THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 24, 1995 TAG: 9512220187
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines
The following poem is something I wrote to help put me in the Christmas spirit. It might help others, too:
``Priceless Gift''
One cold night so long ago
In Bethlehem was born
A gift of love, the Son of God;
It was a blessed morn.
He lay asleep upon the hay,
By mother's love adored;
And shepherds wept when angels sang.
Their faith had been restored.
Wisemen traveled far and wide,
This wondrous thing to see.
A light from heaven led the way,
Revealed our destiny.
There was new hope for all mankind,
A chance for second birth.
And gifts were brought to welcome him,
This newborn King of Earth.
The joy was felt throughout the land,
A cause to celebrate.
The savior came to free us all
And save us from our fate.
And still today we give our thanks
To him who reigns above,
For sharing with this sinful world
A priceless gift of love.
Greg C. Brown
Kilby Shores Drive
Suffolk Restraints start here
City Council and the city manager, attending a legislative breakfast this month with state delegates, bemoaned the fact of municipalities getting stuck with unfunded mandates from the state.
We agree that this should not be, but we also remind management and council that fiscal restraints start at home. Council grants management its request for two extra paid holidays this year and approves the city's holiday schedule to conform with state's liberal holiday, beginning in 1996. Did management request the state to fund these extra holidays? No. Management and council mandated that the local taxpayers fund these extra holidays.
Management requested and was granted the largest budget increase in the history of Suffolk. The manager replaced the position of assistant city manager who resigned and created two new positions, changed the title of the director of management services to assistant to the city manager from a Grade 35 to a Grade 43, and stated he was saving money. On a very short run, this is a fact but, in the long haul, it will cost a minimum of $16,000 per year. This is a conservative estimate when we have five classifications of assistant city managers and management's constant practice to upgrade and create new positions. We were told that salary increases for 1995-96 would be 3.8 percent. Actual salary increases average approximately 4.6 percent. Council is mute on this - a compensation plan that was to eliminate automatic yearly increases, save money, with increases granted on merit only.
How many employees received less than 3.8 percent and how many received in excess of 3.8 percent? From the budget, a format that is designed to conceal rather than reveal, approximately less than one half of 1 percent received less than 3.8 percent. The temporary position of public information coordinator was changed to permanent at an increased cost of $25,000 per year, and on it goes.
Management has never met a new position, tax, fee, and addition of more personnel that he did not like. Members of council and management should read the October/November 1995 issue from the University of Virginia Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, ``Creating High Performance Government in Virginia: Norfolk's Experience.'' There has been a reduction of over 10 percent in personnel without firing anyone and with no reduction in services. When will management be introduced to the words ``efficiency through cost reduction?'' Council and management complain that the necessary funds are not available to attract industry. Solution: Fiscal restraint and setting priorities. Council must reduce the size of city government, hire a city manager who understands basic economics, and face the reality that Suffolk cannot afford to become a ``bedroom community.'' Residential real estate does not support itself. How can the council and management bemoan unfunded mandates from the state when they in their yearly mandates require the taxpayers of Suffolk to support an ever-expanding high paid and less efficient bureaucracy that does not provide basic services?
Talmadge C. Jones
Harbor Road
Suffolk by CNB