Fredericksburg Mayor Tom Tomzak said last night that Circuit Court judges have an indirect power to tax city residents.
He made that statement in the context of an argument among council members over whether the judges of Virginia's 15th Judicial Circuit--none of whom were present at last night's meeting--would really order the city to build a new courthouse if it doesn't keep moving forward with plans on the table now.
"I don't like it any more than anybody else," Tomzak said.
As planned now, the new courts complex is expected to cost $54.1 million. That estimate is higher than one council members saw last week because it includes a parking garage.
The city would have to borrow money to build the facility. Paying back that debt would require about a 10-cent hike in the real estate tax rate. That cost would hit the city budget in fiscal 2013.
Tomzak and Vice Mayor Kerry Devine both argued last night that Fredericksburg has received everything short of a lawsuit from its Circuit Court judges dragging the city into an expensive legal process that would take many of the decisions about Fredericksburg's next courthouse out of the council's hands.
Virginia's Circuit Court judges have the power to sue local governments if they determine they are not providing suitable facilities for court functions.
City Manager Phillip Rodenberg noted last night that in May 2007, the circuit judges all signed a letter saying the city courts needed to be modernized.
"That, to me, is the strongest indication we could get," short of an order, asking for new facilities, Rodenberg said.
City Attorney Kathleen Dooley said at least five Virginia localities have been under such orders recently. She said they tend to make the process of building new courts more expensive, and they tend to drag it out longer than it would have taken otherwise.
Councilman Matt Kelly said he didn't want to see the city ordered to build new courts, but "what I'm trying to get the judges to understand is flexibility. All I'm trying to do is make sure everyone understands what this is going to cost."
Devine said the city had been granted flexibility by the judges already. She noted that this time last year, Fredericksburg officials were talking about building a courthouse by fall of 2010. Now the target date is December 2012.
City residents Van Perroy--who submitted his own Fredericksburg Square banquet hall as a potential court site last year--and Hamilton Palmer expressed concern about the price of the courts project at a time when the city is already facing a budget shortfall.
"I am sure the judges want a new courthouse," Perroy said. "I'd like a Lamborghini, but I drive a Ford."
Palmer asked where the mandate from the judges was to build the courts.
"How about providing one for the citizens?"
But Devine and Tomzak both said it's in the city's interests to avoid the formal process of court-ordered court-building.
"When we stop working toward the goal of a courthouse facility, that's when that order gets imposed," Devine said. "What's best for the city of Fredericksburg may be for Fredericksburg to stay in control of this project."
Council members could vote next month on whether to keep moving toward building the facility by the end of 2012.
Emily Battle: 540/374-5413
Email: ebattle@freelancestar.com