Honestly we as a community are rich enough (and united enough politically) to say 🖕 to the Trump Administration if it came down to things like this. It may soon be time to put our money where our mouths are.
Honestly we as a community are rich enough (and united enough politically) to say 🖕 to the Trump Administration if it came down to things like this. It may soon be time to put our money where our mouths are.
1) In a way, isn't this giving them what they want? Let some of what they'd deem "liberal elite" communities go out-of-pocket to retain DEI policies/programs AND the programs that currently receive federal funding? Meanwhile, many of the ones who don't have that financial power comply, and the ones who don't just white-knuckle it hoping they don't get targeted? Let's not forget that advancements in AI can enable extensive, swift analysis for compliance audits, even as human personnel reductions impact the overall enforcement of this mandate.
2) Having the reserves on hand to weather the storm for a few years is the major underlying issue with our recent fiscal mismanagement. We've discussed the prospect of a referendum in other posts here, but we could have had one on the ballot this spring just as you posted about a little over a month ago. And yet, ZERO deliberations about it, at least in public. Considering the phased SDRP included ~$15M in Phase III reductions, it's pretty shocking this wasn't considered. Any counter-argument around affordability concerns should have been discussed publicly by the same group of people who rubber-stamped the maximum annual tax levy increase request as usual.
Honestly we as a community are rich enough (and united enough politically) to say 🖕 to the Trump Administration if it came down to things like this. It may soon be time to put our money where our mouths are.
Yes we are, but a couple of things:
1) In a way, isn't this giving them what they want? Let some of what they'd deem "liberal elite" communities go out-of-pocket to retain DEI policies/programs AND the programs that currently receive federal funding? Meanwhile, many of the ones who don't have that financial power comply, and the ones who don't just white-knuckle it hoping they don't get targeted? Let's not forget that advancements in AI can enable extensive, swift analysis for compliance audits, even as human personnel reductions impact the overall enforcement of this mandate.
2) Having the reserves on hand to weather the storm for a few years is the major underlying issue with our recent fiscal mismanagement. We've discussed the prospect of a referendum in other posts here, but we could have had one on the ballot this spring just as you posted about a little over a month ago. And yet, ZERO deliberations about it, at least in public. Considering the phased SDRP included ~$15M in Phase III reductions, it's pretty shocking this wasn't considered. Any counter-argument around affordability concerns should have been discussed publicly by the same group of people who rubber-stamped the maximum annual tax levy increase request as usual.
I was thinking the same thing about Williamsburg VA.