The York District Herald 2014- Issue No 6 By Phillip Bazzani, Board of Supervisors, Gloucester, Virginia. Re Published with permission. Gloucester, Virginia Links and News website. http://www.gloucestercounty-va.com Visit us.

1. April
15,
2014
“A
publication
for
the
good
citizens
of
the
York
District”
Issue
No.
2014-­‐6
The
York
District
Herald
After
all
…
It’s
Your
Tax
Money!
What
went
on
during
our
4/15/14
Joint
Board
Meeting
with
the
School
Board
…
School Board
Responds to our
Suggestion on
Privatizing Non-
Educational Functions
at the Schools
As you know, I did a presentation suggesting to the School Board (and the County for that matter) to look into
outsourcing some school functions that have nothing to do with educating our children. The School Board provided
a less than favorable response to our suggestion as detailed in recent media accounts – but that is their decision.
Just so you know, we as a BOS are exploring ways to find savings in our overall county budget. Budget discussions are
not easy and they never result in a pleasant experience, but I've learned over the years that emotions have to be set-
aside during any budget process. I've always taken a step back and evaluated whether any cost saving measure
added value. If it did not, then I would move on. If it did, then decisions had to be made. From the significant
feedback I’m getting from this newsletter, you are very frustrated with the County and the School Board. I hear you,
and I will continue to look at any issue that will save our tax money and keep more of it in our pockets, yet still
maintain an affordable level of service.
But I need your help! You need to keep our School Board and County government accountable over how our tax
money is being spent. What do you think? Your opinion counts! Write to Kevin Smith (Chairman of the School Board
at “kevinsmith914@gmail.com” or Mr. Robert Orth Chairman of the BOS at “rorth@gloucesterva.info). Get involved …
let us know how you feel!
We Adopted our FY
2015 Budget Without
Raising our Taxes!
We voted last night to adopt our Fiscal Year 2015 budget. The good news is that our real estate and personal
property taxes will not be raised this year! We were able to fund a number of things without having to raise taxes or
borrow money:
• We provided our Sheriff Department with funding for two new sheriff’s deputies
• We decided not to employ a 3rd County Administrator
• We offered the Schools a one-time 3% bonus to lower pay level school employees. This money is being
offered under the Lump Sum funding system to the schools, and under that system, the School Board will have
to decide whether to provide this bonus for the intended employees
• We provided a one-time 3% bonus to lower pay-level County employees
• We provided funding for our Fire and Rescue folks
• We provided capital funding for the Free Clinic
• We provided funding for the Humane Society
• We provided the same budget for the Schools as last year, except for the bonus above
• We provided funding for a concession stand at Woodville Park
• We provided funding for the Laurel Shelter – a home for abused individuals
• We kept water and sewage rates the same
Joint Meeting with
Planning Commission
- Review of the
Highway Overlay
The Highway Overlay imposes over-reaching restrictions for how business can locate and do businesses along
Highway 17. We lost a high tech company just recently because of it. We have another business threatening to
leave because of it. This ordinance has outlived its purpose and usefulness. The Planning Commission did not go far
enough to lessen its impact and we asked that we meet with the Planning Commission to specifically discuss what we
find objectionable about the ordinance. We will invite businesses in Gloucester to voice their opinion as well.
Next Steps
The Board will endeavor for the remainder of this year to take a detailed look at our budget and departmental
processes to find efficiencies and root out waste and redundancies. Our goal is for a more streamlined government
that can provide the same services at less cost. We would like to make our budget process a more deliberative one
where more time is spent on the front end of the budget process instead of the back end. I believe this recent
budget process would have been more productive had we implemented a more program-oriented budget with a
zero-based development process (i.e., evaluate processes and starting from scratch). I am currently working on a
presentation on this method of developing a budget, which has been used successfully in other localities. Stay
tuned!
Next Scheduled
Meeting
The next scheduled meeting for the Board will be on May 6. Please come out and participate, speak out, be a part
of the decision making process!
PHIL BAZZANI – YORK DISTRICT SUPERVISOR www.philbazz.com
Ladies and Gentlemen: My goal with this newsletter is to keep you informed. Therefore, please send me your
email address at www.friendsofphilbazzani@gmail.com or my website at www.philbazz.com so you too can get a
copy of this Newsletter. And please forward this Newsletter to your friends and family!