At the City Council Retreat, each member was asked to name their Top 3 priorities for the coming year. Some went more than 3; some fewer. The following are their priorities, from the official list distributed this morning:
Bob Dyer
1. Lynnhaven Parkway Phase XI (i.e. punch-through to Chesapeake)
2. Centerville Turnpike expansion (Indian River Road to Lynnhaven Parkway)
3. SGA #2
Jim Wood
1. EIS/AA/Community Conversation: Light Rail and Public Transit
2. Animal Shelter
Ron Villaneuva
1. SGA #2
2. West Bayside Recreation Center
3. Dome site
Glen Davis
1. Major Projects and Funding
2. City Revenues Diversification
3. Transit Solution: EIS/Next Steps
4. Aged Properties/Commercial Areas
John Uhrin
1. SGA Process and Infrastructure Changes
2. Retool DED around Tourism, Military, Energy, Health care, and Agriculture business
3. Rudee Walk
4. Dome site
5. convention center headquarters hotel
Barbara Henley
1. Comprehensive Plan: Adoption, link to CIP, and Strategic Plan
2. Agriculture Business Growth
3. Public Transit: EIS/AA/Public Information & Engagement
4. Open Space: Funding Mechanism
Rosemary Wilson
1. Revitalization of Commercial Centers
2. Animal Shelter
3. 17th Street Corridor
4. Transportation
Louis Jones
1. Western Bayside Recreation Center
2. Community Resource Center
3. Water/Sewer Infrastructure: Wesleyan Drive - Burton Station
4. Dome site
5. Lesner Bridge
6. Packaged Projects with dedicated tax
Harry Diezel
1. Transportation: Road Maintenance Funding and Projects
2. Neighborhood Revitalization
3. Infrastructure Maintenance Program
4. Fiscal Stability
Bill DeSteph
1. More Job Growth and Expansion
2. Transportation Projects
3. Offshore Energy (Wind & Natural Gas)
4. Animal Shelter
Will Sessoms
1. Funding Mechanism for Packaged Projects
2. Open Space: Funding
3. Something for Employees
The list was hand-written by Facilitator Lyle Sumek. I dropped descriptions on a few for brevity. In addition, a couple were listed with one word only (one priority each of Bob Dyer and Rosemary Wilson), and I couldn't figure out what was meant even after looking at my own notes.
7 comments:
Nice list. Thanks for reporting it.
However instead of raising the taxes on all of us, the city should bill for the 30,000 ambulance transports completed every year. Collect from the insurance companies and users instead of the property owners is a better method to collect 6-8 million every year. A 2 cent tax increase will raise 11 million but that has to be split with the school system. A 6-8 million EMS fee is a single fee that the city doesn't have to share. Every city in Hampton Roads charges the fee and has for many years.
Excuse me for not supporting a tax increase until the city starts collecting the fee for the services we already provide. BTW: They excuse will be "people will be afraid to call 911" but they call everyday all across HR so please do not fed me that excuse. Oh and "volunteers will quit" but that excuse was used when we hired 50 career paramedics so that doesn't float either.
Centerville Turnpike + Lynnhaven Pkwwy: Needs to be done, now! (my old neighborhood and we've waited a long time for it)
@William: You're not the only one who feels we need an Ambulance fee
Thanks for the reply. Frankly charging the fee And providing a percentage incentive to the volunteers to actually staff ambulances is the smart way to run this program.
I'm not opposed to any of the building projects but we need to be smart about how we fund them and operate. Raising taxes is not the first place we should go. The EMS fee is a renewable funding stream that grows every year.
Bill:
Aren't there medical insurance ramifications involved? I don't know, I'm asking. I would think that insurance premiums are calculated based upon region and overall cost. Put simply, wouldn't that just raise insurance premiums for those that elect to have coverage?
The cost of health insurance is set by the region. look at your own ploicy and you will find you are already paying each month for that service. If you notice, the rates are not cheaper in VB because the service is free. The Health Insurance plans provided to VB city/school employees provides $5,000 a year in emergency coverage which is what the employee and taxpayers fund. However the insurance company doesn't have to pay in VB AND they get to keep the monthly premiums too! Not a bad gig if you happen to be the insurance company.
Bill:
Thank you for the response.
I would take it, that if you provided a donation for service rendered that insurance would not cover it. Or is there a reasonable fee (donation) for services rendered they would honor?
That is a good question. I'd have to say the heath insurance providers are not going to provide a refund for a donation of any kind. I'd expect they will pay the bill(if you got one) from the city for your emergency transport but I think it would be a huge reach for them to ever consider a donation as a "fee for service."
I'm no expert but I believe they are in this to keep as much of our money as they can.
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