THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 5, 1995 TAG: 9505040140
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines
Property taxes at the Beach are still expected to rise by 4.8 cents per $100 of assessed valuation next year, but the City Council Tuesday decided it could stretch that money a little further.
After nearly a month of phone calls, letters and public comments from Beach residents, the council informally agreed to restore money for additions and renovations to First Colonial and Kellam high schools, and for engineering for the dredging of the Western Branch of the Lynnhaven River.
At their final workshop before approving the budget next Tuesday, the council also added money for street lighting, extending the hours at the Pungo library, increasing security at Mount Trashmore, a special events trolley at the Oceanfront and another real estate expert in the city attorney's office.
The increases were relatively painless, with money for the smaller items coming primarily from budget reserves and money for the school renovations from fund balances and issuing more debt.
There was not enough money, however, for raises for sheriff's employees, additional soccer fields, Sandbridge Road construction or North Beach storm drainage.
The council spent nearly an hour debating the merits of funding for the dredging of the Western Branch of the Lynnhaven. More than 100 residents had attended public budget hearings to ask for money for the dredging, saying the river has become nearly impassible to boaters.
The city manager and budget director had wanted to allocate money for a citywide dredging policy, deferring spending on the Western Branch for a year. City Manager James K. Spore and Director of Management and Budget E. Dean Block said they didn't want the council to set dredging precedent until after a policy analysis is completed and the federal government determines the fate of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which now funds most of the city's dredging projects.
President Clinton has recommended limiting the role of the corps, and pulling the federal government out of all local projects like dredging. That decision could cost the city hundreds of millions of dollars, Spore said, because the city would have to dredge Rudee Inlet and the Lynnhaven Bay at its own expense.
The council decided to overrule Spore and provide $150,000 in engineering costs for the Western Branch dredging project, although they also set aside more than $250,000 for a study.
``I don't see how we could ever turn our backs on our city's best asset,'' said council member W.W. Harrison Jr., ``the miles and miles of shoreline.''
Vice Mayor W.D. Sessoms Jr. agreed to drop his proposal for a garbage fee, although he said he may bring it up again in future years.
Council member Linwood O. Branch III said he might be willing to support the fee, if it resulted in a reduction of property taxes, but thought Sessoms suggested the idea too late in the budget process to get adequate public input.
The council also decided to accept Spore's recommendation to impose a cellular phone tax, which would add 10 percent, up to $3, to the cost of local cellular phone bills. Several business leaders have complained about the tax, which has been charged in Norfolk for several years.
Budget director Block said he thinks the cellular phone tax and other similar use fees will allow the city to reduce its reliance on property taxes.
About half of the $600,000 raised through that tax will go to support the proposed Agricultural Reserve Program, a plan to limit urban sprawl by paying farmers not sell their land for development. One and a half cents of the proposed tax increase will pay for the balance of the agriculture program, which the council has not discussed formally but is expected to fund in this year's budget package.
To ensure that the school funding is properly spent, the council also agreed to increase its budgetary oversight of the school district, by more clearly defining how it thinks school money should be spent. About half the city's operating budget and nearly a third of its construction budget goes to fund the schools, which have no taxing authority of their own.
Earlier in the budget season, district officials accused the city of cutting money for school additions. In several meetings over the past two weeks, school officials agreed that the reason they ran short of funds for school additions was because of higher than expected construction costs and policy decisions to do more work at certain schools.
To retain more control over such projects in the future, the council plans to be more explicit about how the district can spend construction money. Instead of allocating a lump sum for additions and renovations, as it did two years ago, the council will designate specific amounts for projects at specific schools.
The council designated $2.9 million to add 20 classrooms and other improvements to Kellam High School. First Colonial will receive $1.9 million for 8 new classrooms and the completion of a school modernization project that was supposed to have been finished this year.
Although they did not provide any funding for 1995-96, the council said it intends to provide money in future years for additions to Kingston Elementary, and Kempsville and Plaza middle schools.
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH CITY COUNCIL BUDGET by CNB