Albemarle candidates state their cases

Halfway through, the moderator reminded the candidates for the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors they were participating in a “forum” — not a debate — but that didn’t keep the hopefuls from taking swipes at each other.

Supervisor David L. Slutzky, a Democrat, said at Wednesday’s forum, sponsored by the Senior Statesmen of Virginia, that it’s “frustrating” to hear candidates decry wasteful spending while failing to point out waste.
“There’s been a lot of rhetoric … and not a lot of specifics,” Slutzky said.
Rodney S. Thomas, a Republican challenging Slutzky for his Rio District seat, has advocated for low taxes and a “zero-based” budgeting process in which the county creates its yearly budget practically from scratch. Thomas was given the floor immediately after Slutzky’s comment and failed to give any specific examples of wasteful spending but emphasized the importance of scrutinizing expenditures individually and added that the county needs to do more to increase commercial activity.

Duane Snow, a Republican running for the Samuel Miller District seat, has also called for zero-based budgeting and said, “I guarantee you” the county can cut 15 percent to 20 percent of its budget by looking at each item line-by-line.
In an interview afterward, Snow said that though he can’t name many specific areas of waste, lumps of money are often given to departments and allocated for areas of spending without a thorough review. Snow, a former business owner, also said county departments should provide incentives for employees who are low on the totem pole to offer suggestions for spending more efficiently.
The other candidates running for the Samuel Miller District seat, which is being vacated by Sally H. Thomas, are independent John Lowry and Democrat Madison Cummings.

Much of Lowry’s campaign has focused on an idea to create a robust economic development department. Lowry said that a major increase in commercial activity would mean more of the tax burden would be shifted to businesses.
“We must not ask the homeowners to shoulder all of the burden,” Lowry said.
Thomas, a former Planning Commission member, said the county needs to put up an “open for business sign” — metaphorically speaking — and needs to lessen restrictions on the size of commercial buildings in the designated growth area.
Slutzky agreed that it’s vital to generate revenue through business development and that as a supervisor he’s been working to do precisely that, citing initiatives aimed at creating local jobs, among other things.
Cummings is a former School Board member who has emphasized the importance of the county providing enough funding for services, including in the areas of education and transportation. He’s the only candidate who has publicly said the county’s real-estate tax rate of 74.2 cents per $100 of assessed value is too low. Cummings said in an interview earlier this year that he likely would have called for a real-estate tax rate of 77 cents per $100 of assessed value had he been a supervisor during the most recent budget cycle.

Cummings said Wednesday that the county is already operating “perhaps at a zero-based budget.”
Slutzky argued for a 74.2 cents tax rate during the fiscal 2010 budget cycle, which kept the average resident’s real-estate tax bill equal to the previous year’s. Slutzky had said that early in the budget cycle he considered the idea of vying for a tax rate of more than 80 cents but later reversed courses after hearing pleas from residents.

Slutzky said Wednesday that he’s sought creative ways to keep taxes low and has looked to spend more efficiently. He said he was opposed to the county providing funding for synthetic turf fields at a county high school, for example — especially considering that the school would have likely raised enough money through private donations. He also previously called for the county to scale back the size of a new library scheduled to be built in Crozet, to save money.

Supervisor Dennis S. Rooker is also up for election as the Jack Jouett District representative. He’s unopposed.
The election is Nov. 3.