THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 5, 1995 TAG: 9501050002
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
Citizens of Norfolk and Norfolk city employees continue to get mixed messages from City Council and city officials:
City Council voted on Dec. 20 to loan Nauticus another $5 million dollars because of unanticipated construction costs and low attendance.
The executive director of Nauticus, Michael Bartlett, is rewarded for this less-than-stellar performance with $150,000 per year, with a $50,000-per-year benefits package - six times what average Norfolk firefighters or police officers make for putting their lives in jeopardy to protect the citizens of Norfolk. City departments that provide basic government services such as public safety, education and neighborhood improvement are constantly told that money is tight, and that they must learn how to do more with less.
The city manager proudly points to the fact that the city has reduced its work force by more than 850 positions in the past seven years, a reduction of 17 percent, while at the same time slashing a city employee's ability to earn a decent pay raise for good performance. Even with an excellent review, the most that a city employee can hope for is a 2.5 percent pay increase - not enough even to keep up with the rise in the consumer price index.
City Councilman Randy Wright states in an article Dec. 18 that rather than a pay raise for city employees, the city should consider putting the money into better sewers, sidewalks and general infrastructure projects. This is the same councilman who, in 1994, joined other City Council members in voting themselves a 20 percent pay raise, while passing a city budget that did not include a cost-of-living increase for city employees.
The city's work force is much more productive today than it was eight years ago, and the reduction in its size has resulted in more than $30 million annual savings to taxpayers.
At the Nauticus open hearing on Dec. 20, attendees heard over and over that projects like Nauticus, Waterside, Harbor Park, the Harrison Opera House and the proposed MacArthur Center are revitalizing downtown Norfolk, resulting in spin-off revenues from hotel and motel taxes, restaurant taxes, sales taxes and parking fees. Citizens of Norfolk are constantly told that these projects are necessary in order to lighten the tax burden on the citizen of Norfolk.
I cannot remember one city tax rate that has gone down. Additionally, city officials and the City Council come up with new and ingenious ways to collect more money from citizens. Norfolk citizens are paying 60 percent more for their water than they were two years ago.
My message for the City Council and for Norfolk city officials is not mixed but very direct: Look at the following list of organizations that spoke out for and against the Nauticus bailout:
For Nauticus bailout: Greater Norfolk Corp., Downtown Norfolk Council, Norfolk Convention and Visitors Bureau, Chamber of Commerce, Norfolk Marriott Hotel, Omni Waterside Hotel, Best Western Hotel.
Against Nauticus bailout: Federation of Civic Leagues, NAACP, Fraternal Order of Police, Norfolk Police Union, Norfolk Professional Fire Fighters, Central Labor Council.
Which of the groups do you think represents most voters in this city?
DON GRANT
Norfolk, Dec. 21, 1994 by CNB