Budget Hearing of March 30, 2009

This was a meeting held specifically to hear the views of the citizens. After prayer from Mr. Snead the the Pledge of Allegiance, the citizens were called upon by Chairman Harville to speak. The first speakers spoke about the uranium issue. Then the remainder of the speakers spoke regarding the proposed school budget and the proposed county budget. We recorded the speakers on video, and also recorded statements from several of the supervisors and county administrator. In order to keep from clogging up this blog with too many videos, we may consider uploading two or three videos, leave them up for a couple of days, and then delete them and add a few more, until all have been available for viewing. I hadn't planned on uploading to YouTube, but it would certainly be a way to get them all up for your viewing and comparison. You can leave comments as to how you would like to see us do these videos. You may comment anonymously if you like. This site, as a new site, will be running on "trial and error" until we see what works best, so by all means, leave comments for us! Thanks. Here are the first videos from the hearing:

This first gentleman is Mike Hudson:

This next video is Ms. Karen Carter, and Chairman Harville speaks up to clarify couple of valid points:

Mr. J. J. Moore also had an opinion on the school budget issue...

Patience!

I attended the Public Hearing on March 30th. It was an interesting meeting, and in the coming days, I will post opinions from the public, but also explanations from several of the Board Members. Don't give up on me - I will get it all online within the next couple of days! Keep checking back!

Public Hearing March 30, 2009

I hope you will try to make the meeting tonight. The more people that come out to support our county, the better. This meeting is about the proposed budget. It is at 7:00 p.m. in the Edwin R. Shields Courthouse addition (the building where we pay our property taxes - go up the stairs). Click here for the official notice.

http://www.pittgov.org/documents/Public%20Hearing%20Notices/NOTICE_OF_PUBLIC_HEARING-COUNTY_AD-3.30.09.pdf

Welcome any reports

Below you will see Supervisor Ecker's Board Report to his constituents. Please note that this blog welcomes reports from any supervisors and will post accordingly. If you would like to see or hear from your supervisor, please direct him to this site and let him know that we welcome their comments.

Board Report from Marshall Ecker

March 2009 Supervisors report

It seems like the 2009/2010 budget is one of the most difficult items we have face in the history of Pittsylvania County .I know for a fact that it is the highest at $229,489,516 dollars. I just received the latest budget packet today. We will have a special Board meeting with Public hearing on March 30, 2009 .This will be your opportunity to speak again on the new increased budget if you missed the first two hearings. With the snow and power outages in the Northern part of Pittsylvania County the Board voted 7 to 0 to have an inclement weather policy in place. Anytime the County offices are close due to bad weather any meeting or Public hearings will be canceled for that night. At lease there will be no confusion if a meeting will be held or not. Very few citizens braved the elements to express their views on raising taxes. The turnout was much better at the adjourned meeting. I had brought up a motion to send a resolution to Richmond to allow Pittsylvania County to increase the sales tax by another 1%; we already get 1% from the 5% now collected from the State. This would be a much fairer tax as it would allow everyone to contribute to pay for Bond debit. It passed 5 to 2 for the resolution.

As chairman of Legislative committee, we had two meetings on the issue of changing the County ordinances to address Uranium and creating an ordinance to address how we may or may not tax minerals mined in Pittsylvania County. We were presented with pros and cons on these issues. Now it is up to the committee to set policy and make recommendations to the full Board.

