The public hearing on the fiscal year 2013-2014 budget was akin to the movie “Groundhog Day.” A rerun of years past as most of the speakers were certified Master Gardeners.
Over half of the 22 speakers at Roanoke City’s public hearing advocated for restoring funding to the Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) to the fiscal year 2012-2013 level of $67,267. The VCE had asked for a supplemental request of $7,695 but had funding cut by $10,000 to $57,267 instead.
The same issue with VCE funding inundates city council chambers every year. Last year the throng of supporters were able to get all but $1000 restored. Council members gave no hint that funding would be restored again this year.
Part of the funding goes toward training VCE Master Gardeners. MG training was created by the Extension to field an increase in requests from home gardeners for research-based horticultural information.
To become a certified VCE Master Gardener, 100 hours of classroom instruction and volunteer service must be completed within a year. “Generally it costs about $150,” said Master Gardener Jack Frankel.
Sharon Burnham owner of GardenVitals, LLC in response to Councilman Bill Bestpitch’s question on how much would a person be willing to pay to be a Master Gardener said, “we pay through hours and hours of our time, we pay through donations of our own plants, our pots, our soil, our materials, our supplies for putting on the program. We pay for our gas which is never reimbursed. We know what it means to the people that we reach and that passion is shown by the people here in the audience today.”
Burnham, who is also an attorney, urged no cuts to the VCE program and no cuts to the Community Garden Association that received half their funding request of $20,000 – A first time request by Director Mark Powell.
Jordan Watts and Lindsay Wyatt are 8-year participant in 4-H. Jordan, a recent 4-H award winner and student at Patrick Henry High School said, “Everything I’ve accomplished I owe to 4-H.”
The Real Estate Investors of Virginia filled out the list of speakers. They objected to the increase in code enforcement officers who “go around measuring” this and that. They claimed that though Roanoke’s population has remained stagnant, code enforcement officers have been added and that didn’t make sense. Code enforcement and waste management costs was also a repeat issue from last year’s budget hearing.
John Kepley said his father had a saying: “A little leak will sink a big ship … it seems to me that the leak has grown into a large hole within the good ship Roanoke through the actions of city council over the years.” He hoped Roanoke would not sink under the weight of debt similar to other cities. “Some economists are saying that America is the Titanic.” He said council needs the financial insights of a Warren Buffett, the vision of a Bill Gates and the wisdom of a Solomon.
Architect and Roanoke City landlord Andy Stowasser called code enforcement “a bloated bureaucratic department.” He said in the past 20 years code enforcers have increased from 4 to 19. “They drive around with rulers and measure your grass,” he said.
Stowasser objected to code violations for cars with expired inspection stickers, leaves in gutters and potholes in driveways. “This is not building enforcement,” he said. He claimed the excessive number of code enforcers were wasting taxpayer dollars.
Councilman Bill Bestpitch asked what should he do when he gets calls about unkempt property. Stowasser told him he should tell them to mow their grass and take care of the gutters. “Code officials target unoccupied properties,” complained Stowasser. The dialogue was beginning to reach the argument stage before Mayor Bower stepped in saying only one should speak at a time. That effectively ended the exchange.
Another back and forth contentious dialogue broke out between attorney Charles Nave and city council members Court Rosen, Ray Ferris and Bill Bestpitch. Nave said he was asked to speak on behalf of the Roanoke City Republicans.
Nave was distressed over the automatic pay increases that city employees were receiving “without regard to merit.” He also questioned the school funding formula suggesting there was no accountability or performance requirement built in. He asked that taxes not be raised.
Ferris responded by pointing out that the 2% increase for city employees had to be agreed upon by city council and was not automatic.
Rosen explained that the pay increase was to ensure the city remains competitive with other jurisdictions. “We have to compete with our peers to make sure we get the best employees we can because the better the employees we have the more efficient and the better services they deliver … there’s nothing automatic.”
City council members will mull the comments over at their next briefing on May 6 prior to budget adoption on May 20.
By Valerie Garner
