Supervisors agree to eat cheaper

It probably won’t put a dent in the $82 million budget shortfall projected for Prince William’s government for fiscal year 2010, but supervisors hope this gesture may speak volumes nonetheless.

“It’s purely a symbolic move, but the board will feel more comfortable eating at more moderately priced restaurants,” said Chairman Corey Stewart, R-at large, who added that members have also saved money at recent meetings by ordering in food. “We’re eating out a lot less … and not doing our outside dinners as much as we used to.”

His statements follow a News & Messenger Freedom of Information Act request a few weeks ago to look at the levels of supervisor spending for travel, dinners and discretionary office funds.

The per diem expenses received for fiscal 2009 ran July through mid-October, and most are related to food and travel. Some sample expenses for individual board members:

A Council of Governments retreat in late July cost for one supervisor in the $250 range; a September registration for another for this year’s Virginia Association of Counties meeting cost around $265; a July dinner-dance event attended by another board member was reimbursed at $85; a lunch meeting at Chili’s restaurant was billed about $43; a business awards dinner cost $65; a dinner for one supervisor for a July board meeting was about $22; mileage for one six-week period for one board member was about $356; mileage for another for June and July was about $229.

The discretionary office fund, meanwhile, is an annual budget allotment for each supervisor that is listed on accounting sheets as “Undistributed and Miscellaneous,” the balance of which rolls over each month. Supervisors generally allocate amounts for various projects and uses at each board meeting; the money can also be used for office expenses that range from new equipment to new staff.

Individual allocations bypass the normal budget process — but they’re not pork spending, said Supervisor Wally Covington, R-Brentsville, who has on hand about $292,017, according to figures received in October.

“From my standpoint, if you determine something [expended] is un-useful, it becomes pork,” he said, adding that the federal earmark process that tacks spending projects onto unrelated bills is helpful for those states and locales that do not receive what they give in terms of tax dollars. Supervisors are performing the same service when they distribute their office discretionary dollars in ways they see as beneficial to their community, he said.

“These were a way to even out district concerns … I think our taxpayers on the western end pay a little more,” Covington said, but they don’t see an equal return on those taxes. “My original goal [with my office funding] was to save it toward a road project.”

Matching grant opportunities have dried, however, and now these Brentsville district dollars will likely go toward education, he said, and “to address the needs of schools in my district.”

The balance of other supervisors’ undistributed office funds, according to finance paperwork that covered the same July through mid-October period: Supervisor Martin Nohe, R-Coles, reported roughly $258,000. Supervisor Frank Principi, D-Woodbridge, reported a little over $99,000. Supervisor Mike May, R-Occoquan, and Supervisor John Jenkins, D-Neabsco, had about $99,000 and $28,000, respectively. Supervisor Maureen Caddigan, R-Dumfries, reported a balance of about $91,000. And Chairman Stewart and vice chair John Stirrup, R-Gainesville, maintained balances — in order —at roughly $64,000 and $108,000.

As for other expenditures, supervisors say they’ve entered tightened mode.

“We saw this financial crisis coming in Prince William almost two years ago,” said Stewart, “and the first thing we did on the board level was we froze our own salaries.”

Currently, the chair position pays $45,256 and board slots, $39,737, according to numbers from Stewart’s office. In comparison, chairman positions carry salaries of $75,000 in Fairfax County, $53,900 in Arlington County and $50,000 in Loudoun County, according to Stewart’s office. And board members in these same jurisdictions earn between $41,000 and $75,000.

“Also, every board member has been making efforts to reduce spending,” Stewart said. “We’re not attending NACO [National Association of Counties’ meeting] this year … and we did not fund and are not going to fund one of the full-time positions available to us for this year.”

Board members are budgeted for two full-time office staffers; supervisors had previously upped that budgetary allowance to three.

“But we’re going to leave that [slot] empty,” said Jenkins. “My office is also being extremely careful to save. We’re trying to go paperless … and I maximize the use of volunteers when I can. I think we’re all just being as frugal as possible because we know we’re all in this together.”

Nohe, meanwhile, said his “office budget is already pretty tight,” and makes due with two staffers.

“I don’t spend a lot in terms of lunches or travel, I don’t take per diem … and for dinner [breaks at board meetings], more often than not, I don’t go.”

Nohe said the county was in “challenging times and as we’re looking to cut the budget in every department, it’s important the board looks to cut or to at least make sure our budgets are as restrained as possible.”

May, Stirrup and Caddigan did not return telephone calls for comment. Principi was not able to be reached in time for deadline. According to paperwork from the county attorney’s office, Principi spent several thousands of dollars in May on office renovations.

Staff writer Cheryl Chumley can be reached at 703-670-1907.