I brought a motion to the floor to bring the County's Litter ordinances up the Code of Virginia standards. The trash in Pittsylvania County is a disgrace. I want more teeth in our laws to help make our County a clean County. Two members of the Board felt that we don't have a litter problem and that citizen groups can clean up the county. That is the wrong attitude to take. It was also stated that no one has been fined for littering. Well at the current $25 dollar fine, the Sheriff is not going to waste his time, but if the fine was $250 that could make the difference. This change would not cost you, the citizen, anything to put in place as long you don’t get caught littering. The vote was 5 to 2 to advertise a Public hearing to change the County's Litter ordinance and will be held at April 6,2009 Board meeting. Pittsylvania County Beautification Week is April 5 to April 11, 2009. Lets make Pittsylvania County a Beautiful County by picking up or cleaning up some trash. We had a citizen request that the County provide a dumpster on his property to clean up a dump site. We felt that this would set a precedent for other citizens wanting the same. We did vote 7 to 0 to waive the tipping fee for this citizen, and this will be on a case by case basis for any other citizen requesting same favor in the future.

The motion by Mr. Davis for a stronger resolution to the mining commission failed 4 to 3. I can’t see where we can have too much protection in place for the citizens of Pittsylvania County. This is where we need to make sure we are doing our best to protect the future. Some members of the Board felt that we have done our duty and now move on. We need to go beyond and above the call duty. So we sent our own resolution to the mining commission. It may not have the blessing of the full Board, but I want to make sure I’m doing my best for the citizens of our county. Another resolution from Mr. Ingram requesting Virginia Power to be more responsive in future power outages passed 7 to 0. The board also discussed concerns on frequency of assessments and how they are required by the State. A motion passed 7 to 0 to send a request to Richmond to change that formula. The Board voted 7 to 0 to spend $186,121 dollars for two new compactors and new roll off truck.

A contract for the Mega Park was tabled at this time for rewording of contract interest rate. The contract for Regional Industrial Facilities Authority (RIFA) passed 5 to 2. I had voted against this contract.

If you want to see the full Board of Supervisors packet it is on our web site http://www.pittgov.org/ look at the calendar of events and you will see the Board packet listed under meeting dates. This is a tool for all citizens to use and help to keep a watchful eye on County business.

Feel free to contact me by telephone (434-335-5967) please no phone calls after 9 PM or you can e-mail me at any hour marshall.ecker@pittgov.org I want to know your thoughts or ideas on issues that are important to you.

Corrections to last meeting

I mistakingly put some wrong information, regarding proposals failing. I have corrected the information in the meeting coverage - and here it is, so that you will know: Two corrections on the blog site.

1. The Litter ordnance passed 5 to 2 in favor of public hearing which will be held on 4 -6 -2009 Board meeting.
2. The resolution for 1% sales tax passed 5 to 2 in favor of sending it to Richmond .Mr. Harville and Mr. Barber voted against both items.

Editorial from DS

I just want to thank the people that are beginning to read this blog. This is a project to bring non-biased reporting of some of the issues in the county. Taxes is one of the big issues now - and it's not a "cut and dry" issue by any means. The taxes in Pittsylvania County have been very low in state comparison. From what little I know on the subject, the only localities I know of that have lower taxes are those that have another source of revenue, which at this time Pittsylvania County does not. Therefore, if we want to stay current and competitive - if we want economic development, if we want nice roads and county services, then we must expect to pay for these things.

However, at this time, under the present economic stress that our county - our country - is under, it is my opinion that the county should find some strategic ways to at least leave the tax rate alone - for a year or two. It is up to our leaders - our supervisors - to consider alternative sources of funding. We need to quit putting bandaids on our problems. We need to have leaders that have more forsight than just looking to the current situations. We need visionary leaders that can set goals, and track goals - look far ahead into the future of our county and region. We need leaders who want to truly represent the citizens of this county - all the citizens, not just the ones that vote for them. I believe that Marshall Ecker is a leader of this caliber. He is not my district representative, but I see him continually thinking outside the box - I see someone that is not concerned about whether or not he'll get voted in next time around - he is simply concerned about doing his best to help his county. If he is wrong, he admits he is wrong - and if he's right, he carries his purpose, whether he has support from the other supervisors or not. Hank Davis is right there with him as well, and I thank Mr. Davis for this. I don't always agree with Hank - but it's my personal opinion that Hank is not doing the job to boost his ego - he just really cares about his contituency.

