Issues
Holding the Line on Real Estate Taxes
In 2010, due to the reduction in real estate values and funding from the federal and state government, the real estate tax rate will continue to be a focal point, and some will pressure my fellow Council Members to increase the real estate tax rate. I will not vote for a real estate tax rate increase.
In addition to the decreased state and federal funding, we will see a reduction in Richmond’s real estate values by some four percent; however, real estate prices in the First District have remained near last year’s assessed values. Together, these lost revenues will put our City under considerable stress to meet its perceived and actual obligations. The answer to balancing the budget will be to protect core services and start implementing the identified waste from the many audits conducted by the City Auditor. I will support reducing funding to departments where the City Auditor has identified waste and force those departments to make the necessary cuts. I will also support extending the salary freeze through the next budget cycle (FY2011). Finally, any increases in the Mayor’s office with the additional deputy CAO’s must be offset with reductions in the departments they lead. In a time when families are reducing their spending, city government should not be expanding its spending.
Supporting Economic Development in Richmond
Since I have been on City Council, we have had several projects coming forward that require economic incentives to entice the companies and developers to build in the City of Richmond. Today, we are funding these economic deals with general funds collected from the taxpayer. As a City, this approach has served our community well, but time has come to approach economic incentives from another direction. I have submitted an ordinance requiring a portion of the revenue generated from the sale of city-owned property be directed toward funding future economic development.
Right now, funding for our economic development department competes with police, fire, schools and every department for the limited general funds. As a result, we do not have a reliable source to fund economic development. Instead, we should build our fund by using proceeds from the sale of property owned by the city to create a pool of dollars for economic development. In the long run, this approach will allow for us to have an economic fund that will enable us to be more competitive in the global market place.
Improving Public Education
We owe it to our children to provide them with the education they need for future success. We have made great progress in improving our city schools. All schools within the 1st district are fully accredited schools.
While I am a strong supporter of our schools, I am also a strong support of holding our schools fiscally accountable. Our City Auditor has found over $6 million in potential savings in the school budget. I have worked with the school board to help them implement audit recommendations to cut over $3 million in nonessential spending in the school budget. I will continue to implement ways to eliminate wasteful spending from our school budget and ensure that our taxpayer dollars are being spent to educate our children.
Improving Public Transit
How many times have you seen an empty or sparsely filled bus traveling the streets of Richmond? If your answer is, “too many times,” then you are not alone. The GRTC is operating a transit system that has not fundamentally changed since the 1940’s. It is time to stop wasting fuel (buses have a fuel economy of only 1.8 miles per gallon!) and taxpayer dollars on this outdated system. We need to change the way the GRTC delivers public transit to the citizens of Richmond.
One possible way to deliver public transportation would be for an on-demand transit system. Using a fleet of vans instead of buses, bus riders would either call or swipe a magnetic card indicating a request to be transported to another bus stop on the designated line. This way we can create flexibility in the system to allow for vans to serve individuals and stop running empty buses to meet an arbitrary schedule set by the transit company. When a higher demand exists, the buses would transport riders. When there is little demand, the vans would transport riders.
This is just one idea to improve our public transit system in Richmond. I will continue to work with other stakeholders to revamp the GRTC. The bottom line is the City of Richmond cannot continue to give the GRTC $11 million a year for a system that is not working. It is time for a new approach to running the GRTC.
