The Rouss Review
The Rouss Review
VA250
Hello and welcome to another edition of the Roust Review. I'm City Manager Dan Hoffman and with me is Sarah Fry, the PIO. Hi everybody.
Sarah Frey:Hi Sarah. Hi Dan.
Dan Hoffman:Um, so, uh, we ended up not having a meeting last time. I think we did warn folks though that it was possibly going to be cancelled, I believe. We
Sarah Frey:did. Oh, good,
Dan Hoffman:good. We
Sarah Frey:did.
Dan Hoffman:Um, so yeah, last meeting was cancelled.
Sarah Frey:And it was a short agenda anyway.
Dan Hoffman:It was a very short agenda anyways. Uh, and actually for tomorrow night, um, at the, at the meeting, we're gonna have those items and we're just gonna move all those items from the last meeting to the meeting tomorrow night. And, uh, it's still like only three or four items on the agenda. So my
Sarah Frey:favorite kind of meeting.
Dan Hoffman:Yeah. Um, it is, uh, still the NDD stuff, the neighborhood design districts that we've been working on. So we've got the next round of zoning changes for that. Uh, we have a CUP conditional use permit in there. That's a, for a small property, you know, Nothing, nothing major there. Uh, Resolution of Sorrow from last time, so it's still a fairly light agenda. If you want to show up and speak on any of those topics, feel free. Uh, but that's really about it. It's been a little bit quiet, which is fantastic, but we have had some weather. So, uh, I do want to put in, before we get into, uh, what's coming up in the city. I do want to put a plug in for getting the text alerts if you don't already get them. Uh, especially this time of year when, you know, the situation can be a little fluid with weather. Uh, it, it might adjust your trash pickup, your recycling, city offices, Jim Burnett Park. So, uh, make sure you use, uh, the city alert. How do they sign up for that? So sign
Sarah Frey:up for that. You text the word join with a space and then your email address.
Dan Hoffman:Mm-hmm
Sarah Frey:To this phone number? Five four zero five eight four four eight four zero eight two.
Dan Hoffman:What's that number again?
Sarah Frey:5 4 0 5 8 4 4 0 8 2.
Dan Hoffman:And what do you text to that number?
Sarah Frey:You text the word join with a space, and then your email address.
Dan Hoffman:Join with an underscore or a space. Just
Sarah Frey:a space.
Dan Hoffman:Just a space. Join just a space. A space and your email address.
Sarah Frey:That is all.
Dan Hoffman:That's all you gotta do. That's all you
Sarah Frey:gotta do.
Dan Hoffman:That's all you gotta do. So do that. 540 584 4082.
Sarah Frey:Perfect.
Dan Hoffman:There you go. And with that, we're gonna, we've got a lot of budget stuff to chat about today. So let's go ahead and move right along and jump into what's coming up in the city.
Sarah Frey:All right. What's coming up is Parks and Rec is currently registering athletes for their Youth Volleyball League. So, this league is going to help new players learn the fundamentals of the game, allow experienced players to continue improving their skills. Practices start March 24th, games run through the middle of May, but most importantly, this league is free to all city residents. Between the ages of 9 and 14. So if you've got a kiddo, super into volleyball, get them signed up.
Dan Hoffman:Good way to get them started, 9 to 14.
Sarah Frey:I love rec sports.
Dan Hoffman:Yeah, and Handley's got a great program over there too, so.
Sarah Frey:Yeah.
Dan Hoffman:If you want to get them ready.
Sarah Frey:That's great. Now's your chance. Next up, it's almost spring. I swear. I know. The weather. Sure. But, have you applied for your stormwater utility credits?
Dan Hoffman:Yes. Everybody. Take a moment and do that.
Sarah Frey:It's super simple.
Dan Hoffman:It is Now if you are a business, there's some different rules.
Sarah Frey:Yes, there are
Dan Hoffman:so go check those out One of the best things is that we have a fantastic team of folks that will walk you through it And yeah, you can save up to 50 percent if you go ahead and apply for your credits So make sure you do that. You would be surprised. I think most people in the city would be surprised at Very few people actually do it. It's not hard.
Sarah Frey:And the easiest one, in my opinion, is the No Fertilizer Pledge. You literally just Agree not to use fertilizer. It's 5%. You get 5 percent off.
Dan Hoffman:Yeah, you just sign a thing. You're not going to use fertilizer.
Sarah Frey:You can get a free rain barrel from the city.
Dan Hoffman:Uh, so yeah, and we have, and we've had a lot of credits, you know, more when you look at the other 30 plus jurisdictions around the Commonwealth that have a stormwater utility. Um, not all, some of them do have no credits. Some of them have, you know, very limited credits are for residents. We have a very simple and flexible way to get your credits. It's whether it's a pickup party, uh, sign a pledge, get a rain barrel, which we give you in most cases. So
Sarah Frey:I was going to say, and all of this is on the city's website. At www.winchesterva.gov. There you go. Slash stormwater.
Dan Hoffman:Yep. And also, while you're there learning about stormwater, learn the difference between the water system the wastewater system Yes. And the stormwater system. Those are three very different systems because they all move through different pipes.
Sarah Frey:Thank goodness.
Dan Hoffman:Thank goodness because you do not want some of that water going through other pipes.
Sarah Frey:Or any of that water going through any of the other pipes. So we
Dan Hoffman:had an item on the agenda a few weeks back, a few meetings back, where we were borrowing 14 million dollars. That was for the water and wastewater system, not the storm water system. We got a few questions with folks wondering. Why we were borrowing money for the stormwater utility doesn't it pay for everything well one thing to remind folks of is We have a hundred and eighty seven million dollars worth of stormwater projects a backlog And the stormwater utility I believe if memory serves generates about three million a year, so we borrow ahead Predicated on that revenue, but the folks saw the 14 million from a couple of a couple meetings ago. That was just the water and wastewater entirely different systems. So don't
Sarah Frey:forget, we have the third oldest water system in the country, and that's why we need our infrastructure improvements.
Dan Hoffman:It's always that. So, uh, yeah, while you're on there. Doing your credits, uh, watch some of the videos, watch some of the information, uh, be informed.
Sarah Frey:And if you have a question, there's a simple box right there, type it in the little box, somebody from our Stormwater team will get back to you.