There are too many others that are just in it because it makes them feel important. They have a special ignorance all their own. Our leaders need to be in a process of continual improvement, continual education. They need to understand technology - and they need to use it. They need to at least have a basic understanding of the intense global competition that we are facing - yes, Pittsylvania County is facing global competition and, like it or not, we have to be ready.

Well, I digress. I need to get back to my opinion on the tax hike: I say, tighten your belts boys - your citizens can't afford to pay the hike right now....do you understand that we are in a serious nationwide recession? Maybe it hasn't affected you yet, but it is crippling some of our citizens. Other localities are NOT raising taxes as planned - and Pittsylvania County needs to follow suit. And we need to find alternative sources of funding...there are other ways that localities raise money. But that's subject matter for a later editorial!

Disagree with me? Than by all means - let us know. Leave your comments!

March 17th Meeting of the Board of Supervisors

Tuesday night’s Adjourned Meeting was also a meeting for the public to speak their thoughts about the tax increases. Several citizens also signed up to speak about uranium mining.

First up was the uranium mining issue. Debra Lovelace spoke about the strange levels of lead in the ground water since test drilling had been done on the Coles property. She cited two particular wells, one well had a lead level of 2.83 before the initial test. Several months after the drilling, the well showed a lead level of 17.9 – the danger level is 15. Another well had a reading of 2.12 in January of 2008. After the test drilling, a test in August on the same well, showed a devastating 97.8 lead level. Mrs. Lovelace brought in two bottles of water – one with good water, and the other with contaminated water and asked the Supervisors if they wanted to choose one to drink from. Of course, no one did. Watch Debra's speech here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SGrqlJ2urc&feature=channel

Phillip Lovelace also spoke, saying the real estate taxes was a big part of the county’s revenue, and if the mining operation was allowed, that the value of real estate would drop drastically, also dropping revenue for the county.

Mrs. Watlington spoke also, detailing a long and happy life on her farm in Pittsylvania County – a farm that she envisioned leaving her two sons and their families – but she nor her family would want to be here if mining was allowed so close (5 miles) to her home.

Mr. Allen Gross also spoke along the same lines. It appears that no one in Pittsylvania County has anything good to say about the uranium mining venture.

Debra Dix spoke, asking for an ordinance from the Board of Supervisors against mining in our county. She said that after reading about mining all around the world, it appears that it is not safe anywhere, and destroys the land.

Rezoning Cases were heard, and all that were brought before the Board were approved. If interested refer to the agenda for the meeting to see what zoning was approved.

THE TAX DEBATE – or not.

Dan Sleeper, County Administrator, showed a power point presentation, detailing the budget. This budget in on the http://www.pittgov.org/ site, on the home page. About 17 people went to the podium on the tax issues.

All of them were in unison as they begged the Board of Supervisors to cut the County budget rather than raise taxes on an already over-burdened population.

Sylvia DeShazor spoke and told the story of her husband and herself, having good jobs at Dan River Mills until both were laid off. Now, although they both have employment, it doesn’t pay much. She told the Board that back in the ‘70’s she remembers bringing home around $100 a week – and lately, with her time being cut at A.C. Furniture, she has actually brought home a check for $120! As she finalized her statements to the Board, she asked a remarkably simple, but pointed question to Board Members: How do you get $20 from $8??? Watch...



Richard Shumate spoke as well, asking “When will it stop? You are taxing our land, our cars, our phones, our utilities…people on a fixed income can’t keep paying more and more, when there isn’t any more to get! Mr. Shumate’s rousing speech got a round of applause throughout the audience!



Ms. VanClef spoke (sorry, I missed her first name), and told the Board that not only did she want to see no increase in taxes – she was asking for a decrease. She said there were costs that could be cut, and she wanted to see them do it. To see Ms. VanClef speak to the Board click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtrvNQP79xg&feature=channel

Mary Catherine Plaster (Former Senator Charles Hawkins aid) spoke to the Board about the plight of the retired citizens on a fixed income, and those having to care for them, as well as their own households.

