ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 28, 1997 TAG: 9703280050
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: RINER
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE THE ROANOKE TIMES
Henry Jablonski's retirement helped Worth decide on running.
Barry Worth - the often vocal, usually conservative School Board member from District D - will seek the Republican nomination for the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors.
The announcement Thursday came a day after Henry Jablonski, the present supervisor from the Christiansburg-Riner area, announced he would not run for a fifth term.
Worth said he and Jablonski "talked about it and I sort of had a feeling that Henry wasn't going to run. That sort of helped" Worth's decision.
Worth has served on the School Board for four years, including one as vice chairman. He usually stayed on the conservative side, including voting to keep the Christian holidays Christmas and Easter in the official titles of school breaks. The board eventually decided to change the break names to the secular "winter" and "spring."
In the past few years, Worth has criticized the Board of Supervisors for allocating too little money for schools. At one point, he accused them of "balancing the budget on the backs of school children."
But six years ago, as an active member of the Montgomery County Taxpayers' Association, he seemed to sing a different tune. The watchdog group, which emphasized keeping taxes low, was a visible force in the early 1990s.
Worth, who served as association president at one point, often spoke out against large budget expenses, particularly by the School Board.
"Let's show children we can take a dollar and squeeze it for all it's worth," he said during a budget hearing in 1991.
Worth said Thursday he has always believed that a county must grow - and earn money - in moderation.
"I've heard people say my views have changed," he said. "My philosophy all along has been that we have to be in a place where all of us can function. You don't go 15 years without a tax increase and then all of a sudden raise taxes."
There have been times, he said, that the supervisors could have allowed a slight increase by reassessing property values and keeping the tax rate the same. That kind of steady increase in county revenue would have maintained both county and school growth.
If elected, Worth would represent a rapidly growing area. The development of the Falling Branch Industrial Park in Christiansburg, a new elementary school under construction in Riner and new housing developments proposed throughout the Southwest corner of the county are a few examples.
Worth said he wants to see long-term planning for housing developments and industry. He would support moderate growth that is "a win-win situation" for both businesses and residents.
Worth, a water plant manager at the Radford Army Ammunitions Plant, said he won't miss dealing with some of the contentious issues the School Board must face. He did say he will continue visiting schools in his area, just to interact with the children.
If he is elected as a supervisor, Worth said, he would serve no more than two terms.
"Once you've been on a board 12 or 16 years, you don't look at things the same," he said. Being a new member "gives you better insight on the problems."
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshots) Worth KEYWORDS: POLITICS BOARD OF SUPERVISORSby CNB