The Virginian-Pilot
©
VIRGINIA BEACH
This is how a city department grows: quietly.
The Strategic Growth Area Office opened last year with one manager and an assistant tucked at the end of the third floor of City Hall. Last summer, the city's resort management and parking staff started reporting to the office. And under the proposed 2010- 11 budget, the office will gain a budget analyst, facilities managers and a part-time transportation planner. The office's budget will expand from about $195,000 and two employees to $8.5 million and a staff of 15.
In an austere budget year, when most departments are losing positions and money, the s trategic g rowth office is ramping up to manage some of Virginia Beach's biggest projects, including the potential light-rail line and development around it.
Private developers will bear most of the responsibility for redeveloping Virginia Beach, but Councilwoman Barbara Henley said she needs to know more about what the city plans to provide in infrastructure and the growth office's role in that partnership.
"Apparently, a lot of things are being put in there," Henley said of the office. "It is a very big thing. How big is this department going to be? What is the overall intent? Where are we going with this?"
Beach officials point out that nearly $7 million of that proposed budget is existing money that has been shifted with personnel from other city agencies to the office. The rest is new funding for a suggested facade program and additional revenue generated by increasing parking fees to maintain garages and pay for new ones.
The city needs specific staffing to implement some of the recently drafted redevelopment plans, for neighborhoods such as the Oceanfront, Burton Station, Pembroke and the Newtown Road area by the Norfolk border, said Steve Herbert, a deputy city manager.
Redevelopment projects, such as Town Center, have been managed by several city departments, including planning and economic development. The staff of this more muscular growth office will continue to work with those departments.
The office also will help develop a parking strategy for targeted neighborhoods, where plans in some cases call for mini-Town Centers, tied to a light-rail station.
The office is at the epicenter of the $30.6 million Laskin Road Gateway, a partnership with hotelier Bruce Thompson that includes roadwork as well as water and sewer work. The office will also help manage the Burton Station Road improvements in the next year, to spur development near the airport area and bring water and sewer service to a neglected, historically black neighborhood.
The city's voters have previously rejected a redevelopment and housing authority with powers to condemn property and issue debt to improve "blighted" areas, most recently in 2006.
"We will never have a redevelopment authority in Virginia Beach. W e're creating a hybrid," Herbert said. "We need an organization to get on with the activities of what a redevelopment authority does."
Councilman Bill DeSteph said he was shocked by the office's growth and needs more information.
"We need to put a hold on things," he said, "not accelerate. "
Deirdre Fernandes, (757) 222-5121, deirdre.fernandes@pilotonline.com
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Proposed budget cuts
Friends and fellow citizens, I know a city employee that is in the public safety sector and it is an honor for him to serve this community. I know these are difficult times for everyone but we cannot afford any cuts to public safety. This proposal seems like a misapproapriation of funds that could be better used to ensure the safety of our community. Please if you agree, email city council at ctycncl@vbgov.com. Thank You
Is Dan Hoffller on VA Beach payroll yet?
When I hear about the City of VA Beach and local developers, it is hard not to think of Dan Hoffler, owner of Armada Hoffler, a $42 million dollar house, and someone who took his buddies on an African Safari and charged it to VA taxpayers.
Kudos to Bill DeSteph for having the guts to question why all this money is being spent by the City of Virginia Beach, when the people who work there can't hardly afford to live there. Heck, even Dan Hoffler had to build his mansion on the other side of the tunnel because there aren't many places to put a 16,000 square foot house and three fully stocked for fishing salt water lakes.
I hope Mr. DeSteph follows up on this. Everyone talks about reining in government spending and this is an obvious place to start.
Follow the money Bill.
excellent points
This has been going on for years but during the boom the council couldnt spend our money fast enough. Do you think any of our tax dollars spent at town center wound up in that mansion on the eastern shore?
Wil "Champagne" Sessoms {President of Towne Bank} has been solely focused on relieving the suffering of millionaires and it appears he has done a heck of job. No one spends other peoples money (OPM) like Wil. His next plan is to bring the billion $$ boondogle known as light rail to VB. His goal to make VB more like Norfolk (with all of its attendant urban ills) is social engineering on a large scale. He doesnt care what the citizens want as long as he pleases his masters, which makes him a lot like his running mate, Barack Obama, who is a pawn at the national level. He has spent close to a billion dollars and VB still has the lowest wages in the state and the nation.
