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.