To keep this brief, I will not go through each and every speech that was made…but basically everyone was in agreement with the fact that a this is not the time for burdening the tax payers with higher taxes – not when the economy is in such upheaval nationwide and people here are struggling to keep food on the table – when jobs are in short supply and costs everywhere are skyrocketing. Also a point well made was the fact that the budget should be trimmed accordingly – as the people are having to tighten their belts, so should the county.

NEW BUSINESS

In new business, Hank Davis tried to push through another resolution against the uranium mining. He was of the opinion that you could not do enough to make the “powers that be” aware of the fact that the citizens wanted nothing of a venture that jeopardized not only their land but their lives. Mr. Harville said that he could not continue supporting these resolutions, week after week. He called for a vote and it was again the 4/3 split to not adopt Mr. Davis’s resolution.

Mr. Ingram proposed a resolution directed to Virginia Dominion Power, stating that in the event of another snow storm such as the one the county endured two weeks previously, that the company needed to be better prepared. He said they were not prepared for a storm of that magnitude and they should have been. 1500 citizens were without power, many for 3 days. The proposal passed...watch



Mr. Barber wanted to move tax assessments from every four years to 6 years, by raising the population limit on the state statute requiring tax assessments to say “65,000” or less instead of 50,000 or less. Right now, if a county has 50,000 or less population their assessments can be as much as 6 years apart. Since Pittsylvania County’s population is 64,000, our assessments have to be done every four years. However, this is a state statute, and would have to be ratified at the state level, and they may not do this, since it would set a new precedent for all state localities – not just our county.

Mr. Ecker proposed amending the County liter ordinance to give it what he called “teeth.” He said the minimum fine for littering right now is $25 – while the state minimum is $250 (with a maximum of $2,500 and or 12 months in jail.) Mr. Ecker said the county is suffering a real problem with litter and the county needs to take a stand. Mr. Snead said that although he agreed that litter was a problem, he felt the county didn’t have the manpower to enforce this amendment. The vote was taken and the Litter ordnance passed 5 to 2 in favor of public hearing which will be held on 4 -6 -2009 Board meeting.

Mr. Ecker also proposed a 1% sales tax, saying that this would be a fair tax across the board – everyone in the county bought things and it could alleviate the need to raise taxes in other areas. Basically, a small tax of this size would be spread out much farther, so that the public didn’t “feel the pinch” as badly. The discussion continued, and Mr. Ecker asked to say one final thing. Mr. Harville cut him off, told him no, and the vote was taken. The resolution for 1% sales tax passed 5 to 2 in favor of sending it to Richmond. Mr. Harville and Mr. Barber voted against both items.. I will say, in an editor’s aside, that I was frankly taken aback by the rudeness that Mr. Harville clearly showed to Mr. Ecker in this public meeting by cutting him off in mid-sentence. I thought that sort of thing was saved for the backroom. Personally I think that this is exactly one of the areas that needs looking at, instead of being swept under the rug….a tax like this – a penny on a dollar would be much easier to bear across the board than what is being proposed in our budget for real estate owners this year.

In other issues, the DRBDC was granted a request for support in their endeavor to secure funds from the Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission (Tobacco Commission). Also with the dissolution of PCED, the Board of the DRBDC needs to amend the bylaws to state that the Board of Supervisors will appoint a person the Board of the DRBDC.

Mr. Sleeper reported the 2008 Lottery Fund Assessment.


Tipping fees were waived for a citizen that had originally asked the county for some help in the use of their equipment to clean up some property. (No equipment can be used by citizens for this.)

Hither Lane Highway Project proponents want 90 day to work with citizens involved to look at the right of way for this project.

Discussion about the Contracts between The City of Danville, Pittsylvania County concerning the mega park were tabled.

There were also some bid awards announced.

