Thread by @socialistdogmom

switching gears now to the city budget work session at 6! i highly encourage cville folks not attending the budget meeting to go to the community input forum with the police civilian review board at legal aid justice center’s office, also at 6.

i wrote about the budget this week for @cvillenews_desk. i hate budget season, but it is undeniably important!

“A budget is more than just a balance of revenues and expenditures—it’s a moral document, an agreement about what is important to us.”

c-ville.com/a-moral-map-th…

one of the “remaining budget issues” is whether or not they will proceed with raising the real estate tax rate. there were enough councilors in support of raising it at a meeting on the 16th, but councilor galvin had revoked her support at last week’s work session.

you can watch this city budget work session live if you need help falling asleep or something, but it is a little early to be going to bed

facebook.com/cvilletv10/vid…

live look at me in my favorite seat

councilor bellamy just arrived (having mistakenly gone to the wrong meeting venue), but we’re still missing mike signer.
(i mean i’m not MISSING him, but he’s not here)

signer is expected to arrive shortly but we’re getting started without him. nikuyah calls the meeting to order and turns things over to city manager mike murphy for a powerpoint that is mostly the same as last tuesday’s

there are two scenarios on the table - a 1-1-1 plan (raising meals, lodging, and real estate tax rates 1 cent) and one that raises only meals & lodging. murphy points out scenario 1 was proposed by kathy galvin (who, as i noted above, opposed it last week)

previous years’ calculations were too conservative, somehow providing $850,000 in realized savings. money is fake.

this rather late in the game realization of the existence of that money is likely what changed galvin’s willingness to vote for a real estate tax increase, which would generate a very similar amount of revenue.

actual progressive taxes aren’t an option for us as a locality, but real estate tax relief programs ease the burden of that tax on low income homeowners, up to their entire tax bill.

both budget scenarios allocate a portion of the meals tax increase to “marketing assistance” for restaurants. i’m curious what that looks like? is that through the tourism board? the downtown business association? will the city collaborate on the work or just sign over the $$?

murphy says at the last meeting, the three present councilors (signer and bellamy were absent) were trending toward scenario 2 (no real estate tax increase)

kathy asks what the average year end balance has been in years past, saying we always have one and recalls it being “around six million.”
nikuyah points out that isn’t dependable. it isn’t something you can count on to fund a project.

(this is germane because scenario two involves moving some of this variance into the affordable housing fund)

councilor bellamy asks if it’s possible to move $500,000 into the equity fund. (seems late in the game for an allocation of that size? maybe i misunderstood.)

aha, he’s talking about prioritizing that after the housing fund is made whole assuming there’s still money left over at the end of the year. murphy says he’s capturing that as a priority.

murphy says one issue with pay increases based on performance is that not all employees were evaluated this year.

it seems totally reasonable to give everyone the same cost of living increase! recall at the last meeting that kathy said this would be “bad for morale” 🤔

https://twitter.com/socialistdogmom/status/1108136597151801345?s=21

moving forward, though, murphy says we need an across the board market study. the current pay scales are 21 years old & need to be evaluatol38

86% of the dollars asked for in FY20 for compensation increases are for “public safety” (aka cops)

leslie beauregard says lynchburg, which is similar in size to our city govt, spent $97k on a comprehensive pay study. PHASE ONE of implementation cost $2.2 mil. she says they are unsure that the next two phases will cost.

“there is not the appropriate amount of space between the positions,” murphy says, citing one of the problems with our current city employee pay scales. “we need a system where the bands don’t overlap in that same way.”

we’re really struggling with compression due to raising the minimum wage to keep up with cost of living
“when we pay a lifeguard” who is a teenager & seasonal employee “the same as the starting pay for a firefighter, we have a problem,” murphy says.

signer is complaining about this meeting being in conflict with his personal schedule. he was missing from last week’s budget work session.

“i think that is an issue for employees,” murphy says of the dragging out of the discussion about implementing raises.

“where people leave to is almost always laterally for more money - including next door to albemarle county,” murphy says. we don’t have a current market study, but it seems that most positions are compensated at under market value.

“i would love something more strategic,” heather hill says about working toward a more equitable compensation plan “but i feel like at this point we’re locked in” for FY20

beauregard says the across the board cost of living adjustment will prevent further worsening of the compression issue - everyone gets the same raise under this plan.

galvin says restructuring the pay scale should be top of the list for the new city manager (murphy’s term as interim is coming to a close - no word yet on the new hire, but murphy isn’t staying on past august).

nikuyah has expressed that they should trust department heads to provide information about salary needs. kathy opposes this heartily, advocating a system that will “stand up to challenge”

“at the very least, we can be talking about performance based pay in the next cycle,” murphy says, promising all employees will get an evaluation in the coming year but it’s unlikely they’d be in a position to implement anything based on a study they haven’t commissioned yet.

kathy says the testimony at the last public hearing & the $850k reprogrammed funds changed her mind about raising the real estate taxes.
“the public is already very very burdened” by the real estate tax

kathy wants to find solutions for more progressive taxation. she’s currently running for state delegate. she can’t campaign from the dais but the subtext here seems to be she wants to change state law to allow localities to find more progressive taxation solutions.

time for public comment! the first speaker is speaking on behalf of IMPACT (an interfaith coalition). they’re concerned particularly about low income housing for seniors.

“it just keeps getting worse. thank you.”
honestly all public comments could end that way.

walt heinecke up now speaking on behalf of CLIHC (cville low income housing coalition) asking them to continue their commitment to righting historical wrongs by addressing the housing crisis.

CLIHC urges council not to retreat from the original 1-1-1 plan just because additional funds appeared in the budget. the extra funds could increase rental assistance subsidies and increase the allocation to the affordable housing fund.

“we urge the council not to be short sighted” in balancing the budget today. addressing affordable housing will take 15 years. this one time windfall isn’t a solution - a dedicated revenue stream is needed.

“this is 200 years of history. this is redlining. this is housing covenants.” affordable housing is an equity issue. charlottesville must address its racist past.

“this has been an intense budget season,” says mayor walker at the conclusion of public comment.
heather hill says there’s been a lot of great community involvement.

meeting adjourned! barely an hour after a late start. the first public reading of the final budget will be at the april 1 council meeting and the final budget will be approved on april 8.