September meals tax up 2.6%

September 2010 meals tax collections exceeded September 2009 by 2.6%. Additionally, we remain ahead of budget projections for the current fiscal year. This is great news as it indicates that overall business for restaurants has increased - people are spending more money at restaurants in the city than expected.

Year to date, Roanoke City Public Schools have received $35,000+ more than they had expected or budgeted for. If the trend remains and meals tax revenues continue to meet or exceed expectations, our schools will receive the funds budgeted for and our city restaurants will have improved business overall.

I'll continue to update the numbers monthly.

Full Council dinner tonight to support meals tax/Roanoke City schools

Tonight City Council will gather to go on a progressive dinner in support of the temporary increase in the city's meals tax for the sole benefit of Roanoke City Public Schools. The schools faced an enormous deficit this year, mainly caused by funding cuts to localities out of Richmond. Council made the tough decision that a lack of responsibility in Richmond didn't merit similar irresponsibility in our own policy making decisions. Given the significant progress made in our schools over the course of the past two years, Council supported the temporary increase in the tax to stave off major programmatic cuts in the schools.

The dinner will begin with appetizers at Table 50 downtown, then proceed to Thelma's Chicken & Waffles on Orange Avenue for dinner. To conclude the evening, Council will travel to Pop's in Grandin Village for dessert. This dinner shows a strong commitment on the part of Council to support our local businesses while also supporting necessary funding for our schools.

I'm hopeful that the media will cover this positive, community-oriented and important event that shows a united Council working together to better our city. It's an opportunity to highlight an improved working relationship amongst Council Members, and one that is definitely newsworthy.

Regardless, it's the right thing for Council to make efforts to support our local restaurants during a time when few options left us with little choice but to increase the tax over the next two years. I'm really looking forward to it.

Emergency Measure to Aid Schools Passes

Yesterday, Roanoke City Council passed an emergency measure to help offset the massive funding cuts being leveled by the state to aid the Roanoke City Public Schools for the next two years. This occurred in the form of a temporary 2% increase in the city's prepared food tax, and will raise more than $4 million per year over the next two years to protect such critical urban educational programs as summer school, Spanish for elementary students, and most importantly the maintenance of reasonable class sizes, among others.

Nobody likes to raise taxes. And without question reduced spending and targeted cuts should be undertaken. But it's important that we remember that we have made massive cuts, reducing spending last year by nearly $10 million (the schools cut nearly $5 million last year). Additionally, the city will cut another $10 million this year and the schools will cut an additional $5 million. To say that the city has not cut and reduced spending and seeks only to "tax and spend" is simply not true.

The future of our city, I'm convinced, is directly linked to the success of our schools. Adding $1 to a $50 meal, with the resulting revenue this will generate, is a small price to pay when looking towards the economic and social prosperity of Roanoke.

Council deserves kudos for the courage and foresight to make a very tough decision (the state limits our ability to make these sorts of local decisions) to temporarily raise the meals tax to stave off the devastation of our schools. It's a tough decision in the short-term but I believe, if approached correctly and with our planned marketing campaign, that our restaurants will benefit from increased support from residents who recognize that without a solid school system the future holds less promise. And as a temporary measure, the city and schools will have the opportunity/necessity to restructure how we conduct our affairs and find more efficient ways to deliver better outcomes for cheaper.

I know that there are many who hear the word "tax" and automatically oppose it. I understand this philosophy, but I don't believe that it leads to good government. And when it comes to education, sometimes we have to make the tough decisions that make our long-term future that much more promising.

Public Hearing Scheduled on Meals Tax Proposal

Last evening City Council took the important and urgent step of scheduling a public hearing for April 5 to consider a temporary 2% increase in the prepared foods tax (meals tax) for the benefit of the Roanoke City Public Schools. The unanimous vote to move forward and hold a public hearing enables us to get over the legal hurdle necessary to bring this matter to a final vote, which should be held following the April 5 public hearing.