Dan Hoffman:They will get back to you. And they will tell you, uh, exactly what you need to hear. They're not going to tell you what you want to hear, necessarily. Yeah, because this system is, you know, based on what is allowable in state law. So, uh, we don't just kind of make this stuff up as we go along. All right. And with that, that's really what's coming up. Let's hope things stay, uh, nice and quiet and that we don't have much weather. Although I think, um, we're not quite out of the woods yet, but hopefully there will be no weather and everything is on track, uh, for now. Um, let's take a quick breather and, uh, let's talk budget mailbag when we get back. We are going to start talking about the budget a little bit. Uh, if you listened last time, uh, we did ask for your budget questions. Uh, it's a lot of different ways though, before I get started, a lot of different ways to learn about the budget and go to the city's website. There's a link on there, prominently featured. We can go learn about the budget process. I think we've got videos up there about the budget process.
Sarah Frey:Yep,
Dan Hoffman:all of it. So if you're confused as, you know, what does revenue, what's the revenue neutral rate mean versus the not to exceed rate versus our actual rate? What is, you know, why is meals tax a percentage and property taxes pennies? You know, there's a lot of different stuff on there. Also, where the money goes, that, that, okay. Is a fantastic resource. So I would say 90 percent of folks questions can be answered there. For those that can't, um, city staff are always available to. So Mary Blow, Celeste Broad Street, you know, someone in the finance team, myself, you know, we can answer any other questions that you might have.
Sarah Frey:There's also on that page, a box that you can put your question into and somebody will get back to you with a response.
Dan Hoffman:There you go.
Sarah Frey:We try to make it so easy.
Dan Hoffman:Yep. So I'm going to go through the bag here Uh a little bit i'm going to start off with you know, we've asked a couple questions here about um You know the federal stuff that's going on right now Uh, and what impact will that have on our budget? Do we have money for an emergency fund some some questions about the the federal changes that are occurring uh, what I would say to that is We don't know. We do not know yet what the full impact will be. We, I did find out just this morning, uh, that we have a federally funded position that helps our arborists do tree maintenance. I think that position is in question now, uh, and the 500, 000 tree grant that we, I think folks might've saw in the paper from, what was that three, four months ago, six months. It was
Sarah Frey:about six months ago, but they've already started planting.
Dan Hoffman:Oh yeah. So we've been told to stop and that is on hold indefinitely. So we're starting to see that the changes. And I would say that. You know, the, the biggest one, if folks are curious how, you know, where our money comes from, uh, our federal money comes from, uh, we get a significant amount of federal money for transit. We get a significant amount of federal money for social services. I don't know what, what's going to happen there. Obviously if. All if all of the money we receive and it's I it is in the millions of dollars in both programs. Um, It's hard to say if it was completely zeroed out, for example, if we if we receive zero federal transit dollars, then when Tran and when ready will go away within a month or two. I mean, we rely heavily on the feds to provide that service. Um, and we just could not make up the shortfall social services. I think those programs are, I'd like to think they're safe, but you know, you don't know. We don't know. Um, that would definitely have an impact too if those were changing. But unfortunately, I just don't have an answer for folks. We do have strong reserves and we do have an emergency fund that we kind of, a bit of a contingency. Uh, but stay tuned. So that's, that was one question we've been getting a lot of recently. Um, let's see what else we got here. Why does the city issue bonds instead of paying cash? Isn't debt bad? It is not what, it is Not necessarily bad because we borrow, because of our AAA bond rating and'cause we, we are a very fiscally sound and stable city. Uh, we borrow money at a very low rate. Uh, we just. The 14 million dollar borrowing that I just referenced, uh, earlier in the show here about with the water and wastewater, we're borrowing that through a special program at two and a half percent.
Whoa.
Dan Hoffman:You can't, you know, everything else, you know, if you try to borrow that much money, um, you ain't getting two and a half percent. So for us, rather than waiting for inflation and escalating construction costs to come bite us in the butt, We can borrow money at a very low rate, lock in lower prices now so we don't kick the can down the road further and have it cost more. I would, especially with inflation, I mean, inflation last year was still at, um, right around 3%. And reports we're starting to see now, um, is that it's creeping back up a little bit. Uh, wholesale prices. are up and they've exceeded expectations in the last couple of weeks. So we are not out of the woods yet with inflation. And, um, the fact that we can borrow money at that cheap of a rate is very financially beneficial to the city, which is why we maintain good credit now. What is too much debt? We actually have a metric for that and you can go on the city's website and we also, I believe we talk about this in the page as well. We have a policy limit. Um, we always want to keep three, uh, at least three months of cash on hand. And we have a, um, you know, of course we, we'd love to do more, but you also just want this money sitting there doing nothing for you. So we have a debt. We have a target and a limit, which is a percentage of our overall reserves, our overall budget, I mean, and we keep within that and we are actually pretty, we're pretty healthy, pretty healthy distance behind our limit. You know, there's a bunch of stuff on the, on the horizon, like the corals renovation, that will be probably 40, 50 million. That amount is something we could never pay cash for.
What? Because that would
Dan Hoffman:be more than our entire reserves. Um, when you see jurisdictions that have to pay as they go with things, they struggle, or they have to go ask for help, if they want to suddenly start borrowing money. Uh, to pay for Let's say new high schools or
swimming pools
Dan Hoffman:or anything. Um, so you have to occasionally, um, borrow some money because we have, you know, I I'll use the credit card analogy because our credit cards are not maxed out because we have such great credit, we get low interest rates. So it's, it is not necessarily a bad thing to have some debt. All right, let's pull through what else we got here. Let's talk about, well, the big thing that everyone that we've gotten a lot of questions about is the assessments that went out. So everyone should have gotten their assessment in the mail. We have to send that out and the information on it is outlined in state code. So if you, if your response to my answer now is, well, that was confusing. Why did you make it so confusing? I'm going to point the finger at the state, but, um, and it's mainly because we have to point out that, well, we, of course, we're going to point out that the assessment, the value of your home has increased or decreased. We saw an average of 13. 5 percent increase over the past two years. Remember, we do it every other year. So the increase you see now is a two year window. We show you how much it went up. So if you have a house that's worth, I'm just going to use a nice round number so I can do the math in my head. If you've got a house that's worth, uh, 100, 000, well, over the past two years, it's probably now worth 113, 000. 500 bucks, right? So, And we don't control that just because we do conduct the assessments. It doesn't mean that we have decided to increase your home's value. That is the market 100%. And those numbers are actually typically quite. They're lower than market.
Sarah Frey:And we even, we don't do those assessments. We, we pay, we contract. It's a third party.
Dan Hoffman:It is a third party. They put eyes on every house. Obviously they don't go into your house. But they will look at your house. Every single house in Winchester when they do it. It's very thorough. It's very data driven, very market driven. Um, and even if you think that your house is not worth, you know, 113, 500 you can please. Uh, appeal that. And a lot of times, you know, maybe there was a little mistake. And we fix it right, you don't even have to go to an appeal hearing, nothing like that, it's Hey, oops, yeah, we see your point, we fix it right away. Um, doesn't happen often. It happens, we're human, it happens sometimes. Uh, the other thing that we really just don't, um, Well, after, after you've, if it's gone up that much, if you really feel like, well, no, I know it's only worth a hundred thousand dollars. My home has not increased in any value in the last two years, which first off, it definitely has. But let's say you still disagree with us after the, You know, after you've talked with the assessor, then it goes to a, a three person board of equalization, which is a horrible name. It is not, it does not tell you what that board does, but again, not our words. Um, the board of equalization, which is three residents. Of this city, three of your neighbors will look at the information and decide, is this city off, are we off, you off, what's, what it is. So, there is a very fair process to assess it. I will tell you, very, very rarely does something ever go to appeal. And, typically, It is, you know, we are in the right because the assessed value is always lower than market, almost always lower than the market. We do a very conservative estimate and the price is, um, I mean, typically it could be 10, 20 percent less. Some of the people that, um, Some of the people who we have, uh, who have appealed their amount or said that their, their properties have not appreciated that amount, uh, we had one in the walking mall not too long ago. Complained that the assessment was way too high, way too high for years. Um, the property then she sold the property for several hundred thousand dollars more than the assessed value.
Sarah Frey:Yeah,
Dan Hoffman:it's funny how that works out. The assessed value is not the market value. If you're, and if you're looking to buy a home and you look up in our system and you see, and you can look up the assessed value of any property in the city on our website, uh, commercial, residential, any of it who all the property records, um, If I mean it it we put it in there But if you look at that and you think that that's how much maybe you could buy that property for you're wrong Do not the times
Sarah Frey:out of ten
Dan Hoffman:nine times out of ten. You are definitely wrong You're not going to pay the assessed value for a house that's why we do appraisals appraisals are different than assessments and You know when the city purchases something we don't go offer the person the assessed value necessarily, we offer the appraised value, uh, because that is what we have to go on. But, for the purposes of the rate, you have to go with the assessed value. Now, the notice that folks got recently, all it said, and a lot of people read into it, all it said was, your property value has increased by whatever percentage, whatever amount, at 83 cents, which is our current rate. You will be paying this much more.
Sarah Frey:Which never, almost never, ever,
Dan Hoffman:ever happened. I wouldn't go there. There have been times in the past when, There have been times in the past when the revenue neutral rate was actually higher.
Sarah Frey:Right, but in this economy?
Dan Hoffman:Well, no, no, yeah, I mean it's, it's very, Between inflation and the housing prices going up, There's no, Yeah, it's generally a pretty, pretty accurate number. So we, At 83 cents, we would generate about 13 and a half percent more revenue than we did last year off a property tax. The thing is, we haven't set the rate yet. So the letter makes it read as though your taxes are going up. Right. That's not been determined. The city council will determine that. Now the city council They know that our revenue neutral rate is about 0. 73 and our current rate is 0. 83. So it's the City Council's decision as to do we go with revenue neutral. And at a revenue neutral rate, um, our revenue will not cover, our new revenue will not cover the must do increases. Health insurance, fuel costs, things that we have no control over. And that's a little over 1. 4 million. In just a You know, it's a service contract for our radios that's going up. It's, uh, like I said, fuel for police cars. It's, uh, stuff that breaks that we then have to pay to fix. Um, we, those are all the things that we must do, whether we want to or not. That alone is one over 1. 4 million. So, um, council knows that, Revenue neutral is going to be very difficult without, you know what, layoffs, school, I mean that is what the superintendent has said, revenue neutral, revenue neutral, the city contribution if they got a third of our revenue neutral revenue, because we do still get some under revenue neutral, we get organic growth. If we only get organic growth, which is less than two million dollars this year, it's probably around 1. 2 to 1. 7, um, in unspent organic growth. If the school system got a third of it, that's 400, 000 more in their budget. That is a fraction of a percent of an increase. They also have inflationary pressures. They also, I know the superintendents, you know, he to stay competitive. They've got to ask for a pretty healthy cost of living increase for teachers, things, the cost of things go up. We are not immune to that. So revenue neutral council has already decided. You're hearing my opinion and that's all it is. Council has decided that Okay. 73 cents is probably not going to work. We have cost pressures just like any other business. They've also said, the good news is, they've also said that 83 cents is not necessary either. And that is true. We don't, inflation in the past year has been about 3%. I'm targeting to try to have the budget only increase 3 to 3. 5%. And I don't need 83 cents to do that. So 83 cents, uh, we're not going to end up there either. The city council's decided to, the staff should focus on 76, 78, or 80 cents as three scenarios for them to work with. Um, we can, the city, city staff, myself, the whole team here, regardless what tax rate they, they pick. And especially in that range. Yeah, life goes on. We make it happen. Um, the, what you get in those scenarios, though, is different. I'm asking for, in one scenario, four firefighters, two cops, uh, another, uh, I want to switch a part timer in the community paramedic program to a full timer. So there's some things I would like to do. And there are investments we need to make at some point.
Sarah Frey:All in public safety.
Dan Hoffman:And most, yeah, the vast majority of them are public safety. I think in the 80 cent scenario, we do add an IT position. Um, we're putting so much stuff online and it, the demands there are always high. But, the biggest discretionary increases, aside from a COLA, which we're only targeting 3 percent as a COLA for staff. You know, we, we are, we're in pretty good shape in, if we stick within that range. But, I, you know, I, I will need to make pretty significant cuts if we go lower, um, and like I said, I, I, we, we can make a, um, a very healthy budget work with less than 83 cents. So that's where we're focusing our time. Um, our goal is to make sure that, you know, we basically keep up with inflation, make some minimal strategic investments and, uh, yeah, this is the year to do it because it is an assessment year now. I've gone over that. If you didn't, if that was all a little, uh, kind of jumbled, and it didn't really land, I encourage you to go to the website. There's video, we've got, I think the video from the workshop is up there. Not
Sarah Frey:the video, but the slideshow. The
Dan Hoffman:slideshow from the workshop is up there. That is how our different tax rates work. Now, I will say what we're not. One question, I don't think it's actually in the mailbag, but one question I wish somebody had asked is about the meals tax. I'm not proposing any change to the meal tax this year. Uh, we did a half a percent last year, and that got us about, I think, 900, 000 in change, I think, this year. If we did another half percent, which I'm not proposing, uh, it would be probably, I mean, I'm guessing it'd probably be about a million, because After the increase last year, our meals tax revenue did not go down. And in fact, it outpaced
Sarah Frey:the
Dan Hoffman:growth. So if you hear a business or a restaurant, I should say, if a restaurant is telling you they're going out of business because of the meals tax, I just don't have any data to back that up. I just, there's, and we know how much people. What their revenues are because they pay the meals tax. So the commissioner of revenue knows how your business is doing. So if you say my business has been down 30%, I hope that's accurate. Cause we know, we know that we know the actual percentage of your business. So, um, the thing people forget about that half a percent, because we kept the rate flat last year, it was 83 before it was 83 again. Um, we did do that half a percent on the meals tax. And that new money, let's say it's a million dollars for a half a percent, just using a nice round number, Um, nine, about, a little over nine hundred thousand of it is paid for by people outside the city. Only ten, I mean a couple years ago it was actually twenty. Percent city, but now it's shrunk a fair amount. Uh, we are at 90. I think I saw one month. We were 94 outside the city so That amount of revenue is roughly equivalent to two pennies in the tax rate Which of course you pay if you live in the city because it's the property here in the city So one thing that council, you know, I think they always need to kind of keep in mind is who pays these different levers Obviously the motels tax which we're we're pretty high there I'll be honest with you. We're a little high in the most halls motels tax. I wouldn't recommend it increase. Um, but motel, even with, uh, we did a full percentage increase on that a couple of years ago and, or was that last year, last year in the last couple of years and all of our hotels are packed 30 year over year, 30 percent increases in,
wow.
Dan Hoffman:And in revenue. So again, it didn't hurt anybody. And that particular tax, it didn't hurt us. Is it almost a hundred percent paid by people outside of the city just because it's the motel tax? Not a lot of people are going to stay at a motel Inside the city if you already live inside the city So it's just something for council to consider if they want to be super aggressive On the property tax rate you have other levers. It's just a matter of where what the policy decision of the city council is. It's their decision. All we can do is provide them information. So, so there's that. And one of the recurring what this did come in the mailbag was about zero based budgeting. So one of the questions that always comes up and it has to Hey. It's a term that is used generally among city circles. You'll you will rarely if ever hear a private company do this because they don't have the public scrutiny that we have
Sarah Frey:and their finance department would
Dan Hoffman:well and it's also pointless thing to do it is the basics of zero based budgeting as you start from zero, which sounds great. We need to reevaluate everything every year. Well, guess what? 80 percent of our budget is salaries. We go through every budget. The line by line information, even though people say that we don't give the council the line by line budget, they get the line by line budget as early as the committee meetings for every single department and we go through them already. If you go to the police budget, for example, under a zero based budgeting scenario, you start from zero. And you first decide, well, do we still need police officers? Yes. We're still going to continue to provide police services. That's question one. Great. Uh, do we have enough police officers? Well, we keep data on that and we show it. So council, do we need more police officers or do we not need more police officers? Do we eliminate our addiction response program in the police department? I mean, these are all things that council has approved or set our investments in the city. Some of them as recently as a year ago, right? If we wanted to demonstrate this with a department budget, I would, I would, let's say, take the parks budget because that's, you know, people would might say that, well, talking about the police, the police are, you know, super important, and, you know, we. We got to fully fund our public safety folks, our first responders. Yeah, of course. We love them. They're great. Um, so maybe that someone might say though, it's not a good example to use them because of course we're going to keep having cops and firefighters. Well, first off, guess what? They're a massive chunk of our budget.
Sarah Frey:That tracks.
Dan Hoffman:So you've immediately taken a huge chunk of the city's budget off the table. All right. Well, let's say, uh, the parks department, right? Very important aspect of the city. The Parks Department budget, if you wanted to walk through it, It can be walked through line by line in about 30 minutes. Tops. If you see something that if a counselor sees something that we should stop doing they want to stop the hive Okay, then make that policy decision, but I know a lot of people depend on the hive you want to cut the aquatics program Most of the demands I'm getting right now from the Parks Department for money in this budget that I cannot afford are for the aquatics program So I've got to choose Are we going to pay the part time? Lifeguards a little bit more money because we are Behind on that. Are we going to offer more swim programs? Well, Zero based budget starts with, do we even, should we even have swim programs anymore? Okay. So, city council, do you want to close the pools? I don't think the public would generally support that based on all the survey results I'm seeing.
Sarah Frey:No.
Dan Hoffman:People, the region relies on us for pools anyways. So I, it's really just kind of a feel good exercise in my opinion in a lot of ways because we in essence already kind of do it. Every budget, any new expense, every year. Now, I've heard that we did it back in like 2008 or 2009. We did not. The decrease in that budget was because that's the Great Recession, folks. That's when our rate, our tax rate actually went up almost, I want to say it was 6 to 8 cents. I know. Just to become revenue neutral. So we actually had to just make the same amount of money as we were. The city council back then in 2008 or nine, I think it was, they raised the rate and they cut the city budget. Um, you know, significantly, well guess what? Every locality in the country did that. I was working in local government at that time too. Everybody did it. Zero based budgeting was not something that we actually did. Uh, did we cut programs? Yes. Did we have to? Yes. It's 100 percent the council's decision. If there's a program that we're running that they don't feel their constituents want That is their prerogative. Just say cut it. It's very transparent. It's right there on the budget sheet. Just say you want to cut it. Problem is, a lot of times, folks don't want to say what they want to cut because it's hard to say. Because they know that the hives, they know that the community paramedic program, they know that when ready, they know that the pools are very important services we offer that You know, you don't get elsewhere. So, I say all this just to say, just because you don't think one of our programs is worth the money, maybe you've never swam in our pool before. One of our, indoor or outdoor. I will say I have, I pay taxes here in the city. Uh, I live here in the city. I've never set foot in either one of our pools. Really? I'm pasty and I'm feeling self conscious and everything. So, um, I, I've never set foot in them. Do I complain because I'm part of my taxes? Go to cover the pool. I have never used No I've Some people may have never ridden win ready before but you know what people rely on it to get to work Thousands of people,
Sarah Frey:doctor's appointments,
Dan Hoffman:doctor's appointments. They all rely on it. So there are, of course, going to be things that we do that you don't actually get benefit from directly, but that doesn't mean they're not important. So zero base back to sorry. Go ahead.
Sarah Frey:I have a question about this too. So. But what's the best way for people to get to see counselors going over those line by line, but item
Dan Hoffman:committee meetings, so we, um, last week we had public health and safety committee, um, a couple of weeks ago, we had finance committee and we've got the planning and economic development committee in a couple of weeks. I'm sure it might be next week. So, so At the committee level, we discuss every single department, we talk about amounts, and this is the other thing that bugs me, um, people act like there's this hidden waste somewhere. We get down to like the hundred dollar increments. Hey, office supplies, I'm telling council, hey, office supplies for this department are going to go up five hundred dollars. That's, and this is a hundred and twenty, roughly a hundred and twenty million dollar budget. That's the level of detail we go through with counselors. Now, do we go, do we spend time on every single line in the budget? No, I don't need to talk about the very specific workers comp number in a department that has a. You know, 30, 000 budget. I, I don't need to do that. For every single thing. Is it in the packet though?
Yeah.
Dan Hoffman:Every line is in the packet. And it's public and accessible to anybody. And I encourage you, even if you couldn't make it to one of those committee meetings, the videos of them are online too.
Sarah Frey:They're on that budget page.
Dan Hoffman:You can see these discussions happening. The department directors, the sheriff, the police chief, the fire chief, the parks director, all of those folks are at these committee meetings answering questions that the counselors ask them and then the counselors decide what warrants funding and what doesn't warrant funding. And it all happens very publicly, very openly. Um, so yeah, so get involved. And, you know what, just because something gets funded, and I kind of said, I said this earlier, but I think it's worth, uh, reaffirming. Just because you don't like something, or you don't get direct benefit from something in our budget, it doesn't mean it's not worth the expense. It doesn't mean it's not something that, uh, Makes the city a better place to live. I'd love to tear the splash pad out of the walking mall I think is a maintenance hog. No. Well, first off. I've never splashed in the spot.
Sarah Frey:You've never so I get I get
Dan Hoffman:no benefit He doesn't
Sarah Frey:like water. That's we've got
Dan Hoffman:No, I I love water, but that thing is um, you know, trust me I could go on for another I could ramble on Much longer if talking about the maintenance of the splash pad. We're gonna have to do something with it It's gonna cost tens of thousands of dollars, but you know what people love the splash pad.
Sarah Frey:They want more
Dan Hoffman:They want more of the splash pad the calendar. Guess what printing costs have gone up. We don't control printing cost No printing costs have gone up if you to for us to do the calendar next year I've added 10, 000 to that budget. I think it's 10 right about 10, 000 that budget
Sarah Frey:Postage also goes up and we mail that sucker to every single person
Dan Hoffman:and you know what I'm not gonna do I'm not going to propose canceling the calendar because everyone loves the calendar. If council wants to cut it, all they have to do, literally, I think, I don't think we can afford the calendar anymore. I move that we remove the calendar from the budget. Do I have a second, second vote done? It's out of the budget. That's as simple as that. I do not tell them, no, you can't vote on the calendar budget if it is 100 percent their prerogative. So. Watch the meetings watch the discussions
Sarah Frey:and log on ahead of time those agendas get posted early You can read through the packet just like a city council days in
Dan Hoffman:advance. We have to do it typically three working days in advance, so Every Tuesday meeting the agenda gets published on Thursday afternoon All right, I think I've beaten the dead horse about the zero base budgeting Um, and then I think the last question that I'll bring up, and we've touched on it, is why do taxes keep going up? And, I mean, the reality is, the cost of everything goes up. We, we are not immune to that. So, have we been, in my opinion, based on data, very reasonable with our incremental increases over the years? And, you know, many of which I wasn't here for. I mean, I'm in my fifth year now. So, but I, you know, I look back 20 years over these things to see what the overall burden has been. It's, our city budget has increased, has generally tracked with inflation for 20 years. Occasionally we get a little more revenue. Occasionally we don't keep up with inflation. But if you look at overall, when you account for inflation, our city budget has only gone up like a percentage point. It's a very, it's a relatively small amount that our budget has actually grown beyond inflation. Um, so the simple answer is, well, the cost of everything goes up, right? The, the harder, sometimes more complicated way. Um, to look at it is, you know, sometimes folks will try to tag it to population. Well, we've only added 200 people here in the last 10 years. And, but our budgets increased, you know, X percentage. Well, guess what guys, that's not a good thing. That doesn't mean that our taxes should be lower. More people, more hands make the load lighter and when you have an old beautiful house Like we have here in Winchester. The city of Winchester is a big old beautiful house. It's a maintenance hog We've got old streets. We talked about old water pipes. We've got Sidewalks to maintain. We are an old city. Think about it in terms of your house If you, Sarah, you have, you're a family of five, right? We are. You got three kids. So, you're a family of five. You own a house. In ten years, are you, well, maybe you'll have more kids.
Sarah Frey:No.
Dan Hoffman:So, then I can safely say, ten years from now, you're still going to have five people in that house.
Yep.
