THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 3, 1996 TAG: 9603030052
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALEX MARSHALL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 148 lines
Ray Steffens wanted to talk about hiring more firefighters.
Mella Goldman wanted to talk about spending more money on libraries.
Bill Jones wanted to talk about protecting services for poor people and making city spending more efficient.
But they got little chance Saturday at the city's first citizens budget workshop at Lafayette-Winona Middle School. It was billed as a chance to write Norfolk's budget, but participants were instead kept to a set list of questions that left some frustrated.
``They rigged the discussion to some extent,'' said Jim Janata, former president of the Norfolk Federation of Civic Leagues. ``The idea is fantastic, but they ought to take on the whole budget.''
``It was an activity to keep us busy on a Saturday morning,'' said Lee Atkison, president of the Cottage Line Civic League. ``We only got half-informed.''
Councilman G. Conoly Phillips, the meeting's principal organizer, said it would have been too unwieldy to open the entire city budget for review.
``With the limited amount of time, we had to focus as much as we could,'' Phillips said. ``It would have taken two or three hours if we had let them tackle the whole budget.''
About 100 people attended the workshop, from 9 a.m. to noon. They were divided among civic leagueactivists, and city employees and administrators. The workshop kicks off discussions the council will have before passing the annual city budget in May.
Despite the complaints, many participants praised the hard work organizers had put into the meeting, and they said they hoped it could be improved in coming years.
For the first half of the meeting, civic league presidents, who had been prepped by city staff, lectured on how the city's budget - $465 million this fiscal year - was put together.
It included basic information that many citizens do not know, such as the fact that just 21 percent of the city's revenues come from property taxes. The rest comes from state funds, business taxes and other income.
In the meeting's second half, those attending divided up into four groups. Separated into classrooms, each group pretended to be leaders of a mock locale, called ``Mid-Atlantic City'' with a budget equal to that of Norfolk.
But rather than re-write the city's entire budget, groups were instructed to decide how to spend a small fraction, $1.5 million, when faced with six competing demands.
The choices were similar to ones Norfolk will face when it writes its budget this spring. They included:
Whether to spend $500,000 more on local bus service to make up for cuts in federal mass transit spending.
Whether to spend $500,000 to get matching federal funds for more police officers.
Whether to spend an additional $1 million on needed street repairs.
Whether to raise trash disposal fees on residents because of higher tipping fees for garbage at landfills, or take an additional $600,000 from general operating funds.
Whether to spend $400,000 on a recreation center.
Whether to spend $600,000 to give city employees a raise.
In the last half hour, each group presented its choices to the larger group.
In general, the groups opted to give police the additional $500,000, in order to capture the federal matching money. The remaining $1 million was then split among other demands, with some categories receiving no money at all.
Although it wasn't on the city's list of choices, two groups recommended giving libraries more money.
This is the first citizen budget workshop, and the process and ground rules may be refined. Twice delayed because of snow, the workshop was planned by Phillips and several civic league presidents who met repeatedly over that last few months, Phillips said.
NORFOLK - Ray Steffens wanted to talk about hiring more firefighters.
Mella Goldman wanted to talk about spending more money on libraries.
Bill Jones wanted to talk about protecting services for poor people and making city spending more efficient.
But they got little chance Saturday at the city's first citizens budget workshop at Lafayette-Winona Middle School. It was billed as a chance to write Norfolk's budget, but participants were instead kept to a set list of questions that left some frustrated.
``They rigged the discussion to some extent,'' said Jim Janata, former president of the Norfolk Federation of Civic Leagues. ``The idea is fantastic, but they ought to take on the whole budget.''
``It was an activity to keep us busy on a Saturday morning,'' said Lee Atkison, president of the Cottage Line Civic League. ``We only got half-informed.''
Councilman G. Conoly Phillips, the meeting's principal organizer, said it would have been too unwieldy to open the entire city budget for review.
``With the limited amount of time, we had to focus as much as we could,'' Phillips said. ``It would have taken two or three hours if we had let them tackle the whole budget.''
About 100 people attended the workshop, from 9 a.m. to noon. They were divided among civic leagueactivists, and city employees and administrators. The workshop kicks off discussions the council will have before passing the annual city budget in May.
Despite the complaints, many participants praised the hard work organizers had put into the meeting, and they said they hoped it could be improved in coming years.
For the first half of the meeting, civic league presidents, who had been prepped by city staff, lectured on how the city's budget - $465 million this fiscal year - was put together.
It included basic information that many citizens do not know, such as the fact that just 21 percent of the city's revenues come from property taxes. The rest comes from state funds, business taxes and other income.
In the meeting's second half, those attending divided up into four groups. Separated into classrooms, each group pretended to be leaders of a mock locale, called ``Mid-Atlantic City'' with a budget equal to that of Norfolk.
But rather than rewrite the city's entire budget, groups were instructed to decide how to spend a small fraction, $1.5 million, when faced with six competing demands.
The choices were similar to ones Norfolk will face when it writes its budget this spring. They included:
Whether to spend $500,000 more on local bus service to make up for cuts in federal mass transit spending.
Whether to spend $500,000 to get matching federal funds for more police officers.
Whether to spend an additional $1 million on needed street repairs.
Whether to raise trash disposal fees on residents because of higher tipping fees for garbage at landfills, or take an additional $600,000 from general operating funds.
Whether to spend $400,000 on a recreation center.
Whether to spend $600,000 to give city employees a raise.
In the last half hour, each group presented its choices to the larger group.
In general, the groups opted to give police the additional $500,000, in order to capture the federal matching money. The remaining $1 million was then split among other demands, with some categories receiving no money at all.
Although it wasn't on the city's list of choices, two groups recommended giving libraries more money.
This is the first citizen budget workshop, and the process and ground rules may be refined. Twice delayed because of snow, the workshop was planned by Phillips and several civic league presidents who met repeatedly over the past few months, Phillips said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
JIM WALKER/The Virginian-Pilot
B.J. Stancel of Park Place was one of many Norfolk civic leaders in
Saturday's workshop.
Photo
JIM WALKER/The Virginian-Pilot
Eloise LaBeau, of the Norfolk Federation of Civic Leagues, right,
was one the facilitators at the budget workshop held at
Lafayette-Winona Middle School on Saturday morning.
by CNB