None of us wants to raise taxes; in fact, I'll be the first to say that I wish I paid less taxes than I already do. But the reality is that lawmakers in Richmond are not fulfilling their Constitutional responsibility to adequately and appropriately fund our public schools and to provide a sound, quality education to children across Virginia. They have let us down, and have created massive budget deficits for localities that make the upcoming budget decisions exceptionally difficult.

I believe to my core that the long-term future of Roanoke is directly linked to the success of our schools and the quality of the students that benefit from those schools. A temporary, 2% increase in the meals tax would provide more than $4 million to our schools, helping to keep class sizes reasonable with the potential to help save 4 year-old pre-kindergarten and other programs that most benefit urban youth.

I'd love to believe that we have no need to raise revenue, or that something less than 2% on the meals tax would suffice. But the whole $4 million+ that a temporary 2% increase would create is needed. This is the reality that City Council faces. And last night was a bold move by each member of Council.

Meeting with Educators

The Roanoke Education Association held a membership meeting yesterday to discuss the current state of education funding and to discuss any efforts to try to affect final decisions being made in Richmond.

They also invited City Council to attend the meeting and offer a few words. I'm happy to report that the sense I got was that the educators who were able to attend the meeting are fully aware and understand the consequences of the decisions being made in Richmond to cut massive amounts of funding to our public schools. For the last couple of years, and certainly for the next several years, teachers and educational staff have been and will be asked to do more work with less resources, teaching larger classes with less materials offered. We have some of the very best educators in the state, and I think we should all be confident that they will do their very best to help work through the current situation.

I also addressed the meals tax proposal that I made several weeks ago. I believe that the matter is urgent and that City Council should deal with the need for more revenue sooner rather than later. All my colleagues on Council are working exceptionally hard to navigate the current financial crunch, and I believe that in the end we'll make the right decisions.

Emergency Relief for Schools

Rosen Proposes Two Year, Emergency Meals Tax Increase

Says School budget needs short-term, immediate fix

ROANOKE, VA- Roanoke Councilman Court Rosen today proposed an emergency, two-year increase in the city’s prepared meal tax of 2% as short term fiscal first aid to provide the Roanoke City Public Schools needed breathing room amid massive state cuts to public education. The measure would help fill an enormous funding deficit within our schools and also alleviate significant pressure on the city’s budget, preserving public safety and other essential city programs and services.

“As a small business owner, the last thing I like to see is increased taxes, particularly during difficult economic times,” said Rosen. “But within the next eight weeks our schools must adopt a budget for next fiscal year, and we must look at what's best for the education of kids by trying to keep class sizes lower and preserving programs that benefit our urban youth.”If enacted, a 2% increase in the “meals tax” would have the following impact on the cost of meals in the City of Roanoke:

· On a $10 meal, it would add 20 cents to the cost of the meal
· On a $25 meal, it would add 50 cents to the cost of the meal
· On a $100 meal, it would add $2 to the cost of the meal

“This is only one proposal that deserves a public, transparent and vigorous debate,” Rosen said. “It’s important that city residents also recognize that this measure, while directed to fill a funding gap within our schools, will relieve significant pressure from the city’s budget, preserving needed programs and services delivered by hardworking, qualified employees of the City of Roanoke.”

The next two fiscal years are projected to be exceptionally difficult in fulfilling needed educational, economic development and social programs. If enacted, City Council should revisit this tax increase at the end of the next fiscal year, and should the economy rebound sooner than expected, the Council should revert the meals tax back to its current level. If, as expected, the next two fiscal years are as tough as expected, the sunset clause written into the proposed ordinance would guarantee the tax would end following the next two fiscal years.

“Additionally, this proposal stresses that any tax increase should sunset and end on June 30, 2012 and should be enacted only as a temporary measure and not as a ‘new’ source of revenue that either our schools or the city become reliant on,” said Rosen. “It would be a short-term, emergency tax to fill an emergency need that has been forced upon us at the state level.”

Rosen stressed that this proposal should be debated in the upcoming budget sessions that City Council will soon begin, and that he looks forward to other discussions, proposals and solutions by others to what soon could be devastating funding cuts leveled by the Commonwealth at our public schools.