None of supervisor candidates willing to commit on taxes

The Jefferson Area Tea Party asked Albemarle County Board of Supervisors candidates about education, taxes, jobs and the Western Bypass of U.S. 29 at a forum Thursday night.

After a round of yes/no questions, the candidates had a minute to respond to questions from Tea Party members, followed by written questions from the audience.

Questions were leveled at Democrat Cynthia Neff and Republican incumbent Kenneth C. Boyd of the Rivanna District, and Republican James C. Norwood and Democrat Christopher J. Dumler of the Scottsville District. Democrat Ann H. Mallek of the White Hall District did not participate in the question-answer session because she is running unopposed.

In response to a question about whether local governments overreach responsibility, Neff opened in no uncertain terms.

“I don’t know how you can possibly overreach, I think we underreach,” she said. “I’m not happy about the bypass, I think that was an overreach.”

Boyd, her opponent, was quick to challenge.

“We do overreach by taking away people’s property rights, but I’m a big believer in zoning,” Boyd said. “Other than that we should let people have individual property rights in as much as they aren’t harming their neighbors.”

Norwood agreed with Boyd, adding that he saw the sustainability accords as a possible overreach of governmental responsibility. For Norwood, the government’s responsibilities are simple.

“I think county government without question is responsible for providing education to its citizens, providing a safe environment, a clean environment, an appropriate infrastructure and overall good quality of life,” he said.

Candidates agreed that continuing to work with the city of Charlottesville and the University of Virginia will be important in the future, but shied away from the idea of a possible combining of city and county governments.

“Collaboration is key,” Dumler said. “I would disapprove of a merger, but there are some city-county administrations that could be merged, like parks and recreation.”

Boyd blamed the city for past instances where collaboration has broken down.

“A lot of times the problem is agreements like the Meadow Creek Parkway, the city doesn’t uphold its end of the deal,” he said, adding that merging the two governments was impossible.

“It’s not feasible for our county to do it, so I wouldn’t support it. The numbers don’t work, we’ve run through this, they won’t work,” he said.

Candidates all shied away from a direct answer on whether they would agree to raise taxes in the county.

“The answer is maybe,” Dumler said. “The first thing to do before we even think about raising taxes is making sure we’re spending the money we have correctly.”

Boyd and Neff both said that it is too early to begin talking about tax rates.

“It’s entirely too premature to talk about raising taxes,” Neff said. “I think it’s about sitting down in groups like this and talking about what we’re getting done … I’m a long way from knowing if we need to raise taxes.”

“I’m not going to sit up here and say ‘read my lips,’ but I can tell you there’s a diverse opinion out there about how to spend our money and where to spend our money,” Boyd said.

In response to a question about technology in schools, inspired by a recent controversy regarding software in Albemarle County schools, Neff said governments should approach technology with caution.

“You don’t sell computers and software, you sell solutions,” Neff, a former IBM executive, said. “Computers are sexy, iPads are sexy, but if you don’t know what you’re going to do with them, I think the experiment to go out and buy iPads is a little risky.”

Boyd said he wasn’t taken by surprise by the school systems issues with technology.

“The fact that they went out and bought a technology system that doesn’t work doesn’t surprise me,” he said.

The Western Bypass drew similar responses from candidates on each side of the aisle. Dumler and Neff both disagree with the road’s construction. Norwood and Boyd said they supported the project.

“Yes, I support the bypass,” Norwood said. “Those that lost their property, that was 20 years ago, and everybody knew that the bypass was a potential project.”

“I don’t support this bypass. For $400 million or $600 million, or whatever it’s going to cost of your tax dollars, we could have finished Places29, and Hillsdale Drive and the other projects we have,” Dumler said.

The next supervisors forum will be Monday at Cale Elementary School and will be between Dumler and Norwood, who are vying to replace the retiring Lindsay G. Dorrier Jr.