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Group leaves meeting upset over plan that gives schools $14 million less than requested. Date published: 4/27/2006 By MEGHANN COTTER A handful of parents, teachers and school officials stormed out of a work session yesterday after Stafford County supervisors set the real-estate tax rate at 63 cents per $100 of assessed value.
Some even cried. That rate is not enough to fully fund the School Board's $134.2 million request for local funds. And it won't create enough revenue to support the county administrator's suggested school allotment of $125.5 million. Instead, the schools will get $120 million. Supervisors engaged in heated discussion last night before settling on the tax rate, school funding and overall budget. Jack Cavalier, vice chairman of the board, and Supervisor Pete Fields voted against all three, saying the schools deserved more money. The rate creates general fund revenues of $213.4 million, which also includes an estimated $1.9 million from ambulance fees. The board has not decided whether to collect those dollars. The board approved the general fund amount last night as part of the budget that takes effect July 1. Supervisors say they plan to shuffle some money within the overall spending plan in the coming weeks. In a 4-3 vote, with Supervisor Joe Brito also voting in opposition, the board agreed to give the schools the lesser amount. Supervisors pledged to reconsider the amount at midyear. That amount is 100 percent of the meals tax and roughly 67 percent of all local taxes. But it deviates from the county's self-imposed financial guidelines, which give 69 percent of local taxes to schools. The allotment is $2.7 million, or 2.3 percent, more than last year. The schools had received about a $15 million increase between the 2005 and 2006 budgets. Cavalier said $120 million was a stingy and unrealistic amount. "Does anybody think that's fair?" he asked. "Sure I do," answered Supervisor Paul Milde. He said the amount approved last night is a $26 million increase over the actual money spent in 2005. The school system has fallen short of its projections for three consecutive years, he said. So the board should start budgeting based on actual numbers, not estimates. "The system doesn't work," Milde said. "I want to know when we are going to stop building on the bad mistakes of our predecessors."
1. Be respectful. No personal attacks.
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