State budget cuts during the past year have chiseled away at programs and services at the University, but they also have impacted the surrounding Charlottesville area, where state and non-profit organizations have been forced to adjust to a stormy economic climate.
Since early 2008, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine has cut about 10 percent of the state's 2009-10 budget in four phases, translating to a $7 billion total reduction, Kaine's press secretary Gordon Hickey said. According to city spokesperson Ric Barrick, Charlottesville felt about $500,000 worth of that cutback in the form of decreased aid from the state in the 2010 fiscal year, which reduced the city's total budget by 4 percent. Albemarle County spokesperson Lee Catlin, meanwhile, said state aid to her jurisdiction fell by about $600,000 in a "pretty general, sweeping reduction in funding."
Corrections Cuts
Service disruptions to Charlottesville residents generally have been minimal, which in large part has been because of hiring freezes and federal stimulus dollars shoring up state aid. But grant money for one organization supporting the arts has plummeted, affecting the arts education children receive in area schools. Moreover, the fourth and latest round of budget cuts - which Kaine announced Sept. 8 - reduced funding for the OAR/Jefferson Area Community Corrections Program, which provides probation and pretrial services, as well as reentry programs for accused and convicted offenders. Consequently, some administrators fear that future reductions could lead to long-run cost overruns for the state as the prison system faces an increase in its inmate population.
The budget of probation and pretrial services fell by 4.12 percent for the current fiscal year, while reentry programs suffered a 6.5 percent cut, said Pat Smith, director of OAR/Jefferson Area Community Services Program. These initiatives, Smith said, serve to reduce prison populations by helping released prisoners acquire jobs and reintegrate into society.
The cuts have not yet affected the level of service provided by the Community Services Program though, as it has continued to meet its budget by leaving vacant positions open and relying on current employees to pick up the slack.
"[State budget cuts] didn't impact client services because we chose not to let it," she said. "We were lucky enough or not lucky enough to have some changes in personnel so that's what helped us deal with it."
But Smith noted that if state cuts were to continue, the department would have to decrease its services, which could place strains on the regional jail system.
"You can't prove a direct correlation, but there are statistics that say that if people aren't out and working and on their feet, they're more likely to go back to jail," Smith said.
Gretchen Ellis, director of the Charlottesville/Albemarle Commission on Children and Families, agreed that cuts to criminal rehabilitation programs, such as those provided by OAR, can lead to long-run cost increases for the state in the form of a swelling prisoner population.
"It costs a lot more to incarcerate than to rehabilitate," she said. "These funding cuts, I think, have some short-sightedness to them."
Prisoner rehabilitation services have experienced budget reductions, but other local social services have largely avoided funding losses. Only two very small programs in Charlottesville's Department of Social Services saw cuts, Social Services Director Buz Cox said.
At the same time though, the recession and the rise in unemployment have resulted in an increase in demand for the department's services, Cox said, noting that Social Services is struggling to meet a burgeoning case load for food stamps, financial assistance and medical aid.
During a recession, local social service providers are often the last to see budget cuts, even as rising unemployment rates and homelessness put a strain on the city's resources, Cox said.
"We're working overtime, we're working hard," Cox said. "It's a lot of demand on people and a lot of challenges, but so far we're keeping up."
Lack of Funding for the Arts
While social service agencies have largely kept up with budget cuts, the Virginia Commission for the Arts has seen its funding plummet during the recession.
The VCA funds projects in public schools across the state and provides money for organizations such as the Charlottesville-based Piedmont Council of the Arts, which organizes arts events and programs for the local community.
Much of the VCA's funding comes from the commonwealth's general fund, and the organization has seen a 31 percent reduction in state support during the past year, VCA director Peggy Baggett said. This reduction has forced VCA to cancel programs and reduce grants for many initiatives by at least 15 percent.
Despite these large declines, Baggett said she does not feel the arts have been taking the brunt of the cuts needed to fill the state's budget shortfalls.
"Given the severity of the state budget crisis, the arts have not been singled out," she said. "Many other aspects of state services are being cut by the same amount."
Between 2007 and 2008, before Virginia's budget deficit came to light, the VCA gave $133,454 in grants to programs within the City of Charlottesville. The very next year, however, that funding fell to $83,534 and is likely to fall further still during the next fiscal year, Baggett said.
Reductions in funding have forced the VCA to cancel teacher incentive grants for the past two years, Baggett added. This program provides small grants to schoolteachers seeking to enhance their curriculum through creative arts projects.
"I think it is a critical part of education that students have the opportunity to express their creativity through the arts," Baggett said. "If you have a student who is deeply engaged in an aspect of the curriculum, that carries over to other parts - and it incorporates so many things, like language skills, teamwork, and critical thinking."
The VCA also funds artist-in-residence programs at local public schools, which allow students to engage with and learn from professional dancers, artists and musicians. The VCA has been forced to slash funding for this program by 15 percent, Baggett said. In Charlottesville schools, however, this reduction has had little effect, as the city made up the deficit, said Ed Gillaspie, director of finance for Charlottesville City Schools.
