As economy dips, rural localities stretch dollars

BY REX BOWMAN, CARLOS SANTOS AND BILL GEROUX
Media General News Service
Published: November 17, 2008

Facing a haggard economy, rural governments across the state are reaching deep into their bag of tricks to find ways — sometimes novel ones — to save dollars.

In mountainous Lee County, they’re rerouting garbage trucks and asking the sheriff to park his cruisers in hopes of cutting fuel expenses instead of patrolling all night.

In the small city of Staunton, they’re turning off the lights in the parking garages during the day and setting downtown traffic lights to blink late at night to trim electricity costs.

And in Accomack County on the Eastern Shore, officials have halted construction projects, frozen hiring on all but public safety positions and begun turning off computers over the weekends. The county is also considering planting wildflowers in a large septic drainfield to save money it would have spent on mowing.

Across Virginia, local governments are pinching pennies: Counties, towns and small cities are abandoning construction projects, eliminating travel and training budgets, implementing hiring freezes and leaving vacant jobs temporarily unfilled.

Even the ones that haven’t taken action yet are drawing up cost-cutting plans. Officials in Surry County, for instance, met last week to discuss possible measures, among them layoffs, shortening the workweek and sidelining some county vehicles, said County Administrator Tyrone Franklin.

“Nothing is off the table. We’ll pretty much do whatever it takes,“ he said.

In Bath County, they’re pondering whether to send kids to school only four days a week, allowing the county to save hundreds of thousands of dollars in transportation, heating and food costs.

Attendance was down at this year’s annual meeting of the Virginia Association of Counties, held in Hot Springs last week, as many county supervisors and staffers stayed home to save taxpayers’ dollars.

“All the counties are starting to feel the pressures of the economic downturn,“ said Jim Campbell, executive director of the association. “And they’re kind of preparing for the future, because things are going to get worse before they get better.“

“It’s as bad as it’s ever been,“ said Jim Halasz, Staunton’s deputy city manager. “The general economic situation is pretty tough.“

Local governments are being buffeted by a worsening economy, state budget cuts and a year’s worth of high gas prices.

Virginians have begun to embrace frugality; and for local governments, that’s meant lower revenues from taxes on sales, meals and lodging — revenues the localities count on to run schools, keep neighborhoods safe and pay for parks and libraries, among other things.

So far, officials said, the shrinking budgets haven’t prompted serious cuts in services. But the worst could be yet to come. Some counties anticipate personal property tax revenues to suffer next year, thanks to the drop-off in the number of new cars being bought, and also thanks to the declining value of gas-guzzling SUVs and trucks.

On top of that, Campbell said, the foreclosure crisis that tipped the nation toward recession is starting to depress property values in some parts of the state, meaning an eventual decline in real estate tax revenue.

The shroud of economic gloom covers Virginia as the governor and General Assembly prepare to close a $2.5 billion state budget shortfall from the two-year, $77 billion budget — a gap that local officials are certain will mean a significant cut in the money they receive from the state. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine last month slashed the amount of state money flowing to local governments, and now they’re bracing for more cuts.

“It’s going to be sticky, and it’s going to be brutal, whatever comes down from the state,“ said Vincent Copenhaver, Franklin County’s finance director.

To make ends meet and to prepare for the anticipated state budget cuts, local governments are trying to find savings wherever they can.

In Albemarle County, where the School Board is looking to cut a minimum of $6 million out of a $151 million budget, board members are so eager for help they’re turning to a phone bank. The county’s registered voters are being asked, via automated telephone calls, where they think money can be saved.

On Wednesday, an automated phone system began dialing residents and inviting them to join a “Telephone Town Hall” by pressing a keypad on their phones. More than 1,000 Albemarle residents dialed in the first night.

Waynesboro, meanwhile, already has implemented a hiring freeze and cut $500,000 from its $41.18 million budget.

Franklin County has cut $1 million from its $126.5 million budget, mostly by postponing construction projects. But the county has also frozen hiring and trimmed its travel budget. “Any economies we can find, we’re looking at — everything’s on the table,“ Copenhaver said.

In rural Bath, county officials are collecting information on how a shorter school week would help it cut expenses. The public would have to review any plan before the county took such a significant action, said County Administrator Bonnie Johnson. “We see some more difficulties coming. We’re in the hunkering-down mode. We’re going to see it through.“

In mountainous Grayson County, officials have decided to keep vacated jobs open for 90 days before filling them, and employees may also have to forgo anticipated raises, said Commissioner of Revenue Larry Bolt. The moves come even as the county had to borrow $1.6 million last month to meet payroll because a lean budget ($14 million annually) left the county temporarily unable to cope with a revenue slowdown.

In Staunton, which has already decided to cut $1.3 million from its $97.1 million budget, city leaders are scratching around to save even the smallest amount of money. The clerk of the City Council will save $1,400 this fiscal year by combining meeting advertisements in newspapers. The city will save an additional $4,300 by not printing any tourist brochures.

In the meantime, a hiring freeze has left vacant 22 of the total 236 full-time positions, and the city has lowered the thermostats in public buildings, cut the idling times for police and rescue vehicles, and turned off the daytime lights in its two parking garages.

“We’ve got the perfect storm, or bad alignment, or whatever you want to call it, of a bad economy and state budget cuts,“ said Staunton City Manager Steve Owen. “But we’re going to get through it.“