Budget director Tippie retires after 17 years
By Don Del Rosso
Bryan TippieAge: 61
Work: Fauquier County budget director
Home: New Baltimore
Military service: Retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, 1968-1989
Education: Master’s in human resource management, University of Utah, 1975; bachelor’s in business administration, Central Missouri University, 1968
Family: Wife, Teresa; children, grown daughter, deceased son; 3 grandchildren
Budget director Tippie retires after 17 years
By Don Del Rosso
Times-Democrat Staff Writer
A few years ago, county Budget Director Bryan Tippie promised his wife they would return to their Missouri childhood home in the summer of 2008.
Tippie put it in writing.
Eighteen months ago, his wife Teresa, a retired elementary school music teacher, dusted off the document, telling him, "‘Here’s my contract’," Tippie recalled, laughing. "‘And I’ve got a good lawyer.’"
Earlier this year, Tippie gave notice that he would retire after 11 years as the county's budget director.
Before that he served six years in the same post for the school system.
He leaves the $99,500 job for Sedalia, a small town about 80 miles east of Kansas City, with mixed feelings.
His last day in the office will be June 20.
"I live seven minutes from work in one of the most beautiful places in the world," said Tippie, who moved to Fauquier 22 years ago. "And I get to do what I’m good at. You know what they say. The job you love isn’t really a job. This is not really a job."
Still, his personal life comes first, the 61-year-old New Baltimore man said.
"I love this job," said Tippie, who provides budget and capital project analysis and recommendations to the county administrator and the board of supervisors. "But my duty to my family overcomes any love I have for the job. My wife’s gone all over the world with me. She’s had to raise the kids periodically by herself while I was" overseas with the military.
In 1989, Tippie retired as a lieutenant colonel after 21 years in the Army.
He quits county government at this time with some reluctance because of the difficult fiscal issues Fauquier faces.
Like local governments throughout the region, Fauquier has suffered significant declines in revenue because of the weak economy.
The scheduled August opening of Kettle Run High and Greenville Elementary schools near New Baltimore has further compounded the county’s money problems.
The cost of both schools accounts for most of this year’s 12-cent hike in Fauquier’s real estate tax rate, which stands at 76.5 cents per $100 assessed value.
Funding county government and school system operations will remain a big challenge at least until the economy begins to rebound, Tippie said.
But the budget director believes Fauquier’s long-term capital projects plan looms larger.
It calls for $500 million in construction (mostly for the school system) during the next 10 years.
"I don’t see us having that kind of money for a while," said Tippie.
He believes Fauquier should hire a consultant to determine the county and school system’s space needs. It would be expensive but worth the investment, Tippie said.
"Some of [the buildings planned] may never come to fruition, because things have changed," he said. "The other thing is it’s just too expensive. You have to ride it out. You have to get by with what you have."
The budget director works for the county administrator, not county departments or the school system.
"My responsibility is to get these departments as much resources as I can to get them to do their jobs," Tippie said. "But they’ve got to convince me first. I’m from Missouri. Show me, right?"
That requires him sometimes to "step on somebody’s toes," but so be it.
"I am the county’s honest broker," said Tippie, placing his right hand on his chest. "I say exactly what I think, based on years of experience."
County Administrator Paul McCulla and his predecessor Bob Lee wanted the facts, not spin, he said.
The county administrator "doesn’t want me to be a yes-man," Tippie said. "He told me that a long time ago. Speak your peace (piece)."
McCulla and others who have worked with Tippie say the budget director always provides clear and unbiased analysis.
"It’s helpful to have someone who will give you his unvarnished thoughts on an issue," said McCulla, smiling. "And Bryan does that."
He described Tippie as "driven to get the budget done and get it right," McCulla said. "He puts in incredible hours, sometimes to the detriment of his health."
From February through March, when the budget review for the next fiscal year ramps up, Tippie works six days a week and frequently into the early morning hours.
"I’m a Type-A-plus-plus-plus personality," said the budget director, who suffers from high blood pressure and last June took up golf to ease job stress.
"I wish people like {Tippie} would stay around forever," said Planning Commissioner Jim Stone (Cedar Run District), who served on the county’s capital improvements plan (CIP) review committee, which Tippie staffed. "He’s an invaluable asset, a wonderful magician with the numbers. He never played politics. Always straight-up. Good or bad. It didn’t matter."
Paul Blackmer also served on the CIP committee.
"Bryan would always give all sides," Blackmer said. "He was really a straight shooter, very ethical. He had opinions, and it was always for the good of the county, not a personal thing he wanted done."
Budget Analyst Betty Brooks has worked with Tippie for about 17 years.
"The county’s going to miss him," Brooks said. "I don’t think they know how much."
McCulla hopes to hire his successor by the end of July.
As of mid-May, the county had received 15 applications.
The budget director's starting salary ranges from $79,189 to $102,940.
E-mail the reporter: ddelrosso@timespapers.com