Dumping Education For Special Projects:
As with any family budget, if you blow all your money on wants, you eventually come up short for the needs -- food, clothes, emergencies, car maintenance, doctor visits and more. That's the situation at the city level that Mayor Oberndorf has led us into.
The Virginia Beach School Board went before the mayor and city council and recommended the renovation or replacement of 30 schools, costing about $1.25 billion over several decades. To accomplish this, the school board proposed a 6 percent increase in their funding. The backpedaling from the mayor and City Hall was furious. They quickly pointed out that there's no money and that the city is already facing a $30 million budget shortfall. You don't say. If you throw money at every special project your friends propose, the odds are it won't be there when you really need it.
The education of our children in the quality schools they deserve should be one of the mayor's top priorities. Virginia Beach is a fine city, but it is aging. As mayor, I will lead the effort to reprioritize how our tax dollars are spent. Children, schools and neighborhoods should come first, not special projects that serve a few.
