Supervisor Karaffa submitted and had his Letter to the Editor printed over at the NewsLeader where he asked some interesting questions. There has been talk in the local media of the BOS raising the County tax rate $0.05 per $100.00 to cover the projected shortage of $250K for County operation and numerous requests from the education sector...
"A 5-cent tax increase would raise revenue in the tax coffers over $3.2 million dollars. Traditionally, half of the revenue goes to the schools and half to the county. The county is short $250,000 for the upcoming budget, why do we need $1.6 million to cover that deficit?"
Augusta County has pretty much always had a fiscal conservative budget process and spending practices and with that have held themselves to their budgets and don't have deficits, something we could only dream of on someday on a national level.
"Augusta County public schools have asked for an additional 2.86 percent raise on top of the 2 percent raise that is already calculated into their current budget. They would also purchase $500,000 in new computers as well as make up the 100 percent insurance premium coverage for bus drivers and cafeteria workers, totaling $2.5 million in additional funding."
"Education" has always been a hot topic and has also been a common tool of the "Left" to demand more money when it comes to increased spending. If you question these increases you are painted as a greedy person refusing to invest in our children and their\our future. Fact is we already spend a incredible amount of money per student on a national level and the test results are disappointing. Just look at the recent stories coming out of NYC, Chicago, and other cities where over 75% of "Graduates" are unable to read or write to function and get hired or move on to further education...
A while back I saw a Letter to the Editor where the person questioned why $500,000 in computers. That person provided numerous common sense questions and data to show that sensible solutions could provide needed computer services at a much lower cost. To simply throw $500k at "Computers" would be foolish and should be questioned...
Good move and effort by Karaffa in seeking more info and comments by way of upcoming "Townhall" meetings. I hope he follows through with common sense solutions without specific "past influences" and does what is right for the taxpayers......
A Watch-Dog group to keep an eye on the Augusta County Board of Supervisors and now Governor Terry McAuliffe......
I loved that letter where the writer pointed out how much it SHOULD cost to update the computers and $500,000 was way to much!!!
ReplyDeleteNow I see the teachers are coming out looking for even more money than the 5% for what? We spend a lot on the kids already but why are scores low? Think about it people !!!
I thought $5ooK was a bit much....
ReplyDeletePretty much put a Laptop to every kid and who knows what with software....
Will be interesting to keep an eye on this....
I dunno about Karraffa on common sense more like contridiction. He was against holding a public hearing on the 5 cent tax increase. But yet would give the prior BOS grief if they voted down holding a public hearing. (remember staggered terms fiasco). He was against tax increases, but yet increased the Personal Property Tax. He campaigned against the reassessment saying if elected he would do an immediated reassessment, that never happened, instead lhe et the reassessment stand. Now he says that once the reassessment is done the tax rate would be adjusted accordingly. Just what does that mean? He campaigned saying that if the School Board would to go to the Needs Based Budgeting Process, he would work to fund it as it would accurately reflect the schools needs. They did now he says its full of wants. He also said he would attend school board meetings to be updated and have first hand knowledge of issues and to discuss issues with those in attendance. So far hes been to less then 5 meetings since being elected.
ReplyDeleteanon- 3:55
ReplyDeleteit will be neat to research the meeting attendance records of those Gang members who made meeting attendance an issue in the last election. looks like you have some interesting info there, can it be verified?
I am sure there are minutes to the meetings provided somewhere... Better yet maybe Supervisor Karaffa or others would like to respond here?....
ReplyDeleteSchool board meeting minutes
ReplyDeletehttp://www.augusta.k12.va.us/Page/546
Dry reading but it does look like Supervisor Moore attended the March 21st School board meeting and the budget appeared to be the main topic....
ReplyDeleteFebruary 21 meeting has statement that there are 3,500 computers and $631,000 just to connect to the internet?!!. That is over $180+ per computer if you connect all 3,500 which does not sound like all would need net ability... There was a LTE in last weeks paper also questioning this expense amount....
ReplyDeleteWhile reading the News Virginian paper today regarding the School Budget. Several things caught my attention. One was Supervisor Karaffa quoted as saying there will be take hike next year once the reassessment is done. Two that now is a time to look for savings instead of raising taxes. However he sure didnt mind jacking up my personal property taxes to fund schools last year instead of looking for savings. All this while in another sentence in the same article he says that the county is sticking its hands in citizens pockets for money. I have never paid to much attention to looking at contridictions from this guy, until reading anon 3:15 comment. After reading the article this guy is full of them.
ReplyDeleteKaraffa last year voted to come up with the money to protect his buddy's job at the Gov's School and now looks like he wants to cut the funding for all of the other schools...
ReplyDelete"Beverley Manor District Supervisor David Karaffa said he has listened to lectures about the supervisors' funding of schools. He said a year ago it was whether the Shenandoah Valley Governor's School would be funded, and it was. This year, he said supervisors are being told they must provide funds to continue full insurance coverage for part-time school employees such as bus drivers and cafeteria workers."
Its easy to take a stand today for low taxes when you voted for grant money yesterday that the next board will have to pay for once the grant runs out.
ReplyDeleteI believe Mr. Karaffa has learned the political two step...
ReplyDeleteYes he did save his "Buddy's" job at the Governors school but that is to be expected. I welcome his efforts to cut spending on waste and talk of not raising taxes but at the same time I believe we have all learned to keep a close eye on these guys as well as a short leash. Only time will tell...