Say it ten times fast. Trust me, it's easier than understanding school funding in Virginia!
I am thankful for the opportunity and responsibility to learn new things that comes along with this job.
This morning I served on a panel discussion regarding the use of Cash Proffers--a de facto tax on housing developers that is passed through to the home buyer--to fund infrastructure improvements in Chesterfield County. The forum was jointly sponsored by the Business Council and the Chamber of Commerce, and there were maybe a half dozen people in the room (of the over 100 who attended) who were not in some way connected to the housing industry (developers, builders, financiers, etc.). Though there were a number of representatives from County Government present, I believe I was the only member of the school system there (at least I did not see any others I recognized).
With me on the panel were George Emerson (one of the biggest developers in the county), former Bermuda Supervisor Jack McHale (one of the early architects and long-time supporter of the proffer system in Chesterfield), Craig Toalson (Home Builders Association), and Ted Balsamo (Village Bank). I had a hard time keeping the old Sesame Street skit, "One of these things is not like the others," out of my head. While I felt like the swing vote on the panel, neither adamantly in favor of nor opposed to the proffer system, I saw my role as redirecting the focus toward the currently inconsistent, unfair funding model for public education, and how that model results in a lack of long-term planning and vision for many aspects of the school system.
The discussion was good, but I was disappointed that the closing did not include action steps for expanding the conversation into the community. We were just starting to talk about reform rather than elimination of the proffer system, as well as dedicated tax rate changes to offset revenue losses, and shared responsibility for public infrastructure, but time ran out. To the plus, I had an important conversation with current Matoaca Supervisor Steve Elswick regarding advertising a real estate tax rate that allows for meaningful public comment. Now he needs to hear from the rest of his CEA constituents.
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