Dark Clouds for Suffolk Taxpayers

Take a look at a map of Hampton Roads and you’ll see three county-sized cities south of the James River. Virginia Beach and Chesapeake get plenty of attention. Not so much is paid to the far more rural Suffolk. That may change this year.

As Ed Gillespie was nearly pulling off the upset of the nation, three Suffolk City Councillors were shown the door by the voters (full disclosure: one of the de-elected, Charles Parr, is the uncle of my beautiful wife). Voters were clearly looking for a change…whether or not that change involved higher property taxes is another matter. Still, the Suffolk City Public School system seized on the opportunity and proposed a whopping $3.9 million increase in city funds (i.e., from property taxes) to cover raises practically for “teachers.”

The school system cited a pay study conducted by Evergreen Solutions. Now, studies can be useful, but only with robust data…and comparing school nurses to Obici and CHKD hospital staff (to say nothing of comparing Suffolk to Richmond – the state capital with an entirely different economic cycle) hardly qualifies.

Moreover, the raises for “teachers” actually include numerous other staff, including guidance counselors, diagnosticians, and “media specialists” (which I’ve been told is what they’re calling librarians around here these days). I have nothing against any of these folks, but (1) they’re not teachers, and (2) on average, they already make more than teachers according to the school system’s proposed budget data. All told, about $1 million or so in non-teacher raises course through the proposed budget for FY15-16 (July 2015 – June 2016), with around $680,000 more teed up for FY16-17.

One of the justifications for hitting up the city for more funds was an apparent lack of increased funds coming from the state budget – an assumption we now know to be incorrect by around $415,000. One would think the natural reaction would be to adjust the amount requested of taxpayers.

School Superintended Deran Whitney had other ideas (Suffolk News Herald):

With the extra money, Whitney now also recommends implemented most of phase 2, which, at a total cost of $680,455, involves boosting 31 classifications found to be between 10 and 20 percent below market.

Again, that “market” includes Richmond City, the state capital not previously known for its proximity to Suffolk – or anywhere else in Hampton Roads.

To be fair, the city’s budget as a whole has yet to be seen, but if anything, that could make it worse, especially if the rest of the departments follow the school system’s lead and ask for the moon.

Something has to give, and if Suffolk taxpayers aren’t vigilant, they’ll find out that they’ll be doing the giving – and lots of it.

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