Tom Jackman of the Washington Post has written an excellent piece on the use of discretionary funds here in Prince William County, entitled: Should Prince William Board have ‘discretionary funds?’. If you haven’t yet read it you really should.
Jackman hit all the highlights and also stated that Prince William County is the only jurisdiction in the area to allow supervisors such unfettered use of taxpayer money. Residents have been grousing and grumbling about this practice for years. However, that grousing and grumbling became a primal scream when folks discovered that Brentsville Supervisor Wally Covington wanted to ‘give’ his wife’s favorite charity, Rainbow Therapeutic Riding, $100,000 in discretionary funds.
Oddly enough, this item appeared on the agenda, with no fanfare of course, right before the Thanksgiving holiday. How convenient. Perhaps he thought no one would be looking. To his dismay, lots of “William Watchers” were watching. This blog posted the account late Thanksgiving night. Our better side said not to do this story on Thanksgiving Day. After that, the blogosphere lit up Northern Virginia lights. That is a huge amount of money, going to a charity that only has 60 or so recipients. Rainbow Riding is not in his district and it already gets $33,000 from the general fund.
Now citizens are clamoring for the use of discretionary funds to come to a screeching halt. The Committee of 100 will examine the practice at its February meeting. The use absolutely should be discontinued. Now is the time to take a closer look at how other jurisdictions handle money left over from general office expenses. There is simply too much discrepancy in business as usual in Prince William County.
Corey may wish it would go away, but this time I think the residents will have the final say. Stay tuned. Elena will be doing a follow up.
PS Corey….remember those invitations to the October 16, 2007 Citizens’ Time? What fund did those come out of? Could it have been your ….discretionary funds? [best Church Lady voice]
Stewart said the issue of whether the supervisors should have discretionary funds “comes up like clockwork every three to four years. And then it goes away.”
I think someone is whistling past the graveyard on this one. I would suggest that is not a position one with aspirations for higher office should ascribe to, but then again, I have never been convinced that Corey plans for further down the road or understands that many of his past statements and flip-flops will prove to be embarrassing baggage.
Hmmm, how about lower taxes instead of discretionary funds?
Since it is almost certain the BOCS will not do anything to change this, it would seem to me that this has to be placed on the ballot in order to give citizens an even bigger say so in whether to allow discretionary funds or not. It seems to me that, like the federal budget, if you don’t use it, you lose it. Rather than a blanket amount of $$ each year, why are the supervisors not required to submit a line item budget each year, having to justify increases in their budget each year.
Anyone know how that would work?
Great question George, how DO citizens take control of this issue?
I think making it a referendum item on the next ballot opportunity and I wish I knew how to do it. The Committee of 100 is supposed to take it up in February. I hope they will consider how this can be on the 2012 ballot. Short of that, I don’t think there is any possibility the BOCS will do anything, banking once again that it will go away by the next election. If bloggers don’t keep it on the front burner, it will go away. The local fish wrap doesn’t seem to care.
Here’s a link to information from the State Board of Elections on referenda: http://www.sbe.virginia.gov/cms/documents/Referendum%20Provisions%20In%20General%20Bulletin.pdf What I didn’t find in a brief search of state and local law was any provision that authorizes a voter-initiated referendum on this issue. It appears it would take a majority of the BOCS to get it on the ballot.
In other words, get used to it. I hardly expect the BOCS to lead the charge to repeal discretionary funds. Talk aobut the fox guarding the hen house. Wally World lives on.
They should use these “excess” funds to pay down the debt.
@Morris Davis
I’ve hear the same thing Moe. If this is the case, then voters never have a voice in really running the government–only the elected officials. How strange.