Ramblings: Roanoke Budget To Boost Police Pay; School Board Finalists Picked; Money Race Starts for Mayor, City Council

What are Ramblings? Ramblings are a collection of short items that have caught our attention for one reason or another. We’re on the lookout for tidbits related to money in politics, data, business, civic engagement or interesting events. Think you know of something that could be a Rambling? Drop us a line at editor@roanokerambler.com and we may well write about it. Happy reading!

Roanoke budget would boost staff pay

Roanoke City plans to spend $379 million over the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, on education, police, fire, infrastructure and other city services.

City Manager Bob Cowell presented his budget Monday to City Council, which will adopt a budget May 13.

The budget reflects a 6.7 percent increase over last year’s — a roughly $24 million boost — mostly attributable to increases in property values and state grants.

Roanoke City Public Schools will receive about $107 million under a longstanding formula that steers 40 percent of local tax dollars to the district.

The city will commit nearly $100 million for community safety, which includes the following increases in starting pay:

• $49,555 for police officers
• $47,150 for firefighters
• $54,870 for paramedics
• $65,871 for a new corporal rank at the sheriff’s office

Much of the increase in tax revenue over last year — about $11 million worth — will go to address employee compensation, which includes public safety pay bumps, bringing certain city staff to new compensation minimums and adding a 3 percent pay bump for employees.

Other highlights to the budget with more modest costs include:

• Youth recreation program increases of $250,000 
• City Council training increase of $17,500 for a total budget of $50,950
• Homeless encampment cleanup costs increase of $67,500 for a total of $175,493
• Reestablished deer culling program at a cost of $40,000

Next, Council will hold a public hearing about the budget and city tax rates on Thursday, April 25. Leaders will hash out any changes to Cowell’s proposed budget on May 6 before adopting the blueprint the following week.

Council picks school board finalists

Roanoke City Council has picked seven finalists to serve on the school board.

Interviews will be held publicly on May 6 with the following candidates:

• Milton Hardy, Jr.
• Keri Garnett
• Deidre Trigg
• Siclinda Canty-Elliott
• Michael L. Cherry, II
• Auraliz Quintana
• David Howell

Three-year school board terms are up July 1 for Cherry, Mark Cathey and Diane Casola. Cathey, who was first appointed in 2015, is term-limited and Casola is not seeking a second term.

Those who missed out on being a finalist were: Porshia Jackson, DeAnthony Muse, Tonya Goode-Gilliam and Chris Craft.

Roanoke remains one of the few localities in Virginia where City Council appoints school board members instead of through elections. The seven-person board oversees school administrators and a district of about 14,000 students spread across two dozen schools.

Council will hear comments from the public about the finalists May 20.

The time frame will pit the appointment process against Council’s revision of the school funding formula, which it aims to do every three years.

Cobb leads mayoral candidates in cash haul

Nothing says election season quite like the first campaign finance report.

This week marked the first deadline for Roanoke mayoral and City Council candidates to file reports showing how much campaign cash they hauled in for the first three months of the year.

Though the campaign is early, finance reports — showing total cash and in-kind contributions — provide an out-of-the-gate snapshot of where candidates stand in the money race.

Here are the candidates so far for mayor:

• Joe Cobb (D): $11,689.61 received total — including $7,310 in direct cash and $4,356.16 in loans to himself — with an end balance of $3,179.81
• David Bowers (R): $5,500 — $500 in cash and a $5,000 loan from himself — for an end balance of $5,000
• Stephanie Moon Reynolds (I): $4,100 total — including $3,000 in cash from herself — with an end balance $2,410.74

Among City Council candidates whose finance reports went live:

• Phazhon Nash: $12,685.14 total — including $5,369.51 in cash — with an end balance of $1,948.61
• Terry McGuire: $11,977.50 total — including $11,225 in cash — with an end balance of $10,738.44
• Benjamin Woods: $4,011.02 total — including $1,828 in cash — with an end balance of $1,384.87
• Jamaal Jackson: $0 reported in contributions, with $4,725.85 in loans, mostly to himself from his 2022 Council campaign

Those Democratic candidates will face a June 18 primary to decide that party’s nominees for the Nov. 5 general election.

Campaign finance reports do not appear for Republican Council candidates Nick Hagen and Jim Garrett. Hagen said his campaign committee did not go into effect until April 2, meaning the first financial report may not be required to be posted until June. Garrett did not immediately respond to an email Tuesday.

Three Council seats are up for election, with the departures of Luke Priddy and Trish White-Boyd and with Moon Reynolds running for mayor instead of Council.

More candidates could still enter the races for mayor or Council. Independents have until June 18 to declare.