Dan Hoffman:What happens when it's time to replace the roof? Do you complain to the roofing contractor that well my family hasn't grown so the roof I shouldn't have to pay to replace my roof. No, it's gonna get old
Yeah
Dan Hoffman:Your windows are gonna need to be replaced. Oh my dishwasher broke Guess what? It doesn't, how many people we live here is not a direct correlation as to how much we cost, how much things cost. Yes, we do hope we add people and the whole planning process is to make sure that we're adding people in a way that has a positive financial impact to the city. That's why I have pretty much, most develop, major developments have a financial impact statement so that we're bringing in new neighbors in who will add to the tax base. If we don't have any growth, if we have, then we are just losing out at that point. And we have capacity in our schools, we've kept up with our infrastructure, we can do it. We can add people in the right places in the city. Um, and that will help our taxes in the long run. Not growing is not a reason why your taxes would go down. Not growing is a reason why your taxes would go up in Pretty much any jurisdiction in the country, um, because it is all predicated on growth and you might not like that. Some people are anti growth, some people, they say they're smart growth, whatever. But if we're not adding people, adding families, adding young professionals to kind of come in behind and fill out that tax base, your costs will go up. The people who are still here. Your costs will go up because you're bearing all of the burden, especially of the burden of all the deferred maintenance from the past 20 years. So, keep that in mind. No one loves taxes. If you're a city staffer, yeah, I mean, I don't either. You don't love
Sarah Frey:writing that check every year? It's my favorite thing.
Dan Hoffman:You would think if you read the star, I love taxes. I'm getting personally rich off all these taxes. But, um, no, no one loves it. I don't like asking for them. I don't, I don't like the idea of, you know, going into the grocery store and, you know, getting yelled at because someone's because the city council made its decision to increase taxes. Um, so just look at it. I would say my, my, my request to everybody is as we go through these processes, not just this year, but Take the time to look at it through a reasonable lens. Once you do, I think you'll realize that, um, that our overall tax burden is quite reasonable. We, uh, we are at 83 cents now. That's the second lowest in the state for independent cities of our size. We'll probably be, we may, after this budget process, be back to being the lowest in the state. So don't compare us to first off, don't compare us to Frederick County. I'm not going to go into it. I don't think we have enough time for me to go into that. It's we're very different jurisdictions and not just because of our rate. If you've lived in the city for more than a week, you probably know that. Um, or if you lived in the county and then tried to use city services, you probably know that or wondered why your snow didn't get picked up or your trash and get picked up or you don't have a pool or whatever. Um, Yes, you enjoy a lower property tax rate out there, but is that really all you care about? That's I think the question I want folks to think about as we go through this process. I'm not saying that one rate is right and one rate is wrong. One rate has implications, another rate has different implications. That's the discussion this year. If council has a healthy discussion about it, that's all we look for. Is thought, look at it. I trust that when we present all this data to the City Council, they have the information they need to make a decision. Sometimes they're difficult decisions, though. We'll see what happens over the next, uh,
Sarah Frey:couple weeks, couple months, couple months. Yeah.
Dan Hoffman:Alright, I have, uh, beaten that dead horse. I don't have any other questions in the mailbag. If you have any other follow up questions, uh, please, uh, go ahead and send them in. Yeah. Maybe, you know, they'll, they'll come up or maybe we'll just respond to you directly. Uh, in the coming up.
Sarah Frey:Becky Ebert is kind of also a stalwart of Winchester and ran the archives at the Hanley library for most of her career until she retired.
Dan Hoffman:Right. She retired kind of recently. Yes. Okay. I know Becky. All right. So stick around. I don't want to steal Kit's thunder.
Kit Redmer:Hello folks, this is Kit Redmer, Comms Director here at the City of Winchester. I'm filling in for Sarah for our Community Spotlight segment this week, and I'm lucky to be here to have a conversation with Becky Ebert. Now, if you've been in Winchester for any period, you probably know Or have at least heard about Becky. Becky is a Winchester Institution. She served as the archivist of the Stewart Bell, Jr. Archives at the city, at the Hanley Regional Library from 77 until 2023. In 2017, Becky was named Woman of the Year. by the American Association of University Women, and she received the Presidential Award Appreciation from the Winchester Frederick County Historical Society in 2023. She's active with numerous local organizations and has co authored several books based on life in Frederick County and Shenandoah Valley. Becky, warm welcome to the Ross Review.
Becky Ebert:Thank you so much for having me today.
Kit Redmer:It's our pleasure. So Becky, with your impressive background, there's all sorts of things we could talk about this morning. For example, I know you work closely with us, um, to help us commemorate the 50th anniversary of the walking mall last November. Uh, thank you so much for that help. And you know a lot about the history of, of course, the walking mall and our city writ large. And so thank you so much for everything you do for us. But as 250 initiative. Um, you are the chair of our local VA 250 committee. Thank you for that service, and you've agreed graciously to join us this morning to chat a little bit about the VA 250 project and upcoming VA 250 events here in Winchester. Before we get to all that exciting stuff though, do you mind explaining to me, I have a hazy idea what an archivist does, but can you explain a little more about what an archivist does?
Becky Ebert:Well, we take care of papers, records, and assist researchers. The Hanley Regional Library, we're very fortunate to have developed a community archives along with the Winchester Frederick County Historical Society. We have a great deal of history here from the 1730s up to the present, and it was a wonderful opportunity to take all the things that people have been collecting and saving, organize it, arrange it, and make it available to people. So when a researcher comes in, they can ask for a wide variety of things, from family genealogy, to the history of their house, to just personal subjects that they have an interest in, or they think they heard a ghost at their house.
Kit Redmer:Are there a lot of those here in Winchester?
Becky Ebert:There are some.
Kit Redmer:Wow.
Becky Ebert:We should do a podcast
Kit Redmer:on that.
Becky Ebert:So it was always fun. You never knew what people were going to come in and ask. And it was always a delight to help them discover some of the resources. I always said, we didn't know all the answers, but we usually knew where to find the answers.
Kit Redmer:That's great. Um, and really interesting as well. And thank you for all that important work that you've done, just to make sure that our history is recorded and preserved. Folks, by the way, just a side note, if you haven't been to the High End Lay Archives, I strongly recommend that you pay them a visit. I can tell you, if you plan to spend a half an hour down there, you'll probably look up at the clock and see you've been there about three hours.
Yes, there's a
Kit Redmer:Is that usually how it goes?
Becky Ebert:Yeah, pretty much, and there's a wonderful staff continuing the work that we started, and I'm very proud to see all that's developed and continuing. It's very exciting, all the new collections that are coming in and the new projects that are happening.
