This applies to water, sewer, traffic, and storm water in particular.

A lot of mistakes have been made over the years that are disrupting the lives of citizens, costing citizens money, harming the health of citizens, and creating a lack of trust in government.

How in the heck is it that the Town can spend months of time, energy, and money in evaluating one person’s request to allow chickens in town but can’t find time to come up with a real program for dealing with the issues generated by poor planning?

Maybe it is because the Town does not seem to understand the problem. If you want some interesting information, then take the time to look at the the “staff analysis” for a development by the Town of Christiansburg and one done by any of the neighboring localities. The Town of Christiansburg staff analysis consists of nothing more than a “cut & paste” of the public notice that was sent out. Other jurisdictions include such information as the impact of the development on traffic, schools, storm water management, and water/sewer. They also make recommendations pertaining to how these things should be paid for. Some jurisdictions require developers to shoulder some degree of the costs, which then gets transferred to the buyer. In Christiansburg, history shows that the majority of the costs will fall upon taxpayers in general.

By not planning or poorly planning, growth can occur more quickly than the infrastructure can be changed to accommodate the change in demands. Add to that the fact that the Town of Christiansburg has taken a “complaint-driven” approach to dealing with issues rather than a pro-active approach of trying to anticipate problems and deal with them before they become significant problems, and you’ve created a “black-hole” for Town revenues, particularly your tax money.

The Town’s past philosophy has been one of “build anywhere and anything just to get the property taxes”. Well, property taxes do not cover the bill. For each $1 paid in taxes on residential property, it takes approximately $1.58 to provide for the services of that property. AND that is just for providing the services not for developing the infrastructure necessary to provide those services.

The longer the Town waits to deal with the issues created by poor planning, the more it is going to cost taxpayers. The longer they take in developing systems to fairly distribute the costs of expanding/upgrading systems to allow for growth, the more it is going to cost taxpayers.

Planning in Christiansburg has failed miserably in providing for the safety, health, and well-being of citizens. The new Planning Commission is trying to work towards some of those issues, but they are simply an “Advisory Committee” to Town Council. Town Council is where the ultimate decisions are made in that they can give direction to the Town Manager to make things happen. Then, it falls upon the Town Manager to make things happen or not.

It is time for the Town of Christiansburg to take responsibility for the poor decisions of the past before they become even worse (and more costly). Continuing to put heads in the sand or simply keep eyes shut is NOT going to fix issues.

Perhaps, this coming weekend and the hurricane headed this way will be a good opportunity for citizens to really evaluate how important planning is and MAYBE that will cause people to approach the coming November election differently. Just maybe the Town will be ready to deal with problems rather than talk them to death.

Quite simply IT IS TIME TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT PLANNING!!! I just hope it isn’t already too late.

PS: I sure hope those chickens come with webbed feet and that you don’t happen to be on the down hill side of the storm water runoff coming from them.

I first heard of the Annie E. Casey Foundation when I was volunteering as a Guardian ad Litem in Florida. Over the years, I’ve continued to use it now and then to answer a question I was pondering. The League of Women Voters of Montgomery County, VA is currently studying the Role of Federal Government in Public Education, and I find myself again drawn to the wealth of data provided by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Today, I am looking at Virginia Congressional Districts and  children living in poverty because I know that there is a direct relationship between poverty and education. Here is some of what I found:

 Poverty in Virginia: A Quick Glance

*data from the Annie E. Casey Foundation: Kids Count Data Center using 2009 data sets)

*Source – http://www.virginiaplaces.org/government/congdist.html

Sometimes a table and a map can make things more clear than hours worth of typing. Just take a few minutes to look at which Congressional Districts have the highest poverty levels in the table, then look at the location of those Districts on the map.  Maybe this gives some indication of which elected officials should be working to create jobs in their Districts. Maybe this shows a bit about how important it is to elect local officials who understand the need for Economic Development and creating jobs. Maybe this shows that people running for office this November need to be answering some hard questions about what can be done help the economy and insure that their constituents are getting the services that they need.

Just thinking. Now, I have to get back to the data I started working with on the impact of poverty on education. Believe me, that is even scarier to anyone who cares about education and the future of our Country. To get an idea of what I’m talking about: