ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, April 9, 1997 TAG: 9704090021
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN THE ROANOKE TIMES
Supervisor Nick Rush gets some, but not all, of money he sought for sheriff's deputies.
Montgomery County sheriff's deputies will get a one-time $500 bonus from the county in the next fiscal year to supplement their annual pay from the state.
The Board of Supervisors agreed to the bonus late Monday as it approved a $77.28 million budget and a 2-cent tax increase after more than 90 minutes of debate. It was only Montgomery County's third tax increase since 1991; the supervisors raised the tax rate by a penny one year ago.
In a 4-3 vote, the supervisors set the real-estate tax rate at 72 cents per $100 of assessed value. That means the owner of a piece of property assessed at $100,000 will see a tax increase of $20 a year, or 3 percent. The increase should first show up in the county tax bills due in June. The 1997-98 budget will take effect July 1.
Supervisors Joe Stewart, Henry Jablonski and Ira Long voted against the tax increase. Stewart had said he could possibly vote for a 1-cent increase but preferred none. Long and Jablonski indicated they could support a tax increase of up to 1.5 cents. Jablonski feared a larger tax increase would lead voters to reject a possible bond referendum to build new schools.
Supervisor Nick Rush, a Republican who generally does not support tax increases, lobbied his colleagues over the last month for a $1,000 bonus to the deputies. He stuck to his guns throughout much of Monday's discussion, and said he would not vote for any tax increase without giving the deputies the bonus.
There has been a 24 percent turnover at the Sheriff's Office since January 1996, with 17 deputies leaving through mid-March. As the lowest-paid law enforcement agency in Montgomery County, many deputies left for better paying jobs with surrounding departments or outside law enforcement entirely.
Sheriff Doug Marrs had asked for a $2,500 per deputy supplement and about $225,000 to offer an additional retirement benefit to 75 deputies and eight dispatchers. The benefit, available through the Virginia Retirement System, allows early retirement at age 50 with 20 years of service. Ten civilian employees are not included in the bonus or retirement plan.
County staff recommended the retirement benefit be placed in the 1998-99 budget and suggested the supplement be denied because it would set a precedent that could lead other constitutional officers' employees to expect a similar county supplement.
Rush offered the $1,000 bonus as a compromise. That would have cost the county $89,300. He said the bonus could be presented as a one-time-only adjustment made as a gesture while the county pursued additional money at the state level.
That appeared headed for sure defeat because other supervisors agreed with county staff that a precedent would be set. The supervisors decided last week to lobby the state Compensation Board and state legislators for better pay for deputies.
Rush argued that the deputies deserved better.
"Just to say we'll asked the state for the money is just kind of passing the buck," he said. "Look at it as a hazardous duty, high stress supplement. said. "We don't ask other people to work swing shift, shoot people, wear bulletproof vests."
Chairman Joe Gorman said incentive pay should be available to all employees and while he understood Marrs' plea for his deputies, "you apply for the job knowing what the salary and the risks are."
Backing off his pledge to not support any tax increase without the $1,000 bonus, Rush agreed to a $500 bonus when suggested by Supervisor Jim Moore, but only after considering it several moments with a pained expression on his face reminiscent of a poker player deciding whether to hold 'em or fold 'em.
"I'm not a tax-increase person but I felt this deputy pay issue is very important - not only at the local level but at the state level," Rush said afterward.
Montgomery County's personal property taxes will remain at $2.45 per $100 of assessed value; the machinery and tools tax stays at $1.82 per $100; and the merchants capital tax at $6.05 per $100. The real-estate tax is the single largest source of local tax revenue.
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