Kit Redmer:Yeah. And then, you know, folks, if you go in there and you just have a particular subject you're interested about or curious about, you can talk to one of the great archival team members and they'll help you out pulling information. So, so yeah, thank you so much, Becky, for that. And for the institution that you built there. Um, let's pivot now a little bit and talk about VA 250. Um, so folks actually have a foggy idea of what we're talking about. Um, I'll say off the bat, you know, the, the VA 250 initiative was initiated Um, to raise public awareness of the upcoming, of course, 250th anniversary of our country's Declaration of Independence and, um, of course, the beginning of the American Revolution. Um, I think they call the 250th anniversary, and correct me if I'm wrong here, a semi Semi quincentennial. Is that the right word? Yes, that seems to be
Becky Ebert:the, the major term for it. Yeah.
Kit Redmer:Yeah. The formal term. That's your word of the day. Semi quincentennial. Um, so Becky, could you talk a little bit maybe about the origins and the purpose of the VA 250 initiative from your perspective?
Becky Ebert:Well, the state of Virginia got things rolling, um, back in 2022. And they sort of sent out the call to all the local communities and asked every community to develop their own to 50th committee. So fortunately for us, the. City of Winchester and Frederick County, uh, both passed resolutions and wanted to establish a committee, uh, sort of a bit under the umbrella of the Visitor Tourism Center and then to develop a community, you know, committee. So, at that time, it was through the Economic Development Commission as well, and Jenny McDonald was an employee there, and she was tasked with getting things started. So she contacted a lot of the local organizations. Um, I actually wasn't involved at the very beginning. Oh, I didn't know
Kit Redmer:that.
Becky Ebert:No, um, there were some articles and information came out, and I'm like, well, this looks like a lot of fun. Um, part of my pleasure is finding history and sharing it with people, and helping our community learn of our valuable local history. So I asked if I could join and they graciously said, sure, that'd be all right. And, uh, we started brainstorming some ideas and projects and all, and then Jenny had an opportunity to work elsewhere. And last August she moved and, well, she stayed in Winchester, I believe, but she moved her employment. And so she was no longer available to serve as the chair of the committee. And then. Committee members approached me and asked if I would be chair. And so I said, yes, but there's a great group of people from the area historical societies and museums who are working with us. And Dario Severus is the vice chair and he's, of course, a marketing guru with full circle marketing and has done a lot of projects with the city. So he's been extremely helpful in guiding our direction.
Kit Redmer:So that's, that's really interesting, and it's impressive how much work the committee has already accomplished, given the fact that it hasn't really met that often yet, right? It hasn't been around very long.
Becky Ebert:Yeah, it was in September. That I was asked to to be the chair, and we began developing a calendar of events that we could see happening. We weren't trying to do something, you know, every week, but we did want to do 1 or 2 things every month. So we've been able to build on projects that other organizations and groups already had in motion. The Sons of the American Revolution, the James Wood, the second chapter, and the Fort Loudon chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution have been looking at the 250th for several years now. So they already had some things that were beginning to happen. And so did Bell Grove and Museum of Shenandoah Valley. And the Stonehouse Foundation. So a lot of our existing organizations were already had things. So we were able to tag on, you know, with those and sort of co sponsor. And then we've had several original ideas.
Kit Redmer:Yeah, no, that's that's that's great. Um, and as you mentioned, I just want to highlight the fact, you know, our convention and Visitors Bureau that that fantastic team over there, they've, they've kind of taken on a lot of the work also. And, and, um, You know, some of the expense as well of of supporting the committee. And so huge thanks to them. Just a shout out.
Becky Ebert:Yes, fortunately, the city and the county are donating some funds to help us put these events and projects together. We're really set up sort of for the next two years for 24 25. And then after that, We'll see what happens.
Kit Redmer:Yeah, great point. Thanks, City Council, Board of Supervisors. We really appreciate the support. It's exciting. And so, you mentioned already some of the players on the committee, um, you know, the sons and daughters of the revolution. Is there anyone else we should mention? You mentioned Bell Grove, uh, I believe the National Parks folks are involved. Anyone else that we should give a shout out to?
Becky Ebert:Well, the Winchester Frederick County Historical Society is our fiscal agent. Very important to have somebody who will help us handle the money.
Right.
Becky Ebert:So they will take care of deposits and writing checks and keep us all above board.
Kit Redmer:Yeah. Excellent. Excellent. And, and let's talk just real quick about some of the events that are coming up. What can families look forward to in terms of, you know, again, folks, it's, it's an opportunity to connect to our history. It's an, it's an opportunity to, um, remember that the revolution was not just a war. Obviously it was fundamental in terms of us achieving independence from Great Britain, but it was also a war of ideals. It was a war of, um, many of the ideas that would be brought forth to serve as a foundation for our country, you know, in terms of liberty and, and freedom. And, and, of course, we know some of those ideals were not accomplished right, right away. And it's been a work in progress, but that's the nobility of the American experience, right? So, so hopefully, uh, families will have a chance to. Go to some of these events and have a chance to connect to some of that history and, and, and it'll be as relevant to us today as it was back then. So, so with all that, as a prelude, what kind of events are we looking at Becky?
Becky Ebert:Well, we didn't have any battles, but we did have a number of major leaders and soldiers and people from this area. We were also a setting for. prisoners of war. We had Quaker exiles who were here. Right. So there were a number of variety of different things that occurred throughout that time period. And certainly events they may have happened in other parts of our nation, but they affected people here. Absolutely. So part of what we want to be bringing out is just a opportunity for people to learn more of that whole period of history. What was happening on a social level, what was happening on a personal level, as well as what was happening on a military level.
Kit Redmer:Absolutely. Yeah, that's great. So, um, I believe that All of the organizations you mentioned do have events coming up over the next few months. Yes. Should we mention a couple of those? Sure.
Becky Ebert:The last two months, we have done things to recognize George Washington, to recognize Daniel Morgan and his Battle of Cowpens. Now starting in March, we've got a fun new thing that we've created called Finding Your Revolutionary War Hero.
Kit Redmer:Oh, tell me more.
Becky Ebert:Well, it's sort of built on Finding Waldo. Um, and fortunately, uh, Christine at the Book Gallery has been very gracious in sharing her notes and ideas about that. So we have approached a variety of stores in a downtown walking mall to have agreed to participate. And outside their door in the month of March, there will be a silhouette of a colonial soldier and then you can go inside and you can find some information about an individual. Might be male, might be female, might be the house they lived in, might be a portrait of them, but it'll be a little something. And then you can, there's a passport that you take with you, or you can pick up at those stores, and then you have that stamped. And after you get a goodly number, uh, there's 25 altogether, then you can go to the visitor center and get a prize.