LIGHT RAIL EQUALS HEAVY TAXES
Actually...
When one applies the "State and Locality Cost Index" to what VB spent from 1999 to 2008 (since FY08 spending has gone down) the truth actually defies the assumptions. During that time period the budget almost doubled-as we have heard from many an anti-taxer. But that figure tells nothing as it has no context as to the cost of running govt. The index mentioned above is the proper one to gauge state and local govt spending against, as it takes into consideration that fact that these entities buy a lot in construction, healthcare, and fuels/energy. These commodities saw much higher annual increass than the averages represented on the CPI-for regular consumers. The average on the govt index was 5% during the years in question. So take about $1 billion (1999 budget) and compound it to 2008 at 5% annually and you get slightly over $1.7 billion for that ten year period. That $1.7 represents just maintaining the status quo. But infrastructure and fleets do not remain static-they wear out.
So...
Any new buildings, water or sewer infrastructure, vehicles, etc would be extra on top of that figure, unless those items are acquired through bonding. With many infrastructure projects it is through bonding, but with some smaller projects and with fleet items and other capital assets it is not. Either way, they still impact spending above and beyond just the status quo spending. With a new city budget of around $1.8 billion one can hardly say the city spent like drunken sailors-as has been stated many times.
God Forbid they spend our money on infrastructure!
God forbid they spend our money on making our city better. That money could be better spent on funding tax cuts for the wealthy who already live in nice-looking neighborhoods. We don't need sidewalks, public transportation or a better looking city for the rest of the population(that might actually create local jobs!..horror of horrors!...not to mention a boost in tourism related employment for the citizens of our city!...just give tax cuts to the wealthy instead.). I'd rather see a chain of greasy-spoon restaurants and cheap t-shirt shops along the oceanfront so we can attract people without money to come to our city on cheap vacations. You can call us the walmart-resort!
Flawed thinking
When was the last time the city invested a dime toward improving your neighborhood. Look at the rec centers- all the good ones located where the rich neighborhoods are. Where do the deputies take their prisoner work force to primp up the landscape - great neck road and the rich areas. See them there all the time. Now, how about a rec center or park or sidewalks in a neighborhood that doesn't have as high of a tax base as a rich neighborhood. OH, those poor areas, we will just widen the road and tear them down or bull dowse the adjacent forested areas and put in some compatible use stuff. Thank You. It's all about pay back and power grabs for those few. Why advertise the beach? It is there. They will come (until they get their first parking ticket and tow)
Wow
they just don't get it, do they? Increasing a department to spend more in austere budget times is ridiculous. Yeah, develope more. Then have more complain about the jets after the developement.
They're something else
No wonder they want the real eatate taxes to go up while everything is going down. Need to fund their "joint venture department". These guys seem to mirror our federal government. Just keep spending. The remarkable thing is that I do not see anyway out. All these folks are in bed together & until you clean the slate, it will never change. At least at the federal level this is likely; even at the State level. But at the City level, I have been seeing the same old crap going on for 20 plus years. Maybe it is time for marches on City Hall!!!
The ritzy life of city employees
It is really tiresome reading about "city employees" as if they have won found the Holy Grail of employment. I earn - on an hourly basis - approximately $10.75 per hour. Have not had a raise in over 2 years and that was for 25 cents!!! Yes, I have health insurance ... but many times I do not go to a doctor because there is still a co-pay that I sometimes cannot afford. Many city employees do not actually LIVE in virginia beach because housing costs are such that they cannot afford to. Many have second jobs, some even second fulltime jobs. Yes, there are some top rung City people who have earned - over time and by attaining many degrees - much higher salaries. But the rank and file - don't kid yourself. There is a degree of job security... it is NOT guaranteed, but I agree better than in the private sector. But layoffs are not impossible. Compared to civil servants in many cities around the country, Virginia Beach ranks very, very low. Get real. We are working people, just like anyone else, and some of us are greeting you at the door at WalMart as well!!!