A Full House for York Budget Hearing

By Kimberly Lenz Friday, March 19, 2010

York County supervisors asked for input on their budget for next year and Thursday night they got it.

Residents and representatives of nonprofits supported by York County tax dollars crammed into York Hall Thursday night and spoke during a three-hour public hearing.

Many spoke in favor of the board finding a way to modestly increase funding for the county’s school division, whose board met earlier this week and decided to ask supervisors for an additional $602,000. County administrator James McReynolds’ draft budget recommends a third year of flat funding for the school division, which has cut over $11 million in spending over the last two years.

A common theme that emerged quickly could have been titled, “How excellent public schools and a safe community brought me to the county and kept me here.” Many speakers told personal stories of relocation, from making the move to York from Hampton to international transfers from France and Japan that are encouraged by foreign corporations on the Peninsula. “York County: It’s the schools,” many said.

Chuck Cooper, president of the Grafton High School Parent Teacher Student Association, urged the board to consider not just the 30 percent of residents whose children attend York schools but the military – “a rich resource” - who choose York when stationed at local bases.

“You can’t do more with less,” Cooper said.

A smaller contingent focused on the board taking a closer look at the budget for cuts, and some demanded an explanation for certain county programs, including the York County Sports Complex, badly engineered geothermal heating and cool systems, payments to the Williamsburg Regional Library for use by county residents, and funding for pretrial services at the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail, among others.

Many in that group belonged to the York County Republican Committee, and some had served on a budget committee dedicated to scouring the county’s spending and draft budget.  A few, including Mary Leedom, suggested the county and school division consolidate custodian services and the Information Technology departments.

Others questioned the wisdom of the county funding charities – the county’s draft budget proposes spending just under $307,000 in continued funding to local charities. Representatives of many of those charities addressed the board Thursday night, explaining what percentage of their budgets was funded by York and how many county residents had been served in the past year.

But Jim Haas, another member of the York County Republican Committee’s budget committee, suggested local government “should do for people what they can’t do for themselves, like a fire department.”

Supervisors have a busy couple of weeks; they’ll have a budget work session next Tuesday at 6 p.m. at York Hall, then meet with the school board Wednesday at 7 p.m. in a special session to discuss the schools' needs.

The proposed draft budget is available online by clicking here. Paper copies are available at the county's libraries and county administrative offices.

The public hearing is also available online for viewing on demand. Or, residents may catch the video on the county's cable access channel 46 at selected times.