The Board then went into closed session.

March 17 Adjourned Meeting Agenda and Board Packet

This link should take you to the Agenda: http://pittgov.org/documents/AGENDAS/2009/March%2017,%202009%20Adjourned%20Meeting.pdf

And the Board Packet is also online, but it is 52M - way too large a document. I wonder if they are saving it as a web or screen version of the pdf. Anyway, if you have a lot of download time, here's the link to the entire Board Packett. http://pittgov.org/documents/BOS%20Board%20Packets/2009/March%2017,%202009%20Board%20Packet.pdf

Tell everyone you know to come and be a part of the local government.

Board Meeting March 2, 2009

Channel 13 news was on hand to video the huge turnout expected for budget hearings. With a state of emergency called in much of the northern end of the county, the hearings went forth on time in the town of Chatham on Monday evening. Due to the frigid weather, slick roads and almost 1000 families without power, the room was nearly empty. Most people probably assumed (like I nearly did) that since the county administrative offices were closed, the meeting would be postponed. However, the public will get another chance to turn out and speak at the next meeting on March 17. Please make every effort to attend this meeting as a public supporter - but if you simply cannot make it - we'll fill you in right here.

Marshall Ecker made a motion to amend the inclement weather policy to state that when any county administration buildings are closed due to weather, then all meetings and public hearings should be postponed. This passed unanimously.

92 year old Mr. Nathaniel Dix addressed the Board about school funding. He made a couple of valid points: he compared the school system to a child, by saying when your child asks for money and you give it to him, he will come back and ask for more. If you keep giving, he'll keep asking. There comes a point where you need to teach the child the value of the money, and how to budget and work with what he has, instead of asking for more. Mr. Dix said that year after year, the school system asks for more and more, and yet the educational expectations for our young people seem to be less and less. Mr. Dix also said, and I am paraphrasing, that what the students need is a knowledge of the basics - reading, writing, and arithmetic - and for that, you didn't need so much money - no fancy computers and labs - just knowledgeable teachers.

Ms. Barbara Hudson then spoke to the Board on behalf of Ms. Nancy Smith. The following is a transcript of the speaker's notes:

March 2, 2009
I am Nancy Barbour Smith – Tunstall Distrist

The taxpayers passed a bond referendum for a maximum of $70 million to renovate the 4 high schools.

Shortly after the referendum passed, you and the school board went to the state Literary Loan Fund, behind our backs, and applied to borrow another $30 million to renovate the same 4 high schools.

These are your numbers from the public records, adopted and approved:

In November 2007, you approved and sold $10 million in high school bonds.

On May 20, 2008 you passed a resolution to issue another $60 million in high school bonds.

How much are the high school renovations going to cost the taxpayers? Is it $70 million, or is it $100 million?

And about the Literary Loan Fund: nothing in the Board minutes shows that you informed the public of what you were doing regarding the Literary Loan Fund. We know that the School Board wanted $100 million for the high schools. We know the taxpayers approved $70 million

Are you going to use the $30 million in Literary Loan funds to redeem a portion of the $70 million in bonds we approved. There’s nothing in the record that supports any such plan. In fact, you can do anything you want with the $30 million—double billing comes to mind.

If we hadn’t found out about this through telephone calls to the State Literary Loan Fund, we’d never know that you have us set up to pay $100 million for high school renovations—or whatever.

And let’s not forget: when Davenport & Co underwrites the $70 million bond issue for the County, they get 5% commission. So on the $70 million we taxpayers have to pay Davenport $3.5 million, which comes to $73.5 million, to which is added to the interest and principal we have to pay to the bond holders.

And what about that conflict of interest with Davenport & Co? Behind the scene, undisclosed, is the fact that at least one Board member-- and I won’t mention his name here –he’s part of that gang of four-- is doing business with Davenport & Co in the amount of one-half million dollars or more. Is that why Davenport& Co has a no-bid, no competition contract with the County ? Just think of the savings we might have realized with an open bid for bond underwriting. Barely a month ago, the New York Times published an expose on the corrupt practices involved in no-bid municipal bond underwriting.

