Take a look at where your tax dollars go

Several troubling examples of poor management by groups who rely, at least in part, on tax dollars from Norfolk  have come to light recently.

One very high profile case was an employee who working for the Norfolk Community Services Board (CSB), who received approximately $320,000 in pay and benefits over 12 years WITHOUT WORKING A DAY. CSB is an independent agency created by the state and funded with state and federal tax dollars.

The employee was suspended from work in 1998 and the agency continued to pay her despite the fact that she never returned to work.


Of course, Norfolk city officials say that have little jurisdiction over the CSB, despite the fact that Norfolk City Council appoints the CSB's governing board AND the city handles the CSB payroll. Oh, and the city attorney's office provides the CSB with legal counsel as well.

Prior to that, the city began investigating the director of the Norfolk Interagency Consortium for running up more than $10,000 in charges on a city credit card that she could not document.

Then there's the case of the Southeastern Tidewater Opportunity Project (STOP), which is nearly broke and is being investigated by the Commonwealth of Virginia for numerous infractions, including allegations that it did not accurately deduct payroll taxes. Plus, some employees earned bonus in excess of $100,000! STOP is a "non-profit" with an annual operating budget of $20 million, comprised of private donations as well as federal, state and local funds.

At least one member of City Council feels like these groups need to be help accountable and wants to bring them under the control of city government. For example, Community Services Boards in Chesapeake, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach are part of the city governments.Although, that begs the question if city government can appropriately oversee these agencies, when they themselves have exhibited questionable behavior on more than one occasion through the years?

As a