Wanner Releases Bleak Budget for JCC; 30 Jobs Cut, New User Fees for Parks

By Desiree Parker Friday, April 16, 2010

James City County released its proposed biennial budget Friday, with continued grim revenue projections meaning more lost staff positions, reductions in contributions to outside agencies, and some changes to parks and recreation amenities to account for a $1.4 million budget gap.

“This challenging economic environment has made balancing a budget to meet citizen expectations for service with available resources very difficult,” County Administrator Sandy Wanner wrote in his budget message. “The challenge is compounded by the fact that the county budget has also been cut the two previous fiscal years making additional efficiencies increasingly difficult to identify.”

Thanks to still-slumping real estate, building, retail and tourism revenues, newly decreased real estate tax assessments and less money from the state, the budget is lower than the year previous for the third year in a row. The fiscal year 2011 operating budget is $106.2 million, down from $107.1 this year.

The budget does not include any new taxes and hardly any new fees, which means other areas had to be further reduced to make up the $1.4 million needed to balance the budget.

Over 86 percent (about $1.2 million) of that reduction will come from reductions in positions and benefits for county staff. An additional 30.5 full-time positions have been eliminated, on top of 24 positions eliminated the previous year. The positions are generally vacant slots – Wanner says the county has used creative ways to shuffle personnel to minimize the need to lay off employees. Only two part-time staff will be eliminated, he said, of the 30.5-position reduction.

One office that has seen a significant reduction is Neighborhood Connection, which has had its budget eliminated. One staff member has been moved to the communications department and will serve as a Civic Engagement Coordinator. The remaining staff has been moved to other positions in the county.

The Parks and Recreation division has also lost a significant number of positions – five full-time and six part-time jobs have been eliminated.
Every department has lost at least one position, Wanner said. He also said he doesn’t expect the reductions to be replaced when economic times are better. On the majority of budget reductions, he said, “this is a permanent resetting, a rebenchmarking,” and the reorganized and streamlined budget will be “the new norm.” The new baseline excludes for the moment the lack of pay raises and benefit reductions.

County staff will also see another year of no raises and a reduction of some benefits. “Staff has been excellent and understanding about the fiscal situation we are in,” Wanner says.

Reductions have also been made to outside agencies and organizations funded by the county. Overall, outside agencies lost $370,000, or about 10 percent. “These funding reductions are not taken lightly,” Wanner says, and the brunt of cuts is focused on tourism spending due to a continued decline in tourism revenues.

The Greater Williamsburg Chamber and Tourism Alliance will lose $100,000 in funding, and the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation will see a $25,000 cut. Both agencies get tourism-related funds.

Charities and nonprofits will be reduced by about $169,000, based on an analysis of whether the county would have to pay for the services provided if the organizations weren’t funded. The applications were reviewed by a group of staff and citizens, taking into account what other funding sources each organization had available and a series of other guidelines.

The Historic Triangle Senior Center is reduced by $20,000, and the volunteer rescue squad $24,000. The Community Action Agency is reduced by $40,000 for their housing program, but Wanner says this is due to the substantial amount of stimulus funding they received for the program recently. Bacon Street is losing $25,000 though they didn’t apply for funds this year, Wanner says.

Funds for Citizen Police, Fire and Leadership Academies have been eliminated, as have staff members who support the county fair committee.
Aside from losing several positions, the Parks and Recreation will see other changes, too. Hours will be reduced at the James River Community Center, and both community centers will see a fee increase of $15 more a year for youth and $100 a year for families. Before- and after-school programs will ask $5 more per week, and youth sports participants will pay $10 to use sports fields ($20 for non-residents).

The parks and fields need constant maintenance, Wanner says, and right now all taxpayers are bearing the financial burden. The purpose of the field fees are to help divert some cost to those who actually use the areas.

The county needs funds for various stormwater projects, from controlling flooding to restoring streams, which the budget proposes to partially fund with $2 million taken from the county’s Greenspace Fund and the Property Development Rights (PDR) fund balances. The Greenspace Fund is money used to protect land important to the character of the county and the PDR program pays landowners to permanently protect their property from development. Both were voted on by referendum in 2005 (read details here).

The money will be used on stormwater issues, many of which Wanner refers to as “environmental.” Restoring streams is one way that county can help preserve green space, he says in defense of the decision.

Wanner harshly criticizes the state for continuing to cut local budgets and leaning on localities to prop up state shortfalls, while continuing to force localities to comply with mandates without funding. “We are being asked to do more with less, and the state has not been our ally. Enough is enough,” he says.

“I encourage every citizen to contact their state delegate every day” about the undue pressure the state has put on the county, Wanner says.
View the budget online, and watch Wanner’s budget address on YouTube.

Other budget changes:

• Anyone applying for a county job will now pay for their own background checks.

• Investment income, which used to be a budget item in general funds, will now be moved to the Capital Improvement budget, because the investment market is so volatile and the income can vary wildly.

• Leaf collection, which was cut from last year’s budget but partially added back by supervisors, has been cut again.