DATE: Sunday, May 11, 1997                  TAG: 9705100144

SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON   PAGE: 12   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY TONI GUAGENTI, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  137 lines

SURVEY SHOWS SMALLER CLASSES, BETTER LIBRARIES ARE PRIORITIES

Improving the city's libraries and reducing class size in public schools ranked at the top of residents' priorities in a recent informal survey conductedby the Beacon.

At the bottom of residents' list: Creating a surplus fund to give the School Board greater discretion over spending and bolstering Sandbridge's beach with sand.

The rankings are a result of a Beacon survey that asked residents to rank their top 10 priorities for spending on city schools and a separate top 10 for other city services.

The survey was printed in the Beacon last month and handed out April 17 at City Council public hearings on the 1997-98 budget.

The council is scheduled to adopt the $956.9 million operating budget and the $94.5 million capital budget Tuesday.

The survey results were calculated by assigning 10 points for each first-place answer, nine points for each second-place answer and so forth.

In the schools' list, modernizing the city's eight oldest school buildings ranked second on residents' list behind reducing class sizes.

Adding computer technology and expanding alternative education programs for students who are not succeeding in the traditional classroom ranked third and fourth respectively.

On the city side, adding personnel to police and fire fell behind libraries as the highest priorities. Maintaining and rehabilitating the city's buildings, sewers and roads and keeping tax rates from rising ranked third and fourth respectively.

With these services, comes a price-tag. Like anyone with bills to pay, the city always has more needs than money.

City leaders must balance Virginia Beach's needs with the money on hand while trying to not harm services or classroom education.

Many of the survey's top issues are slated for possible referendums, in which residents would be asked to vote for tax increases to pay for enhanced services.

In the next three to four years, taxpayers could be confronted with referendums asking them to raise the real estate tax rate by 15 to 20 cents. The current rate is $1.22 per $100 of assessed property value, or $1,220 in annual taxes for a house valued at $100,000.

Future tax hikes could include:

7 cents for libraries;

7.8 cents for computer technology in schools;

2.3 cents to modernize the first eight of what could be many schools.

In the surveys, people's choices for school priorities mirror school officials' priorities in many ways.

School leaders, who must have their wishes OK'd by City Council, have proposed in next year's budget making sure no kindergarten through third-grade class exceeds 25 students, and no fourth- or fifth-grade class has more than 26.

Computer technology and modernizing the city's eight oldest schools also are priorities with elected school leaders, but might come with a hefty cost. For that reason, both are being considered for referendums, giving residents the opportunity to opt to pay more taxes for the proposals.

On the other hand, citizens' priorities for city services didn't match several of City Council's big ticket items approved in recent years.

Building a multipurpose stadium that might eventually house a major league soccer team, adding sand to Sandbridge and continuing to spend money on projects that will support the city's tourism industry - such as a PGA-quality golf course - didn't even make the top 10 list. MEMO: Data analysis by The Virginian-Pilot. Data entry by Kay Reynolds. ILLUSTRATION: Graphics

SCHOOL PRIORITIES

These are the top priorities for school spending according to an

informal survey of Virginia Beach residents conducted by the Beacon.

Ten points were assigned to each first-place choice, nine points for

second place, etc. The number in parenthesis indicates the number of

people out of the 450 respondents who ranked this as their top

priority.

1. Reducing class sizes in the elementary grades (118) 3,155

2. Modernizing the eight oldest elementary school buildings (67)

2,785

3. Adding computer technology in schools (32) 2,473

4. Expanding alternative education programs for kids who are not

succeeding in the traditional classroom (28) 2,150

5. Constructing additions to existing schools to eliminate the

need for portable classrooms (27) 2,129

6. Raising employees' salaries (72) 2,107

7. Expanding career and technical education offerings (21) 1,968

8. Expanding preschool programs for at-risk 4-year-olds (20)

1,866

9. Expanding magnet programs (Kemps Landing Magnet School,

Math/Science Magnet Center at Ocean Lakes High School, International

Baccalaureate Program at Princess Anne High School) (33) 1,617

10. Keeping construction of Lake Ridge High School on schedule to

avoid overcrowding at three other high schools (12) 1,473

11. Maintaining sports and extracurricular activities at current

levels (4) 1,318

12. Buying replacement buses (3)1,081

13. Creating a schools surplus fund to give the School Board

greater discretion over spending (7) 717

14. Education other (21)490

OTHER CITY SERVICES

These are the top priorities for spending on other city services

(excluding schools) according to an informal survey of Virginia

Beach residents conducted by the Beacon. Ten points were assigned to

each first-place choice, nine points for second place, etc. The

number in parenthesis indicates the number of people out of the 450

respondents who ranked this as their top priority.

1. Improving the city's libraries to keep up with changing

technology and public demand (58) 2,981

2. Adding personnel to police and fire departments (68) 2,723

3. Maintaining and rehabilitating city buildings, sewers and

roads (34) 2,474

4. Keeping tax rates from rising (110) 2,470

5. Continuing to improve the city's parks and recreation

opportunities (7) 1,971

6. Expanding city-run before-and-after-school activities (29)

1,967

7. Providing raises for city employees (63) 1,779

8. Spending more money to attract top-quality jobs to the city

(17) 1,605

9. Expanding the city's recycling program (10) 1,471

10. Placing more emphasis on widening city roads, such as Holland

and Laskin (9) 1,330

11. Continuing to spend on projects that will support the city's

tourism industry: including the Hurricane Protection Plan, Pacific

Avenue rehabilitation, Rudee Loop extension, championship-quality

golf course, etc. (28) 1,304

12. Providing dredging of local waterways to allow continued use

by private boaters (3) 705

13. Providing more funding for the arts (0) 688

14. Beefing up the Pavilion or building a new convention facility

(3) 593

15. Other (21) 511

16. Building a multipurpose stadium that might eventually house a

major league soccer team (1) 351

17. Adding sand to Sandbridge (8) 294

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