As Albemarle resident Ellen Climo told the county’s Board of Supervisors last week during the first public hearing on the county’s proposed budget: “I don’t think there’s anyone here tonight that’s going to tell you something you don’t already know.” Maybe so, but the story is in how you tell it.
In fact, the marathon public comment session functioned as a nearly six-hour showcase for local rhetoric. And while County Executive Bob Tucker’s $293.85 million recommendation confines the Capital Improvement Plan to maintenance and keeps several police officer positions frozen, among other cost-saving efforts, the soap box mostly belonged to those who asked supervisors to fully fund Superintendent Pamela Moran’s $145.2 million funding request for Albemarle County Public Schools.
They pleaded. They demanded. They requested, implored, used metaphors and allusions, and asked politely. “If I had to choose between paying more taxes or having our children suffer through a less than adequate educational process,” said lifelong resident Jess Hayden, “the choice is clear.” Several residents left donations totaling $365 or better with Tucker, and one speaker asked the room to imagine riding on a bus headed towards what he called “budget canyon.”
Elementary school students stayed up past their bedtimes, and parents followed them to the podium. The evening’s third speaker, a sixth grader, explained that “kids already have to crowd around the tables” in her science class. A few moments later, a young man concluded his vocal support of school funding thus: “I yield the floor, and may God have mercy on your souls.”
From their seats at the front of Lane Auditorium in the Albemarle County Office Building, supervisors looked out at a sea of yellow cards and red clothing, both signs of support for schools. The bulk of the cards read “Keep the promise to Virginia’s students,” while a handful of orange cards asked citizens and supervisors alike to “Think Outside the Tax Box.” Viewed from the auditorium balcony, the scattering of red clothing resembled a vengeful teacher’s marks across a poorly structured essay.
Second to requests for school funding were pleas to keep the Scottsville and Crozet libraries open. Scottsville branch manager Marianne Ramsden read a letter on behalf of the library’s “elderly patrons” who were unable to attend.
“A slight reduction in our real estate taxes is meaningless—and we are retired [and] on fixed incomes,” read Ramsden. “Closing the Scottsville library is meaningful.” Jefferson-Madison Regional Library Trustee Timothy Tolson and Director John Halliday were two of the last audience members to leave.
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Sign of the times: Albemarle County residents spoke out for nearly six hours during a public hearing on the recommended budget. A majority called for full funding of the county school system’s $145.2 million funding request. |
Tax comments weren’t simply confined to signs. Edna Tapscott Anderson, whose family has lived on the same farm in Albemarle County for seven generations, spoke in favor of preserving both the Scottsville Library and the Hatton Ferry, the country’s last pole-driven ferry, located on the James River. The ferry was transferred to the Albemarle County Historical Society in January after the Virginia Department of Transportation cut its funding.
“I’m not for economic development, I’m for saving our land,” said Anderson. “…But I am for raising our taxes if that’s what needs to be done.”
Faced with a list of more than 150 speakers, the supervisors remained admirably Zen-like in their patience. They packed survival gear to stay sharp during the county’s longest night of monologues: water bottles for Ken Boyd and Rodney Thomas, a soft drink for Lindsay Dorrier and a Gatorade for Dennis Rooker. Not long after the meeting’s 6pm start, Chairman Ann Mallek promptly silenced a round of applause for one speaker to keep things moving.
“I’m going to stop this right now,” she said, then returned to The List. By 11:34pm, she still seemed unfazed—downright pleasant, even. “Is there anyone else in the room tonight who did not sign up who would like to address us before we turn into pumpkins?” she asked. (Yes, as it turned out.)
All said and done, supervisors likely had considered most of the ideas brought forth. Maybe the greater question is what it means to hear the same thing again and again. That, and the remark that followed Ellen Climo’s comment: “The question is, what are you going to do?”
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