Albemarle supervisor hopefuls spar on taxes, long-term growth

As the moderator attempted to wrap up a forum for Albemarle County Board of Supervisors candidates Thursday, Madison Cummings made a last-minute attempt “to put to rest any illusion anybody has that I have any interest in raising property taxes.”

But opponent John C. Lowry was having none of it.

“Mr. Cummings is quoted right after he declared in the spring that if the budget were his, this past session, he would have been in favor of discussing a 77-cent rate [per $100 of assessed value] instead of the 74.2-cent rate that was passed,” Lowry said.

Cummings, a Democrat, is running against Republican Duane Snow and Lowry, an independent, for the Samuel Miller District seat being vacated by Sally H. Thomas, who is retiring.

Cummings said in an April interview that he probably would have voted for a real-estate tax rate of 77 cents had he been on the board then.

In an interview Thursday, Cummings said that he made that statement with the caveat that he didn’t know all the fine details of the budget at the time but that he recognized that about $100 million was cut from infrastructure projects.

“I’m not in favor of a tax rate increase,” Cummings said Thursday.

In the NBC29 forum, moderated by reporter Henry Graff, Snow clarified a guarantee he recently made that the county would be able to cut 15 percent to 20 percent of its budget by reducing unnecessary spending through a zero-based budgeting process — essentially starting from scratch. Snow said that 15 percent to 20 percent could be cut in many departments but not from all of them.

Snow has said that during tough economic times, homeowners have to revisit all of their spending to cut wastes.

“And that’s the way it is in the business world,” he said. “Why does government have the option to go out and spend anything they want?”

As an example of potential wastes, Snow said the county’s Architectural Review Board is dealing with far fewer cases yet hasn’t reduced its staff.

“And I can give you a lot more examples,” Snow said.

While the NBC29 forum was only for the Samuel Miller District, all of the Board of Supervisors candidates appeared in another forum Thursday focusing on growth and environmental issues.

When asked whether they supported Places29 — a long-term transportation and land-use plan the county is considering — Supervisor David L. Slutzky of the Rio District and opponent Rodney S. Thomas had dramatically different responses.

Thomas objected to the high costs, referring to a group’s $500 million estimate. But Slutzky said many components of the plan, such as parallel roads and increased transit options, are valuable and that the county has to look at possible ways to fund the projects — which Slutzky said could include increased revenue-generating business activity and land-use tax reform, among other things. Otherwise, supervisors should tell residents that nothing can be done to solve traffic congestion because there’s no money available, he said.

Thomas responded that he doesn’t think the county should revisit the land-use tax program as a way to raise money for transportation.

Supervisor Dennis S. Rooker, of the Jack Jouett District, is unopposed but has elected to participate in forums and meet with constituents, to understand issues that are important to them and to get feedback on his ideas.