Board of Supervisors Budget Questions & Responses

During the budget development process, staff takes note of the questions asked by Board members and provides written responses to questions for which responses were not readily available at the time the questions were asked.

View each question and its answer in the table, or view all of the Board questions and responses (PDF).

Question Number

Board Questions
Response
Document
1Please provide updates to last year’s responses to questions #49, #50 and #97 concerning total compensation, advanced degree salaries, and average teacher salaries.  How do current salaries/compensation compare?
Response
2Please provide an update to last year’s response to question #68 concerning potential teacher attrition.  What has actual attrition been?  Do you have exit interviews/survey data that would summarize why people are actually leaving?  How many due to retirements?  Due to military orders?  Due to specific other reasons?  How does Spotsylvania Schools’ teacher attrition rate compare with average statewide and nationwide teacher attrition rates?  What are the attrition rates of surrounding school districts?
Response
3How do assessed values of the LIDL property compare with the $125M capital investment required by the economic development agreement?
Response
4How many full time employees do we have? How many part time employees do we have total? How many live out of the County and can you provide the jurisdictions for those who live out of the County?
Response
5When do the Schools expect their compensation study to be completed? Can we get a copy at their earliest convenience?
Response
6

How many full time employees do the Schools have?  How many part-time employees do the Schools have?  How many live out of the County and can you provide the jurisdictions for those who live out of the County.

Response
7How many pilot programs do the Schools have at this time?  Please give a description of them and the cost to include start-up costs.  Include teacher’s salary, training, class materials, and any other items needed or required, such as tablets. Do the Schools get any kind of credit or additional money from the State in having these programs?
Response
8How many different programs (advanced placement, IB, etc.) other than main stream educational classes do the Schools have? Please list and explain in as much detail as possible.  List the schools which have these programs.  Please provide the number of children in each program.  Please provide the cost  to include the start-up costs for each program, teachers, training, equipment, class materials, etc.
Response
9How many special ed type programs and/or special needs/services type programs do the Schools currently have at this time?  Please give a detailed description of each program.  Which schools have these programs or services?  What is the cost of each? For the cost, please include the number of teachers and/or outside agency personnel and any special training required, transportation, instructional books/materials, etc., any special equipment, and any other items the programs have or need or require.  How many children are in each program and/or are provided special services?
Response
10How many students with/in the school system have an IEP.  Of those on an IEP, how many are being provided special services within the schools? What type of services are being provided and by who, agency, department, etc.? Can you provide a cost for each service per child? Can you provide any trend information/data?
Response
11For those on an IEP, how many are being provided services/education outside of the school?  What facilities and their locations are used to accommodate these children.  What is the average cost to include transportation for a child being provided educational services outside of school?  What is the total cost to the school system for this service?  Do you have any trend data? How do children qualify to be on an IEP? Please provide as much detailed information as possible.
Response
12How many special needs teachers (of any kind such as speech, learning disabled, etc.) do the Schools actually employ and at what schools do they work?  How many special needs type workers, teachers, etc. does each individual school have and what is the cost to the school system for these?
Response
13Please provide a listing, explanation, and cost of all the unfunded mandates the Schools must fulfill.
Response
14How do our schools (high school, middle schools, elementary schools) rank (as far as education, grades, testing, etc.) within the Commonwealth of Virginia?  Please give historical data for the past 5 years.
Response
15How do our schools rank as far as State funding and County funding (as far as how much is received) as compared to all schools within the Commonwealth of Virginia?
Response
16How many of our schools are accredited? When did each school earn their accreditation and when did the school system start their efforts for accreditation? Which schools have had any type of notice, warning, suspension of accreditation, etc. due to SOL testing or by any other standards within the last 5 years? How many and which schools are on some sort of probation, notice, warning, etc. at this time?
Response
17Please provide the SOL ranking of our schools for the last 5 years as far as all other schools within the Commonwealth of Virginia, and please provide each schools SOL test data for the last 3 years (elementary, middle, and high school). Are we maintaining, improving, surpassing, etc.?
Response
18We say we have one of the best school systems in the Commonwealth of Virginia, how do we quantify this?  What is used as a basis for this statement?  Please be as detailed as possible.
Response
19What are the average Real Estate and Personal Property tax bills for calendar year 2017?
Response
20Please provide a current vacancy list.
Response
21How many calls per deputy per day does the Sheriff’s Office answer? How many reports per deputy per day?
Response
22How many full-time and part-time detective positions currently exist? What is the caseload per detective?
Response
23What’s being done to proactively combat the heroin epidemic?
Response
24Provide a breakdown of number of staff in each position type and number of cases (average caseload) by program.  Tell us what each program acronym stands for.
Response
25How does Spotsylvania’s DSS caseload compare to other localities of similar size?
Response
26How much time, on average, does each type of case/work take? Have you done any review of this?
Response
27Provide a historical comparison of compensation adjustments for the Schools and the County.
Response
28How many people do we have in County Administration?  What percentage of the budget is that?  What has been the change over the past six budget cycles (including FY 2018)?
Response
29Please forward the information on dues and association memberships that was used by the CBRC for its February 14, 2017 report to the Board.
Response
30What is the financial impact of changing the maximum net worth and maximum tax relief amount for the tax relief program for elderly and disabled?  What are the eligibility requirements and maximum tax relief amounts in surrounding jurisdictions?  What would the net worth and exemption criteria be if we were to adjust them for inflation since the last time tax relief was amended?
Response
31If the intent is that the State will fund in FY 2019 the full year’s share of the 2% adjustment funded for the five months of the year in FY 2018, can we use one-time money to bridge the State share for the full year in FY 2018?
Response
32How does VRS and its various pools work? What’s the difference between the VRS professional rate and VRS non-professional rate and what are those current rates? What are the estimated VRS rates for the next several years for the Schools?
Response
33What is the history of the Schools’ health insurance reserve?  How has the employee/employer split of premiums changed over the past 5 years for each of the Schools’ plans?
Response
34Can we set up a reserve for Schools similar to other reserves the County maintains?
Response
35What is the cumulative amount of fuel tax revenue received to date?
Response
36What is the real estate tax revenue estimated for LIDL for FY 2018?
Response
37Provide a summary of vehicles and furniture budgeted for replacement in FY 2018? What are the criteria for replacing vehicles and furniture? Provide for County and Schools budgets.
Response
38How does the local composite index (LCI) work?  Does offering incentives for economic development impact the composite index?
Response
39Are there local required matches for federal dollars for Schools? What are those for FY 2018? What’s the source of the information?
Response
40If the School Board had included the $4.3M salary and benefits items in the funded portion of its budget, what then would be the list of items not funded?
Response
41What is the School Board doing to reduce class size for grades 1-3? Is any money in the FY 2018 Budget being used to do that?
Response
42Please explain the percentage increases in certain County budgets cited by the School Board at the joint session on March 7.
Response
43Please compare and contrast the County and Schools health plans, their cost per employee, and their total cost.
Response
44What would be the cost to exempt the first $750,000 of gross receipts for those businesses with gross receipts of $750,001 or more?
Response