Tax rate, budget debated

Yep, yours truly made the paper again, this time managing to anger about 50% of the Spotsylvania County School System:

Two hours into a public hearing on Spotsylvania County’s proposed budget, speakers supporting the advertised real-estate tax rate of 96 cents and those wanting an equalized rate were evenly split.

Shaun Kenney of the Battlefield District was among those calling for an 85-cent rate. He told the board that the answer to the budget question is not dipping into taxpayers’ wallets. His next comment drew both laughter and applause.

“If you feel you’re undertaxed,” he told the other people in the high school auditorium, “there’s nothing to prevent you from donating to your government.”

Of course, this is what I received from my buddy Jason this morning:

just listened to the radio on the way into work and

99.3 WYSK just had a news segment featuring our very

own Shaun Kenney. The story was that Spotsylvania is

locked 50-50 for/against raising property taxes. The

announcer, Bob Jones, says “Here’s what Shaun Kenney

had to say.” They played a sound clip of Shaun

speaking very strongly saying, “No one is undertaxed.

But if you feel that your are undertaxed, please, by

all means, feel free to make a donation to your

government.” This was followed by a delayed, somewhat

stunned laughter from the background assembly, as it

seemed many didn’t know if he was joking or really

serious.

This made my morning, and I am sure you all will find

this at least amusing, no matter what your political

“tendencies” may be.

I’m proud of my boy, Blue.

The compelling argument that earned the rancor of the tax-hikers was the rhetorical question, “will we see an 11% increase in the quality of our education?” Speakers for the rest of the evening fumbled for a response – and after my own speech I received a number of boos amid a good deal of applause.

Nice to see we Republicans can still frame the debate.

One of the more moving moments was as folks were leaving the public hearing. I met with about five to six people from the Lake Anna area who thanked me for my efforts. One lady was on the brink of tears explaining how her assessments were nearly 100%, which even if we held the line on taxes she would inevitably be forced to move unless real help came her way. It really does take a special hardness of heart to shrug and vote for tax hikes. That’s the very real effect of property tax hikes, and why I am confident that our supervisors will do the right thing and hold the line at $0.85.