Evening star., 1950-09-10

control over setting the salaries Of
county officials.
The board, it is held, has the
responsibility of fixing the county
budget and setting the tax rate,
but most of the money is spent by
independent boards. 1t may, for
example. fix the limit on the
school budget, but has no re-
sponsibility in what the school
board may include in their ex-
penditures for the year.
The salaries of county officials
are set by the State Compensation
Commission in Richmond. Some
times the county has had difficulty
employing good men for certain
jobs because of a limit set by the
Richmond commission. In recent
years the commission denied a
salary increase to the county agri-
culture agent. saying his pay
would be out of line with agents
in other State counties.
Fiscal Control Lacking
Fairfax County's attempts at
government reform began more
than 10 years ago, some time after
the General Assembly had adopted
the Optional Forms Act, making
possible for the people of any
county, through a referendum, to
adopt one of two government
plans-county manager or county
executive.
The difference in the two forms
lies mainly in the methods in
which the members of the Board
of Supervisors are elected and in
the methods in which powers are
granted the county administrator.
Under the manager form, mem
bers of the board, while coming
from each of the magisterial dis
tricts in the county, are elected
by all voters of the county. With
the executive form, however, Su-
pervisors are elected as they are
now-one from each district by
voters in the districts alone.
Under the manager form the
county administrator is selected
by the Board of Supervisors, and
he. in turn appoints all depart
ment heads under him. The ad-
ministrator. under the executive
form, recommends to the board
the appointments to be made and
the board maintains the ap-
pointive power.
In 1910, Francis Pickens Miller.
then a resident of Fairfax and
its representative in the House
of Delegates, introduced and got
through the General Assembly q
law now generally known as the
MILLER Act"
Mr.. Miller, a believer in county
government reform, did not be-
lieve at the time that either plan
provided by the Optional Forms
Act was best suited to Fairfax
County. Thus the Miller law was
an attempt to provide a special
government plan for his own
county.
The Miller law placed the
School Board under the Board Of
Supervisors, set up county ad-
ministrator, but maintained the
separate Offices Of treasurer and
commissioner of revenue, which
are combined by both plans under
the Optional Forms Act.
1t is ironical that a referendum,
held in Fairfax after Mr.. Miller
failed to be returned to the Vir-
ginia House, was not on the form
Of government provided by the
Miller Act, but on the county
executive plan. The referendum
failed to carry.
Varied Results Predicted
While in Loudoun County even
the strongest proponents of gov
ernment reform doubt if refer
endum this fall will carry, even
those in Fairfax, who are against
reform generally, concede that q
change of government is inevi-
table.
Such questions as better schools
more closely in touch with the
people; garbage and trash dis
posal; more adequate sanitary
facilities, and other government
services are entering into the
campaign. Even some of the
most conservative residents of the
rural areas have expressed the
opinion that Fairfax is tagging
and that change is in order. It
has been charged by many groups
that the Board of Supervisors has
not been as progressive as 1t
might have.
With the Fairfax campaign
hardly started, the issues already
have been clearly drawn and un-
doubtedly will be fought out on
the two main differences In gov
ernment plans - representation
oAAA o0AAAAA14oO1 dG1fC POWCl .. 0l IC11ys
they are:
Advocates of county manager.
coming mostly from the urban
areas. say at-large election of
supervisors will give the areas of
greater population a greater voice
in government.
Under the executive plan, with
supervisors elected by districts,
they charge that II per cent Of
the county's residents will have
as much voice in government as
the 80 per cent living in the ur-
ban sections.
They argue also that the man
ager plan. by giving full appointive
powers to the administrator, who
in turn is selected by the board,
will free the board from personnel
problems. This will allow the
board to devote full time to legis.
lative and policy matters.
Advocates of the executive plan
refute these arguments by point
ing out that Fairfax is not a