LYNCHBURG, Va. – The Lynchburg City Council met Tuesday evening with Monday’s chaotic public hearing still fresh on everyone’s mind.
The meeting started with almost 45 minutes of deliberation after City Councilman Martin Misjuns proposed a vote to give those who didn’t get to discuss the tax increase Monday a chance to speak.
Opponents of the proposal said that Monday’s public hearing was in the past and wished to move on with Tuesday’s planned agenda.
“We have a full agenda tonight and have a lot to get over,” At-Large City Council Member Stephanie Reed said. “I think that we need to go ahead and get that done.”
Meanwhile, proponents of the vote believed that public dialogue was shut down and wanted to give those people a chance to speak.
“It was clear that there were a lot of people who were upset that they didn’t get an opportunity to address this. And if there is anybody here that was here last night that wants that opportunity, I think that’s our number one priority is to hear from all of you. We need to iron that commitment, and we need to hear from any of you that want to speak,” Misjuns said.
Mayor Larry Taylor, who said he took full responsibility for Monday’s meeting, did break a 3-3 tie by voting to approve Councilman Misjuns’ vote, which gave six people a chance to say their peace at the podium.
“I’m not the only one here that’s retired. I’m not the only one here on a fixed income,” one resident said. “I’m not the only one here that’s retired and on a fixed income that doesn’t approve of your methods.”
Eventually, discussion began on the first reading of the upcoming budget. Even these discussions grew testy.
“This whole budget process, if I were to give it a grade, it’s an F. It’s an F. It really is,” Misjuns said. “This budget contains - what did I say? - $14 million in new spending? $14 million in new spending. That is an over 5% increase.”
Eventually, City Council voted to go into closed session to discuss the budget ordinances.
A second reading will be conducted on Monday at 10 a.m., with the inclusion of a special ordinance to set the car tax rate at $3.