RappVoice Poll produces strong vote against raising property taxes to fully fund requested school budget
An online survey of RappVoice readers produced strong sentiment against raising property taxes in Rappahannock County to provide the $470,709 increase in county funding requested by the county’s School Board.
In the poll taken between March 24 and April 14, of 646 total votes cast, 535 or 83% of respondents said no to a tax increase and agreed that “with enrollment dropping, school funding should be held level to avoid any increase in the property tax rate.”
A total of 111 votes, or 17% said the Board of Supervisors should raise real estate taxes to fully fund the requested budget, because “the schools need the increase to offset state funding cuts, maintain programs and provide pay increases for school employees.”
The Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing on the School Board’s proposed $12 million budget for 2008-2009 on Friday, April 25, at 7 p.m. in the Rappahannock County Elementary School auditorium. The hearing provides the public its best chance to sound off on school funding before the supervisors make a decision on the matter at their Monday, May 5 meeting.
County funding of the public schools has risen steadily in recent years even though school enrollment has been declining. County taxpayers provided $7.3 million for public schools in fiscal year 2006, nearly $8 million in fiscal 2007, and about $8.3 million for the current year, fiscal 2008.
For the year starting July 1, the School Board proposed a 5.7% increase in county funding to $8,759,098, an increase of $470,709 over the current year’s total.
However, there are signs that the Board of Supervisors may be unwilling to provide all the funding requested by the School Board. County Administrator John McCarthy, in his draft budget submitted to supervisors on April 4, proposed $8.5 million in county funding–an increase of $220,709 over the current year but $250,000 less than the School Board requested.
McCarthy indicated that his proposed increase could be provided without an increase in the property tax rate for schools, but that fully funding the school board budget would require a tax-rate increase of about 2 cents per $100 in value. McCarthy’s budget calls for a tax hike of one cent for another purpose–to finance the costs of a new emergency-communications system for fire, rescue and law enforcement purposes.
-- James P. GannonComments
Comment from mhwoodard
Time: April 15, 2008, 9:50 pm
It is important to note anyone can vote as many times as they wish.
–Martin Woodard
Comment from AmySilverOLeary
Time: April 16, 2008, 2:22 pm
It’s also important to note that the wording of the questions was changed (at least once) halfway through the poll - near the end of it, in fact. This is because the questions were phrased in a misleading way. I’m not sure what the value is of a poll where people can vote as many times as they want to and the questions were changed midway through without comment.
Amy Silver O’Leary
Editor’s Note: Ms. O’Leary is correct that there was a one-word change made during the polling period in the phrasing of one of the optional answers to the question (the “no” option). The change was made in response to a request by Cole Johnson, Executive Director of Headwaters, the organization that employs Ms. O’Leary. Ms. Johnson asked that the word “spending” in the original version be changed to the word “funding”, which she felt was more precise. It was a fine point, but the editor agreed to make the change for clarity’s sake. In retrospect, the editor regrets agreeing with the request for change from the Headwaters official, and vows to not make such a mistake again. The editor is solely responsible for the phrasing of the questions and answer options.
It is also true that on any such online poll, a person can vote more than once, or multiple times. As we have said many times before, such polls are not random samples of the population. They tend to measure the level of interest in the question, and the fervor attached to either side. The editor suspects that the Headwaters officials would not have complained about the poll if 80% of the respondents had supported fully funding the school budget, but then, he is just a suspicious old curmudgeon.
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