And what about the $4.13 million dollars you took from our general fund without notice and without authority, to buy land for your Berry Hill mega park. You’ve included that debt in our current budget.

The taxpayers don’t’ have to pay on a debt that you had no authority to create. So take that several hundred thousand dollar debt service out of the budget please. And start digging into your own pockets. (But Not Mr. Ecker, not Mr. Ingram).

And there are balances on bonds issued for the Brosville Industrial Park. The land there cost taxpayers $25,000 an acre to develop, according to the Deposed Mrs. Motley. You recently gave away 10-11 acres to Mr. Barber’s racing colleagues. And you devalued the land to $10,000 an acre.

So much for the success of your economic development strategy: Develop Brosville Industrial Park it at taxpayer expense, give the land away, and than call the Brosville Industrial Park a success.

Ditto for the Ringgold Industrial Park.

And what about the money wasted on Gretna Industrial Park? You gave the Gretna Industrial Park away, to shut up Mr. Ingram, but you’re still asking the taxpayers to finance a 1500 foot access road for the Gretna Industrial Park.

And is it any small coincidence that Mr. Barber is pushing so hard for the Berry Hill Mega Park—expected to cost $50 million. Not coincidently, Mr Barber owns some 95 acres near that project.

And don’t think that the Tobacco Indemnification Commission money comes free to develop the Mega Park. Every time the County gets Tobacco money, taxpayer money has to be kicked in, too. Millions of our tax dollars for a Berry Hill Project that none of the taxpayers approved. So count on more debt and more taxes for Berry Hill.

And keep in mind also: we will need to add the cost of the renovation of a closed elementary school that will be needed when annexation again becomes an issue, in 2010.

We now owe over $200 million in debt, interest and fees. With more debt to come!

Berry Hill Mega Park and the rest of your behind-the-scenes economic development boondoggles may very well be the ruination of this county because of your failure to follow the downturn of the economy and adjust the spending and debt according.

You could have actually done something constructive with Tobacco money, like ask that Broadband service be made available county-wide to all those who are unserved in this largest county in Virginia.

Mr. Sleeper said that’s not possible to get money for that, so we called the Tobacco Commission, and yes, they fund Broadband expansion, at 50%, and yes, to private companies. All we had to do was ask. But that’s money that doesn’t get passed through county hands. So our BOS isn’t interested.

I believe that when the full measure of the mismanagement of our county funds is realized by taxpayers, not many of you will be back on this board come next election. That is, if you aren’t gone before then.

From Barbara Hudson:

I want to add: When I was in university, we had to read a book called “How to Lie with Numbers.” I believe our county budget is a good example of one of the book’s techniques. We actually don’t owe $57 million for school renovations in the fiscal year 2009-2010. We owe debt service on the $70 million we borrowed by issuing bonds. So our actual expenditures, including debt service on all the county’s debt obligations and on all the monies we must use to pay for County services, salaries, maintenance, repairs, etc., is actually $57million LESS than $225,908,595 –do the math, comes to around $168, 908,595 to pay for everything we need to pay for, to keep the county running, in fiscal year - 2009 – 2010.


The meeting then adjourned rather uneventfully. We tried to make a video, but the sound was really bad in the auditorium, so we are working on getting a better camera for video recording these proceedings so that you can actually see what is going on. We have a camera "fund" right now - if anyone wants to donate, let us know :-)

Poll Results -

Do You Care What Goes On at Board Meetings in County Government?

93% polled said yes.

1 person said no
1 person said they never really thought about it.

Therefore, it is our opinion that if people knew more about what was happening in their local county government, they would be able to form more knowledgeable opinions and be able to use that knowledge to vote and participate - even if remotely - in government decisions, by expressing their opinions to county leaders.