PORTSMOUTH TAXPAYER ALLIANCE
MINUTES
APRIL 11, 2009


The April meeting of the Portsmouth Taxpayer Alliance was called to order at 9 a.m. by our new president, Pat Simons at the Olde Town Bakery in downtown Portsmouth.

Bill Watts gave the invocation and led the members in the pledge to the flag.

President Simons told us about the city manager’s proposed budget that was recently printed in the newspaper. Former PTxA President Carroll allegedly made comments on the proposed budget that appeared to be controversial to the efforts of the PTxA. President Simons announced that, following those remarks, Mr. Carroll resigned on April 2nd.

Treasurer Bruce LaLonde brought information from the recent PTxA Executive Board meeting. PTxA wants to encourage the Portsmouth City Council NOT to increase taxes by 8 cents (as proposed). The Executive Board also wants to encourage everyone to speak out. One way for our voices to be heard might be to send a letter to City Council. Bruce distributed a suggested letter that might be used to send to City Council. He also stated that anyone might use this letter as a draft, make any changes and send their “new” letter to City Council. Bruce told the members that he planned to attend the April 14th City Council meeting and speak about the proposed budget and encouraged others to do likewise.

President Simons told the members that the upcoming April 14th City Council meeting would be a very important one concerning the proposed budget and she encouraged all members to go to that meeting and sign up to speak regarding the real estate tax increase.

One of our guests, Vice Mayor Bill Moody reminded us that “silence = consent”—so please let your opinions be known to City Council. He further announced that a hearing was held last week concerning SPSA. There were very few persons in attendance. He reminded us that any SPSA “tipping fee” might lead to more fees for Portsmouth taxpayers.



Other items that were discussed in this meeting were as follows:

Assessments are artificially high.
Tax increases are a burden.
Our City Manager needs to look back into the proposed budget and make further cuts.

President Simons reminded us that taxes have increased tremendously. In connection with this increase, we also need to address tax relief for seniors.

Bruce LaLonde reported the following statistics from the Portsmouth Social Services Department. There are 14,000 persons over 65 years old who reside in Portsmouth. There are 16,000 persons from all ages who are disabled. Therefore, there are 30,000 persons in Portsmouth who could potentially apply for tax relief. Very few have applied. Bruce also reminded us that Portsmouth has the lowest income limit ($30,000) of all our neighboring cities. The income limit for Chesapeake is $44,000; Suffolk’s limit is $49,000 and Norfolk’s limit is $64,000. Bruce further informed the members that many taxes are not being collected in Portsmouth. Utility taxes are going up. Bruce encouraged us to challenge the City Manager to reduce the budget. We should also be ready to say what services we are willing to give up. We should back up that statement with suggestions such as: libraries open only 3 days a week as opposed to 6.

President Simons stated that surrounding city governments have not proposed tax increases.

Bill Watts stated that somewhere between 4 and 8 employees being paid by Portsmouth take care of DMV issues. We also have city employees at the DMV assigned to register voters.

President Simons recognized our guest, Councilman Doug Smith. Doug is a certified candidate for the House of Delegates. Mr. Smith reminded us that our City Assessor, Alethia Bryce is retiring. He further commented that this economy isn’t going to change in a hurry. A new assessor is coming in. When “changing players” occurs, it might be a good time to make changes.

John Bender remarked that when Ida Barber was torn down, new homes were built. However, many are subsidized units. Doug Smith said that the original goal was to try to get as many homes as possible on Portsmouth’s tax rolls. It seems that the question is: “how many houses meet that goal?” For the answer, we might want to talk to Kathy Warren, Director of Operations for Development for Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority.

Another discussion item was that Portsmouth still has a payroll department. Many large companies have outsourced this department. We need to “get out of the box” and look at things like this to see what the justification is for doing things like we’ve done for many, many years.

Bill Watts commented that a home in Portsmouth that is assessed for $200,000 will have a tax increase of $1,600 if the 8 cent tax is approved. Increases like this are enormous. There may be people in our city who will have to decide between paying for medicine, health care, food or taxes.

Councilman Doug Smith encouraged our members again to let City Council members know what we are thinking.

Bill Watts reminded us of a situation with Norfolk Southern. When times were good, all went well. However, when times were bad, each department head was notified and told how much in budget cuts were needed. Bill wanted to know if this was done in Portsmouth?

Vice Mayor Moody said “yes”. Each department manager was asked to cut 11% from their budget.

City Council has to start making cuts like businessmen think, responded Jim Evans.

President Simons told of a past work experience for her when employees were asked to take a 20% pay cut for the last 3 months of the year. The employees agreed in order to keep their jobs.

City Council may be the governing body of our city, but the citizens of Portsmouth serve as the Board of Directors, according to one voice.

Bruce LaLonde made a final comment concerning the proposed budget for Portsmouth. He said that with this economy, a good manager needs to come in with budget cuts—not for the manager to say “we need an 8 cent increase”.

President Simons thanked Troy Wyatt for allowing us to meet at the Olde Towne Bakery and Café. Our next meeting will be May 9, 2009. Pat also reminded us to contact our city council members and let them know our thoughts on the proposed budget.

President Simons adjourned the meeting at 10 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Ann Stewart, Secretary