The King George County Board of Supervisors advertised a 12-cent real estate tax increase, but when it voted on a rate during a meeting Tuesday night, the hike was much lower.
The board voted to set the rate at 58 cents per $100 of assessed value, which would be tied with Caroline County for the lowest rate in the Fredericksburg area if officially adopted next month.
After advertising a rate of 68 cents and hearing proposals from County Administrator Matthew Smolnik on a 61-cent rate, the supervisors voted 3-2 for 58 cents, a 2-cent increase.
Shiloh District Supervisor Cathy Binder and Bryan Metts of the James Monroe District voted against the motion, with Binder saying the math to get to that number was “convoluted.”
“You’re pulling numbers out of everywhere,” Binder told her fellow supervisors.
Metts called it “mythical math” as the board arrived at the overall budget of $146.6 million, partly by allowing the unassigned fund balance to be used for operational funds, a move that was previously frowned upon by county officials.
Metts’ subsequent motion to review the policy allowing the use of the fund balance to operate the county government passed unanimously.
School superintendent grilled on proposal
Prior to the supervisors’ vote on the tax rate, King George County Public Schools superintendent Jesse Boyd addressed the board.
Boyd noted that the school division has a $1.5 million budget shortfall that he hopes the supervisors will fill. The gap is related to a 5% raise to assist with teacher retention. Boyd said that just this week, he’s learned that 15 to 18 teachers are leaving to work in other counties.
“That $1.5 million is strictly to help us from hemorrhaging and losing teachers,” Boyd said.
The supervisors weren’t convinced. They said that teacher raises should be merit-based. Boyd said that’s not a good practice, because the primary way to judge teachers on merit is student achievement, which has too many variables.
Boyd said other school division personnel could be judged on merit, but it’s unfair and potentially problematic to reward teachers based on student outcomes. He said teachers would become cautious about which children they teach because it could impact their pay.
“There is so much that goes into the outcome of student performance — their family situation, their special education status, demographics — there’s a number of factors that go into student performance,” Boyd said. “The teacher certainly has influence on that. But right now, if we were to stick with a merit-based system and I proposed to teachers, ‘Would you like to take a group of honor students for the next year or would you like to take this group of students with IEPs?’ What do you think the answer is going to be?”
Boyd said the $1.5 million gap is the smallest the school board has presented to the board of supervisors in several years. He said there was an intentional effort to present a budget with “no fluff.”
Still, the supervisors grilled him on the proposal, particularly on pay raises for teachers. While Boyd lamented losing teachers “left and right,” Binder and Supervisor William Davis of the Dahlgren District said that they’ve received feedback from constituents that they’re glad to see many of the teachers depart.
“I hear things like, ‘We’re losing really good teachers,’” Davis said. “How do you know they’re good? How are you determining that a person is a good teacher?”
Boyd said it’s easier to implement merit-based pay in other professions when there is a product developed, and one can judge its performance. Binder retorted that students are the product, so merit-based pay increases should be based on their development.
“The product is they’re taught, and they’re brought up to be good citizens and contributors to our community,” Binder said.
Boyd expressed concern that the supervisors may be out of their lane by debating how the school division uses its funds, but Binder said the supervisors control the money and they’re accountable to constituents.
“I want to be respectful here, but what we have to come to you guys for is a bottom-line amount of money,” Boyd said. “What the school board decides is how that money is going to be shaken out.”
