Commentary: Roanoke City Needs to Wake Up to Financial Reality

I noted with interest a recent newspaper article regarding Roanoke City “Officials’ “concern” about Roanoke’s Bond rating.” “Concern” is a “weak” word and grossly understates the City’s current and future fiscal situation.

It is long since time for our dysfunctional City Administration to wake up and smell the odor of financial danger. Ten plus years of constantly raising real estate tax assessment rates and increased windshield appraisals of real property; coupled with proliferate borrow and spend policies has put us in dire financial limbo.

It’s time to take off the rose colored glasses, declare an indefinite capital spending moratorium; and begin to sort out priorities in a business-like manner. Further, our $92 million high school investment in bricks and mortar will not of itself, answer why we graduate less than 65% of high school seniors. So, what has our leadership provided us for our borrowed money?

It is too late now to hope for any meaningful relief by simply holding meetings with New York City Bond Rating Agencies. The time for that was early 2009, when warnings were sounded. This is 2010 and it is now time to: stop all spending period; freeze all Capital Projects; try to establish and fund a Rainy Day Fund; and get ready for the State of Virginia’s reduction of ±16% in our public schools’ subsidy – yes 16%!. It” s going to be ugly and we will be told this in March when the Governor signs the two (2) year budget bill. What should we do? Let’s assemble some serious and informed business citizens to use the nine months provided by this “freeze” to plan, advise and lay out a lean, solid budget plan to get us through this mess and into 2011.

-J. Granger Macfarlane,

Roanoke VA


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  1. Pretty good Granger. I can recall back when your were running for city council, you said this same thing…predictions that fell upon deaf ears because too many of your neighbors wanted to build a play ground for their kids. Those kids are now out of the city school system and all that money is spent. We have no general use facility, we have no WF facility (yet), we have no library, and have no money…and we still have the basicly same shameful graduation rate. The 2010 census will hint at a pretty ugly picture for Roanoke’s past, and future. Bend over Roanoke, it’s gonna hurt!

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