"We had already set aside some dollars, knowing the economy was going to get worse," Gillaspie said.
In all, the school system gathered $180,000 in funds at the start of the recession as a protection against budget shortfalls and funding cuts, he said. This has allowed the schools to avoid disruptions in service to students, even as the system faces a potential $460,000 deficit, he said.
As a result, programs such as the artist-in-residence initiative have been able to continue without interruption, Gillaspie said.
State lottery funds play a role in securing the school system's finances as well, as does money from the federal government's stimulus package, Gillaspie said. The stimulus has benefited local non-profit arts organizations, including the Piedmont Council of the Arts, which has dealt with a 30 percent cut in funding from the VCA, PCA Executive Director Maggie Guggenheimer said. As a result, the PCA has yet to make significant reductions in programs, initiatives and personnel for the upcoming year. The PCA continues to advocate arts education grants, such as those provided by the VCA, as significant for the area's school children and youth, Guggenheimer said.
"The VCA grants that are getting cut are really important for the state because they fill in the gaps where schools don't have the funding," Guggenheimer said. "They provide special hands-on learning opportunities for the students."
Services for the Public Good
While the economic stimulus package has helped some area non-profits and school systems maintain their usual operations, organizations such as local police departments have been forced to make changes in their operations, as significant reductions in state funding have taken their toll during the past year.
County spokesperson Catlin said her jurisdiction's police department has seen a drop in funding of $159,000 for the upcoming fiscal year, forcing the organization to make changes in the way it operates.
The Albemarle Police Department has started directing dispatch orders through the computer system installed in all patrol cruisers, eliminating the need for officers to return to headquarters to receive assignments, which also helps to save on fuel costs, Albemarle Police Lieut. Todd Hopwood said.
"We have to continue to enforce the laws and protect the citizens, but as always, we are trying to do more with less," Hopwood said.
Organizations such as the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library, meanwhile, actually have been forced to cut their services as a result of reductions in state funding, Catlin said.
Cuts in state funding will lead to 2,000 fewer new books on library shelves for the upcoming year, John Halliday, director of the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library said. The state generally provides much of the funding for new books in the library, which serves the City of Charlottesville along with Albemarle, Nelson, Louisa and Greene Counties, but it has slashed support for the library system by 5 percent.
As a result, people will have to wait longer to check out copies of best-sellers, Halliday said, and the library is looking at increasing its overdue fines to supplement the reduction in the book budget.\n"It is the state's obligation to provide books for public libraries," he said. "We hope that when the economy improves, the state will resume its support."
A Big Pothole
Even though big changes may not seem obvious in the city's provision of government services, they have been in the works for the area's road infrastructure for some time. Funding reductions from the Virginia Department of Transportation have put some highway projects on hold, and many more residents will likely feel the effect of these funding cuts compared to those affecting other service programs.
Support for VDOT operations, which include road construction and upkeep, does not come directly from the state's general fund like most state-provided services, VDOT spokesperson Lou Hatter said. Revenues from gasoline taxes and car title fees form the basis of VDOT's revenue, and income from these sources has been down during the past year, forcing VDOT to make $3.5 million worth of cuts in its budget outlook, which extends through the next six years.
"We're obviously dealing with a significant shortfall of money," Hatter said.
Funding cuts have meant layoffs for 450 part-time workers across the state, and 1,000 full-time positions have been or will be eliminated, Hatter said. Road maintenance projects, including resurfacing, also will be delayed, and Charlottesville will receive less money this year from VDOT for the upkeep of its thoroughfares, Hatter said. In addition, the mowing of medians along highways and roadways will be delayed and minimized to cut costs, Hatter said.
"We're mowing [mostly to ensure] safety along the corridors to make sure we maintain adequate sight distance at the intersections and crossovers," Hatter said.
Another project that VDOT has delayed because of the funding shortfall is the widening of US-29 between the Rivanna River Bridge and Hollymead Town Center from two lanes to three, Hatter said. A total of $2.8 million has been removed from the project and transferred to other ventures.
"That's the best example in the Charlottesville-Albemarle area where a reduction in revenue has made us alter our programs," Hatter said.
These alterations usually come in the form of delaying preliminary engineering and design phases of projects so that money from these early planning stages can be spent on completing projects that have already begun.
"The projects that are already underway, that are already under construction - we want to finish them," said Hatter. "We're looking at how we can bring those projects to the conclusion of their particular phase."
All in all, then, local residents should expect budget cuts to cause more than few headaches, even if the city and state's critical services are buoyed by other monetary sources. As Orange County resident Lauren Visel noted, the current route along US-29 can be a slow one, particularly during rush hour. With multiple state funding reductions and even greater budget deficits anticipated, though, the road for everyone could get a lot longer.
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