Do you believe user fees for service, in the county, should continue as they are presently? i.e.: library programs, transfer station, vehicle, library and transfer station closures and so on.
CLIFF BICKFORD (DALE)
Chesterfield County has utilized User Fees for years as a way to keep real estate taxes lower. I believe that this pay as you go approach to certain government services that are only used by a portion of the community is appropriate.
JIM HOLLAND (DALE)
I am committed to reviewing and eliminating nominal fees on a case-by-case
basis. Excellence in government means evaluating our revenues and costs at least annually and making informed choices. However, eliminating fees for services that citizens want would mean replacing those fees with another source of revenue or eliminating the service, if possible. Each budget year, I have held meetings to seek citizen input regarding county services and the cost for providing them. It should be noted from citizens surveys that over 94 percent of our citizens have repeated rated county services and there associated cost excellent.
DOROTHY JAECKLE (BERMUDA)
The Board works very hard to not increase fees or taxes. There are no user fees for essential police and fire services. Our priority this year will be to restore library hours and possible transfer station hours without raising fees. Vehicle registration fees were raised to take advantage of VDOT’s 10 million dollar revenue share program to bring much needed transportation projects to Chesterfield without impacting the general fund. Any revenue from this fee is strictly used for this purpose. Many user fees are for programs that target a small percentage of the population. They are also usually a combined effort of the public and private sector. When the board is prioritizing budget decisions sometimes user fees are the only way a specific program can be kept.
STEVE ELSWICK (MATOACA)
We understand that there are no free County Services. While it is not perfect, I believe we have a good balance between what is paid for with revenue from taxes and what is supplemented by user fees.
