With Differing Budget Plans, Candland & Jenkins Similar

By AL ALBORN
Contributing Editor

I attended the Prince William County Board of County Supervisors meeting on Tuesday so I could watch (don’t underestimate the value of being in the room to catch body language) and listen to agenda item 9 E – FY2014 Budget Choices Discussion.

I’m a Libertarian by philosophy and an independent voter. There are merits in both the arguments of the left (I prefer a socially tolerant world where folks are simply allowed to make their own choices in life as long as they don’t hurt other people or take their stuff) and the right (I believe in a small, constitutional, fiscal conservative Government that is constrained in size by limiting its ability to collect more revenue than it needs to fulfill its enumerated Constitutional obligations).

Conversely speaking, I am uncomfortable with the left’s desire to involve government in every detail of our lives from cradle to grave, and its desire to “grow Government” because it just doesn’t trust us to make our own decisions in life. I would be less uncomfortable is this “growth of government” wasn’t fueled with our money and a professed desire to redistribute it to whom others decide deserve it (in one form or another) more than “we” do.

I am also uncomfortable with the irony of the right and their professed desire for a small government that stays out of our lives while expanding its influence on those who don’t share its particular, biblical based views of how we should conduct ourselves or what choices we make.

At the end of the day, my vote is about the person, not the party. Whether someone is a Democrat or a Republican is just a footnote. Such is the life of an independent voter.

On Tuesday, I witnessed was two different views of government play out as our board discussed the FY2014 budget. The Democrats on the board naturally lobbied for a tax fueled expansion of just about everything. The Republicans painted a picture of a smaller government focused on core services, and lower taxes.

Neither picture was particularly right, nor particularly wrong… were they just “different.”

I give Chairman Corey A. Stewart, At-large, and Supervisors John Jenkins and Peter Candland credit for bringing real plans to the table. Stewart proposed a specific, surgical cuts in the FY2014 budget to get Prince William County closer to a flat tax bill. I give him credit for including some things that clearly will cause discussion, and perhaps Armies of folks in matching T-Shirts to show up at citizens time condemning his recommendations. Such is the life of a fiscal conservative politician.

Jenkins and Candland get extra credit for actually forming real budget committees and tasking them to come up with solutions. Both budget committees attended the meeting. It is only now I realize Candland’s committee sat on the left side of the Chamber while Jenkins committee sat on the right. Perhaps we can “fix” that next time.

Candland laid out a very detailed, citizen driven proposal to achieve a flat tax rate in FY2014, reduce the size and expansion of government, and keep our tax rate low in the out years. 

I give Jenkins credit for providing a similar level of detail. While I can imagine the laughter or shocked faces in Jenkins office as they read this, I noticed these two (Jenkins and Candland) have a lot in common. Both men actually work with concerned citizens, give thoughtful responses, and don’t mind “swimming up stream” when it comes to influencing the future of Government.

Candland did change the game for the future of the Prince William County budget process by going beyond just reducing the tax rate and addressing specific reforms. He proposed such “make sense” suggestions as three year spending audits for all county programs, a “sunset” policy for all county programs requiring that they be reviewed every five years to see if they are still needed (new programs would be created with a sunset date built in), the appointment of a Citizens Advisory Committee (I believe he has already created one of these since his Budget Committee spans several magisterial districts), reform of the budget carry-over process, and creation of a taxpayer advocate, and a new deal for funding the School System.

Anyone who has watched Prince William County closely over the past few years knows that we have plenty of opportunity to improve the process. While we have a best in the nation, triple AAA bond ratings, county standard budget process in place, it is still no better than the folks who drive the amount of revenue collected and the decisions regarding how it is spent.

Experience tells us that oversight and regular, rigorous reviews of the process are certainly warranted.

For full disclosure, I was on Supervisor Candland’s budget committee. He has been reading my blog for a long time, sought my opinion on occasion, and invited me to join his rather diverse group of local citizens. We actually rolled up our sleeves, dug into the budget, and made some very specific proposals. Candland considered our input, accepted quite a few recommendations, rejected a few others, and (I am proud to say) considered our opinions in his recommendation yesterday.

Since our Board is dominated by self-proclaimed fiscal conservatives, I expect that the visions offered by Stewart and Candland will prevail. I suspect Supervisor Jenkins proposals will offer the alternative vision of his world view, and his constituents. One cannot dismiss the fact that they keep sending him back to serve since 1982 (go ahead, do the math on your fingers).

I’ll be lobbying for the smallest, most efficient government that we may achieve while protecting core services. I respect those who will lobby for a different vision of Government’s role in our lives. While I expect the answer to be a compromise somewhere in the middle, I expect to lean toward the fiscal conservative side of the continuum simply because of the nature of our current chairman and a majority Republican board.

Addendum: I like Candland. I hope he moves on to greater things in Prince William County and the Commonwealth of Virginia politics. What impressed me the most is the fact that he knows what he doesn’t know and isn’t afraid to reach out to others for their ideas, opinions, input, or just a philosophical conversation about what government should look like. I find that he doesn’t always agree with me.

I am quite sure that we disagree dramatically on a number of conservative issues. That being said, he is willing to look for those areas where we do agree to explore ideas and form public policy. He didn’t wait for his phone to ring, he made the call.

Now that I have seen what an elected official who values the proactively solicits the public’s opinion “up close and personal” looks like, I kinda like it.

This is my opinion based upon the facts that I have found. Alternate opinions welcome. I’m always available to join anyone over a cup of coffee who wishes to learn more. My office is the Starbucks at the corner of the Prince William Parkway and Hoadly Road in Prince William County, Virginia.