The Bent Mountain Women’s Club recently hosted Clay Goodman, Roanoke County Administrator, at the Bent Mountain Fire Station. Goodman has held the Administrator’s office for a little over a year now. He succeeds long term incumbent Elmer Hodge, who had a three decade career in local government.
Goodman grew up in Montgomery County, graduated from Virginia Tech and earned a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of West Virginia. Before coming to Roanoke County he was the administrator in Montgomery County for five years, where he was known as “a low-key but efficient consensus builder.” He was the town manager in Vinton before that.
Goodman likens the county administrator’s job to that of a city manager. “I provide the Board of Supervisors as much information, in a timely manner and as accurately as possible, so that they can make the best informed decisions.” He adds, “I work for these elected officials to make sure that the policies and guidelines that they adopt are properly implemented.” The job affords an opportunity to work for the Roanoke County citizens – the constituents that are his customers.
When asked about his toughest challenge, he replied, “the budget.”
Goodman has already been working with staff since October 2009 on the new budget for the fiscal year 2011, which begins July 1, 2010. Typically, budget work does not begin until January; however, he knew that this would be a complex and difficult budget year.
Goodman said the huge reduction in state funds has been exacerbated by a loss of revenue from some of the local taxes – meals, lodging, and sales tax. He did emphasize that Board members have expressed to him that this is not the time to raise taxes, so as they work on the budget, they are not proposing any tax increases for real estate or personal property.
The County, including the School Board, is looking at between 8 to 10 million in budget reductions out of a current budget of approximately 180 million. “One way in which we are trying to control expenditures is to not fill vacant positions unless they are determined to be essential,” said Goodman. Two positions and maybe a third in his own office are being left vacant to pay for extra firemen. Other positions have been frozen.
Goodman added, “We might have to look at the possibility of service cuts as time goes on.” They are trying to avoid layoffs, but cannot eliminate the possibility until they know the full ramifications of cuts from the state to the local governments. The General Assembly session underway now may provide answers.
The County shares funds with the School Board and Goodman said they will be working with them to see what they can do to help each other. One very unpopular ruling is the School Board’s recent decision to close Bent Mountain Elementary School at the end of this year for a savings of a half a million dollars per year.
Ann Kovats, from Bent Mountain, has attended every school board meeting and feels that if education was a priority, they would not be closing the small school (less than 80 students), and increasing class sizes in other schools like Back Creek Elementary. “There are funds out there,” said Kovats. “They just spent 1.2 million dollars in the past month to buy new active boards [an interactive teaching tool].”
Another citizen called attention to the 2 million dollars recently spent on $500 bonuses for Roanoke County school employees, commenting that this money might have allowed the Bent Mountain school to stay open for another four years.
The school building also serves as a Community Center and a Roanoke County library, and a decision is pending as to the future use of that building. Jim Woltz, a 36 year resident of the community, said that “before the Board makes a decision to dispose of it or tear it down, I hope that they give the community an opportunity to come together and be a part of the decision.”
Residents noted that Bent Mountain pays the same taxes as the rest of the county. They represent less than 1% of the population, but are shouldering at least 6% of the reduction. Woltz, an auctioneer by trade, said, “We are geographically off the development path, but do not want to be forgotten. I don’t want anyone to underestimate the power of the little community up here.”
By Dot Overstreet [email protected]