BY KATIE THISDELL

Stafford County Board of Supervisors members say education and public safety are the priorities for the upcoming fiscal 2013 budget, with fiscal responsibility as an overarching theme.
But within those two categories, they want to take a closer look at many issues.
Board members talked about priorities for the upcoming year at Saturday’s special meeting, held at Belmont in southern Stafford.
County Administrator Anthony Romanello will use this focus as he crafts a budget to present to the board March 6. A series of work sessions and public hearings will follow; the board is set to adopt a budget and tax rate at the end of April.
The county’s current $1.08 tax rate could remain the same. Last year, supervisors asked Romanello to lower taxes and cut staff positions, both of which were accomplished.
The direction wasn’t as specific this year, as many topics will be further analyzed in committees.
A lack of specificity has consistently frustrated supervisors about the school budget.
“It’s really a storybook,” Chairwoman Susan Stimpson said. “You can’t follow it line by line. That’s not how government should work.”
Added Supervisor Bob Thomas: “I’d argue there are School Board members that don’t know either” what they are looking at.
The school system’s budget makes up the largest part of the county’s overall budget.
Currently, supervisors appropriate money into an instructional or an “other” category, which includes administration.
A joint committee will discuss details further. Stimpson said auditors will also be at that meeting to look at an $800,000 line item of fiscal 2011 money spent after the year ended.
“The fine line may have been walked here,” Sterling said.
Superintendent Randy Bridges has requested from the school board a nearly $40 million increase to last year’s local budget of $101 million.
The biggest piece of this comes from a state mandate on increased local Virginia Retirement System contributions.
Stafford could be responsible for $9.5 million more in VRS costs for school employees, as well as $1.4 million for the county.
Supervisors were also especially concerned with additional overtime pay requested by the Fire and Rescue Department.
“The overtime bill is high and steady,” Thomas said.
Ten of the county’s fire and rescue units are staffed around the clock by career units; the majority are volunteer units. About 70 percent of calls are responded to in eight minutes or less—a standard set in the county’s Comprehensive Plan.
“We’ve made tremendous strides in fire and rescue response times,” Supervisor Jack Cavalier said.
Despite improvements, supervisors are concerned about the oversight and management of the department. They asked for a study to be done on the department and its structure.
“It’s really worth taking another hard look at,” Supervisor Paul Milde said.
The discussions, which are just the start of the county’s budget season, also focused on increasing commercial development to balance residential development, the status of the county’s Capital Improvement Program for upcoming projects and setting ways to assess various departments.
Katie Thisdell: 540/735-1975
kthisdell@freelancestar.com