Photo courtesy of Linda Rottman
Linda Rottman of Buchanan has announced her candidacy for the Buchanan District seat on the Botetourt County Board of Supervisors. The news release from Rottman announcing her candidacy said:
“I’m Linda Rottman and I’m running for the Buchanan District seat on the county Board of Supervisors. I’m running to give the people a new choice. The current scheme will continue to generate higher and higher taxes, spending and borrowing. It’s time for a new era of common sense fiscal responsibility.
I’m a Trump supporter and I would like to see Botetourt engage in a DOGE-style efficiency check as a standard part of the budgeting process. Let’s define what the essential functions of local government are and eliminate wasteful spending that doesn’t involve those functions. Let’s find out what return taxpayers are getting from the “investments” the board has made with the residents’ hard-earned tax dollars. Let’s dig into why the Board of Supervisors never directs the county administration to investigate cutting spending to provide some much-needed tax relief to county residents.
Our annual county budget, while still in the preliminary stage, is about $100 million, and the annual school budget about $80 million. But Botetourt citizens have bare minimum services. Let’s follow the DOGE example and find out why.
What are my qualifications? I’m retired now but I’ve had a long, varied career that has taught me many useful skills for being an effective supervisor.
One of my first jobs was waitressing to pay for my schooling. I learned there how to really listen to what people said in order to better serve them. As I canvass the Buchanan District, I’m hearing how hard pressed so many of us are by the recent tax increases. I’m hearing how fearful people are, including how afraid they are of losing their homes if they can’t meet their tax burden.
I hear you, I care, and I will fight for you. I’ll keep listening to you through regular town halls, office hours, email and phone so that l can vote in accordance with a consensus of the majority.
Later in my career, I was a UPS driver, where I learned to see the big picture rather than focusing on the next few feet of the road – a skill that goes beyond driving a truck. For example, the promise of the county planners’ “heads and beds” economic development scheme is that businesses will be attracted to the county by a growing population. The theory is that as businesses move in and pay taxes, the residents’ tax burden will decrease. But the theory hasn’t worked in practice. Our taxes have increased with development. We need a bigger – more realistic – picture to tackle the road ahead if we want to maintain our Botetourt way of life.
In the last part of my formal career, I was a trial lawyer and I learned how to dig beneath the surface to find the facts about what’s really happening. I’ve attended Botetourt School Board hearings, Board of Supervisors hearings, and public meetings such as budget subcommittee meetings. I don’t see much digging going on. The budget process essentially starts with the previous year’s total budget number as a given, and the only question is how much the increase will be. I have not observed the supervisors who are there to represent us in this process putting up any serious resistance to the administration’s proposals. That’s why I’ve gone from being a concerned observer to running for office. We need a digger, and we need transparency, so that everyone can know what’s really going on.
And now, retired and a first time farmer, I’ve come to deeply appreciate the efforts and contributions of our farmers and their deep devotion to the land, which I share. There will never be a solar or wind farm on my property so long as my husband or I own it. Although our farmers are essential to our Botetourt way of life, I fear that they have been forgotten by the county. That needs to change.
Together, We the People took our country back by raising our voices and turning out in force to vote for President Trump. Now it’s time to take our county back.
So I ask for your vote on June 17, 2025 at your usual precinct either at Buchanan Elementary School or Mill Creek Baptist Church. Early voting begins on May 2 at the Voter Registrar’s Office in Fincastle.
~ Submitted by Linda Rottman
