A pivotal year for Culpeper
By Staff
When the future "they" come to pore over our documents, letters, votes and papers, they will consider 2008 as a pivotal year for Culpeper – both town and county.
It was the year consolidating both beneath the county banner was studied, discussed, and eventually put into motion. Questions that demanded answers really had none. What were the benefits of consolidation? Is the area in which we live a better place if we erase a town that has been in existence for some 250 years? Will this one government approach give us the tools and opportunities to improve our quality of life?
While consolidation talks advanced, the real estate market was crumbling. Through the first quarter of the year, the area averaged one foreclosure per day.
The real estate market was hit with a combination of factors that created the perfect storm – unscrupulous lending practices encouraged buyers to overextend their abilities to pay, fuel prices soared higher than at any other time in history, increasing food prices took an ever-bigger chunk out of family incomes, and the job market tightened.
While the federal government was giving away money it hoped would stimulate the economy, Culpeper wrestled with the undeniable need to raise taxes. Project after needed project was caught in the budget crunch. Program after program, department after department, felt the sting of doing more with less. Sometimes doing more with nothing at all.
Nowhere was the sting more severe than in the schools. A lack of funds had people wondering if the schools could maintain the level of education for which they are known. Would there be the activities, events and special classes that older generations enjoyed?
We do not yet know how these issues and questions were handled. We only know the importance of doing so.
All we have now is the faith that in the end we will do the right thing.