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03-30-2009 BOS Adjourned MeetingAdjourned Meeting March 30, 2009 VIRGINIA: The adjourned meeting of the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors was held on Monday, March 30, 2009 in the General District Courtroom of the Edwin R. Shields Courthouse Addition in Chatham, Virginia. Coy E. Harville, Chairman, called the meeting to order at 7:02 p. m. The following members were present: Fred M. Ingram Tim R. Bazber James H. Snead William H. Pritchett Henry A. Davis, Jr. Marshall A. Ecker Coy E. Harville Callands-Gretna District Tunstall District Dan River District Banister District Chatham-Blairs District Staunton River District Westover District Mr. William D. Sleeper, County Administrator and Clerk of the Board, Mr. John P. Light, Legal Counsel, Ms. Kim Van Der Hyde, Director of Finance, and Ms. Rebecca Flippen, Deputy Clerk to the Board, were also present. Mr. Snead gave the invocation and led the pledge of allegiance. Approval of Agenda Motion was made by Mr. Davis, seconded by Mr. Ecker, to approve the agenda. Motion carried by unanimous approval of the board. Hearing of Citizens Mr. Allen Gross, Banister District, thanked Mr. Davis, Mr. Ecker and Mr. Ingram on their efforts for the County and then asked Mr. Pritchett to protect his district from uranium mining, made comments about how mining would adversely affect the water and opposed uranium mining in the Pittsylvania County. Mr. Joe Spence, Dan River District, made comments to the Boazd on how unsafe mining uranium would be for this area. This concluded speakers at the Hearing of the Citizens. Public Hearing on Proposed Pittsylvania County School Budget for FY2009-2010, Totaling $89,310,600. Mr. Sleeper explained that the Boazd had advertised another public hearing for the Pittsylvania County School Boazd due to a stimulus package of $4.5 million received by the schools resulting in an increase to the budget. Mr. Harville stated that speakers would have 3 minutes to speak and after that the light would come on, indicating their time was over. Mr. Harville opened the hearing at 7:12pm. The following citizens spoke: Mr. Nathaniel Dix of the Westover District made comments opposing the budget and the proposed tax increases and felt everyone needed to read the Constitution. Mr. Mr. Chazles Turner of the Tunstall District stated he had voted against the school bond referendum and was opposed to a tax increase to help pay for the school renovations, believing the school budget should be reduced instead of increased. P41 Adjourned Meeting March 30, 2009 Mr. Mike Hudson of the Dan River District felt there were fewer children in the school system and questioned why the school budget was increasing if that were in fact the case. He made further comments opposing the school budget and proposed tax increases. Mr. J.J. Moore of the Dan River District made comments opposing the school renovations and felt the money spent on that should be going towards improving the quality of education. He said he sent his daughter to a private school to get a better education and that's where any extra money for the school budget should begoing-to improve the quality of education. Ms. Karen Carter, who lives in Mt. Hermon, opposed the school renovations, the proposed tax increases and proposed utility fee increases, and the school budget, and felt salaries and benefits like cars and cell phones, should be cut from the school budget. Ms. Carter said she felt she should not have to pay for someone to drive back and forth to work. She further stated that she thought the schools should have been maintained better all along instead of waiting and having to do these major renovations to keep them up. Mr. Harville stated that the Board didn't normally do this, but he wanted to make a clarification about the school budget. The reason this public hearing was going on tonight was because of the stimulus money coming from the federal government to the schools and the County cannot control how that money is spent. While the school budget is part of the overall budget of the County, the Pittsylvania County Boazd of Supervisors had no control over the school budget; the school budget was under the accountability of the School Board. The County is mandated by the State to contribute a local contribution azrived at by the State formulas. He continued to state that as far as the cars, the Boazd had approached the School Board several times in the past, asking they look into reducing the number of cars assigned for take home travel, as the County itself had done a few years eazlier but the school board elected not to reduce its fleet use. The Boazd of Supervisors could not force the School Board to reduce its budget. He urged the citizens here speaking out against the school budget to attend the school boazd meetings and budget hearings with their concerns they were voicing here tonight. Mr. Joe Spence of the Dan River District stated the majority of tax revenues collected in the County comes from retired homeowners and the working class who do without a lot of things to have and keep a home to live in and feed their families, and felt a means test should control who pays for the school renovations bonds. In other words, the people who have children in schools should be the ones paying for these renovation bonds. This concluded the speakers for this public hearing. Mr. Harville closed the hearing at 7:40pm. Public Hearing on Proposed Pittsylvania County Budget for FY2009-2010, Totaling $229,489,516. Mr. Sleeper explained that, again, mostly the changes in the County budget requiring a new public came from the schools receiving the $4.5 million stimulus package. The County made the following budget reductions: reduction/restructuring- reducing some salaries and cutting out some jobs; transferred capital funds and reduced those by $195,000; adjusted and took out the money for the Landfill Closure Plan; and reduced local funding for the schools by $250,000. The County also lost funds as the property tax on vehicles is down by 14% and because the vehicle values in the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) book dropped 14% and the County was required to lower its estimated income to match the NADA values, which cost that additional loss of revenue. Thus, the County budget increased $4,300,000, a little less P42 Adjourned Meeting March 30, 2009 than the school stimulus package generated increase. Mr. Harville opened the hearing at 7:4 l pm. The following citizens spoke: Mr. Nathaniel Dix made comments opposing an increase of budgets and increase of proposed taxes and should suggested salary reductions of County employees. Mr. Charles Turner of the Tunstall District was opposed to any tax increase whatsoever and urged the County not to plan a budget with money they did not already have. Mr. Turner further stated that the County should try to hurry and get their proposal to the State of the local 1 % Sales Tax increase; that was the only fair tax increase for everyone. Mr. Mike Hudson of the Dan River District made comments opposing any tax increases and urged the County to collect all delinquent taxes first. Mr. Harville pointed out that the Board of Supervisors does not govern the Treasurer, Ms. Teresa Easley. She is a Constitutional Officer elected by the people. Ms. Easley has been working diligently to try to collect taxes owed and it has been in the newspaper of property sold by the Treasurer's office to collect some of the back taxes owed. Mr. J.J. Moore of the Dan River District made comments opposing tax increases. Ms. Deborah Lovelace of the Callands-Gretna District made the following suggestions the County should look at instead of tax increases: the County make changes in Land Use; sell industrial parks that aren't producing; and not to develop new industrial parks at this time. Mr. Marshall Blair of the Callands-Gretna District made comments opposing real estate tax increases. Ms. Sylvia DeShazo of the Dan River District made comments opposing any sort of tax or utility fees increases since so many people were like herself, having been laid off and living on a vastly reduced income and had no money for any increases. She urged the Board to keep this in mind when they vote on the budget. Mr. Joe Spence of the Dan River District does not agree with local government spending taxpayer dollars to develop industrial parks and does not agree with tax increases. He feels that poor leadership in the Country's government has led to having to constantly tax the citizens. Mr. Richard Shumate of the Westover District questioned where the people of the County will find money in their budgets for the proposed tax and fee increases the County has advertised in its budget and opposed development of the Mega Park project. This concluded citizen comments on this public hearing. Mr. Harville closed the hearing at 8:16pm. Mr. Ingram stated he thought it was important for the citizens to know there would not be a tax increase this year if the $70 million school bond referendum had not passed, but it did by 63% of the people in this County and it has fallen upon this board to pay for this bill. Motion was made by Mr. Davis, seconded by Mr. Ecker to adjourn the meeting which unanimously approved by the Board. The meeting adjourned at 8:20pm. P43