Kit Redmer:A prize? Oh boy.
Becky Ebert:So while it's geared a little bit towards younger folks, it's certainly available for all ages to enjoy. So it's a little bit of a scavenger hunt.
Kit Redmer:No idea what the prize might be?
Becky Ebert:Well, yes, we have a variety of prizes. We have some red, white, and blue pinwheels. We have some bubbles. There's a Coloring books. There's some wonderful book coloring books at the French and Indian War Foundation is contributing of Daniel Morgan and George Washington and some other materials like that. So people have a little bit of a choice.
Kit Redmer:Okay. Things
Becky Ebert:that they would enjoy. You can only win once, but it's a fun activity to bring everybody to our beautiful downtown.
Kit Redmer:Very family friendly event. Yes. I know my boys will love it. So we're looking forward to it. And, uh, I believe that some of the organizations will be present during Kids Fest, for example, in June.
Becky Ebert:Yes. And also in March at Bell Grove, they're having an online display about Nellie Madison Height.
All right.
Becky Ebert:And she was alive at that time period. And they're also going to be bringing out some of the enslaved people who were involved at Bell Grove at that time. And Belgrove itself will open to the public. Now, Isaac Hite, who was Nellie's husband, was in the Revolutionary War. So it's a great way to be introducing some of the ladies and some other activities going on there.
Kit Redmer:That's wonderful.
Becky Ebert:And then in April, the Historical Society is going to open their display, Winchester and the Revolutionary War. Now Hollingsworth Mill, where they have their headquarters, has a wonderful display space and they have displays that they rotate every couple of years. So this year and next year is going to be Winchester and the Revolutionary War.
Wow.
Becky Ebert:Wow. So, again, a way of letting people know what were some of our activities in that important time period.
Kit Redmer:Absolutely.
Becky Ebert:And in May, we hope to participate with Apple Blossom. Um, we may have a float. The Sons of the American Revolution have a float that I think they're hoping to put in.
Excellent.
Becky Ebert:We thought we might go to the Queen's Dinner. And dress up in our Revolutionary War outfits and present the Queen a gift. Oh boy. From the Revolutionary War period. That's exciting. Yeah, so we've got some fun things like that happening. But in June, you're talking about we will be at Kids Fest. Absolutely. And we're also having a bike ride that we're calling the Winchester Revolt, because tire wheels have revolutions.
Kit Redmer:Get it, folks? Yes. Revolt. Yes. Yeah.
Becky Ebert:So it'll be a seven mile trip that people can ride their bikes. Okay. And it'll start about 10 o'clock, and we're gonna have pre registration, you know, for this, just to be sure of how many people we've got. Sure. That we're planning for. And they will, Randy Sprouse is leading that. And that will go all around town and pass by a variety of historic sites. And then we hope to have some folks in colonial attire who will explain what these sites are all about.
Kit Redmer:Oh, that's fun.
Becky Ebert:Yeah. And then it will finish just in time for everybody to enjoy Hop Blossom.
Kit Redmer:Excellent. Excellent. Well, so there's a little something for everybody.
Becky Ebert:Yeah. So we've
Kit Redmer:got a
Becky Ebert:variety of things planned. Um. Huge. We'll be doing some things later in the year as well, but right now we're sort of focusing on our first six months.
Kit Redmer:Sure, sure. Right, because the initiative obviously runs through next year, correct? So there will be a lot of activities coming out, in addition to the ones you just mentioned, which is already quite a bit.
Becky Ebert:Yeah, and the Virginia 250th has put together a couple of traveling exhibits. And Belgrove is going to host one of those in 2026 in April and Museum of Shenandoah Valley is looking to host another one. So we'll have two different traveling exhibits that will be coming through that people can go to.
Kit Redmer:Oh, that's exciting. Wow. So where can folks go if they want specific information on some of these events, Becky?
Becky Ebert:To the tourism center website.
Kit Redmer:Okay.
Becky Ebert:Visit winchesterva. com.
Kit Redmer:Perfect.
Becky Ebert:And I'll scroll down the page a little bit and there's a section on Virginia 250th.
Kit Redmer:Oh, great. And you can
Becky Ebert:click on that and that will have some information about our upcoming events.
Kit Redmer:Excellent. Excellent. So that'll be updated all the time and folks have questions or if the dates or times change, for whatever reason, it'll be updated there.
Becky Ebert:Right. And as new events, you know, are scheduled and planned because other groups are coming up with great ideas.
Sure.
Becky Ebert:We're looking forward to doing some things with the Discovery Museum and we've got a few other ideas. You know, kind of in the works. Excellent.
Kit Redmer:Wow. That is really exciting. Especially if you're a history buff, but even if you're not, folks, I think a lot of these events are worth checking out. And if somebody, say someone's listening to this podcast, like, you know what, I like history, or I just want to be involved in some way, what can they do?
Becky Ebert:They can call the Visitor Center. 540 542 1326 and leave your name and number or stop by and give them a little bit of information. And I will be delighted to get back in touch with you and help you find a place that you can be involved because all of these activities do need help. They'll need some participation and they'll need some people.
Kit Redmer:Yeah, I know. They just need help. Absolutely. Well said. Well said. Lots of volunteers. Well, there you have it, folks. Um, encourage everybody to take the time to learn more about the VA 250 initiative. It's a pretty big deal. And there, as you can hear, uh, from Becky, there's just a lot of really cool events and activities that are coming down the pike over the next year or two. You and your family, you won't be. Disappointed you'll have the opportunity to have fun and I might say you might learn a thing or two as you participate So so check it out Becky Ebert. Thank you so much for joining us this morning on the Ross review
Becky Ebert:Thank you for having me.
Dan Hoffman:Okay, that is it for us in the Rouse Review. Uh, next meeting, we already know who we're going for next meeting. Next, um,
Sarah Frey:you're in budget season. I am in budget season.
Dan Hoffman:Next Rouse Review, uh, you will be meeting our new police chief. Uh, Chief Lewis is coming in. We'll talk to him for a little bit. Uh, we are, you might folks might have noticed, we're also hiring a fire chief right now. Chief Henschel is retiring. Um, I don't think we're going to have a new fire chief at that point to introduce, but, um, we'll probably have that in a, in a couple of months, but next time, stick around Rouse Review, uh, with our new police chief. And until then, we'll see you around City Hall.