County Taxes
TAXES AND MORE TAXES - WHO CARES?
November 9, 2008
If you have been paying attention to what has been going on with our Board of Supervisors and County Administrator, you should be worried about what 2009 holds for us unrespected Giles County citizens.
(a) Reassessment of county real estate:
This will result in higher taxation of our real estate holdings.
They can call if what they want but it amounts to nothing more than a play on words
and the interpretation of how much we are taxed. They can make it appear that they
have reduced our tax rate while in effect they have raised the amount we pay in taxes.
Oh yes, they can fall back and blame it on the State of Virginia, which requires a real
estate property reassessment as follows:
§ 58.1-3252. In counties.
There shall be a general reassessment of real estate every four years. Any
county which, however, has a total population of 50,000 or less may elect by
majority vote of its board of supervisors to conduct its general reassessments
at either five-year or six-year intervals.
Nothing in this section shall affect the power of any county to use the annual
or biennial assessment method as authorized by law.
(b) Governor Kaine’s Budget Reductions:
Now here is where the rubber meets the road when it comes to localities being
screwed by the State of Virginia.
Our County Administrator had a plan all worked out to borrow money from the State
Literary Fund to finance a portion ($15 million) of the proposed and approved school
maintenance debt for repairs to Eastern Elementary, Giles Technology Center, and
athletic field various maintenance of lights and bleachers at Narrows and Giles.
Along comes Governor Kaine and his budget cuts and out goes County Administrator
McKlarney’s great plan.
So where is the money going to come from to perform the identified actions at these
schools? For one, the $15 million dollars will possibly have to be borrowed from
another lender at a higher interest rate, which means higher taxes for county
citizens.
(c) How many of you are aware of how much tax money from county citizens is
being “given” to Carilion for construction of their new hospital?
Don’t take for granted that all of that construction behind Walmart is being paid for by
Carilion and other business developers. No, the good citizens of Giles County are
paying approximately $1 million dollars for construction of roads and
infrastructure. It doesn’t stop there; we citizens are also paying a few million
dollars toward construction of the hospital. I say a few because to my knowledge it
has never been made public as to the exact amount that the county has agreed to
pay for the hospital.
Keep in mind that this hospital will also be of great service to Monroe County, West
Virginia citizens; are they paying anything toward construction of the hospital?
Ask County Administrator Mr. McKlarney or Assistant County Administrator Mr.
Belcher, they live in Monroe County. Maybe you should ask Board Chairman Eric
Gentry who went to school in Monroe County in lieu of a school in Giles County
where he resided. This helps to explain why we have so many Monroe County
residents employed by Giles County government. These jobs should and could be
performed by Giles County residents!
(d) How about the rather silent subject of what Giles County will do with the old Carilion
Hospital, that is being given to the county by Carilion. This is sort of like me giving
the county a house that is full of asbestos and making it appear that the county is
better off for having received and accepted my generous gift; A gift of liability.
Any attempted use of the old hospital is going to cost county taxpayers. Now, if the
county sold it to a business we could collect real estate taxes but it isn’t likely that
our County Administrator will make that recommendation to our supervisors that
just sit and wait for him to tell them what to do.
There are more business related expenses that County Administrator McKlarney will be proposing to our supervisors, who will readily say yes to spending more of our taxes to fund these “Failing Follies”, just as has been done for most of the business recommendations from Mr. McKlarney. It has become a joke among those who understand how Mr. McKlarney has bilked taxpayers to enrich and fund business projects within and outside of Giles County. Once again I repeat; “The champagne taste of Mr. McKlarney isn’t what we need in Giles County.”
Giles County: Cadillac of the New River Valley
February 24, 2008
Giles County collected more money per capita ($2,437) than any other locality in the New River Valley for the tax year that ended June 30, 2007. The median for Virginia cities and counties was $2,701 and this includes northern and eastern Virginia, areas known for much higher taxes than we folks in southwest Virginia will ever see (I hope!).
This should concern every county taxpayer because it is a yardstick to measure what we get for what we spend. Do we have better than average roads? No. Do we have an abundance of sidewalks throughout the county? No. Do we pay our school teachers as much as teachers receive in northern and eastern Virginia? No. Do we fully fund a county fire department? No. As a matter of fact, exactly what county services do we receive other than garbage collection, water in some parts of the county, and sewer in some parts of the county? The county provides funding for libraries, public schools, some recreation, social services, and one heck of a lot of money to various New River Valley regional authorities, planning commissions, and of course that all important airport near Dublin (what would Giles County do without it?). Constitutional offices receive some county funding, probably, in some cases, more than what we get for our money.
Our county Treasurer is an example of taxpayer money well spent. Mr. Duncan performs numerous functions that go beyond that of his predecessors and he does it very efficiently and effectively. He should probably be the business manager for our county public schools and then we would see positive results in getting the most for the money spent on education within the county. As a matter of fact, Mr. Duncan would make an excellent county administrator because he has demonstrated his ability to operate frugally, efficiently, and effectively.
Giles County is in desperate need of positive change. If we can’t change our elected officials, can we somehow change other leaders in the county who continue to influence more county spending than we average taxpayers can afford?
The new hospital is receiving county subsidy for site development for the new hospital, the hospital ambulance service receives county subsidy to the tune of in excess of $160,000 per year, the Giles County Partnership For Excellence has received county financial assistance and we all know the dark side of this organization, county supervisors recently voted to approve bonus payments to Social Service workers, the county has approved untold millions of dollars for public education without requiring any accountability as to whether the schools are operating efficiently, and we probably don’t know where many other non-essential expenditures are going.
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Accountability!
Where is it and why hasn’t it been insisted upon by our county supervisors?
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During my campaign for election to the Giles County Board of Supervisors, I alerted citizens to the fact that the present group of elected officials will approve projects that will substantially increase taxes in the county. The first issue that will require tax increases is upon us; county school renovations. This is a critical issue and one that requires serious evaluation. I’ve made a recommendation on this site that these renovations be prioritized and funded by priority, as funding is available. Even this method of resolving this important issue will still require the county to increase taxes. Therefore, I recommend that our county administrator be directed by county supervisors to look at cost reduction measures that can be implemented prior to any tax increase. Every county operation and expenditure should be subjected to this evaluation. The attitude of “well this is a small expense and it won’t make any difference” must be shoved aside in favor of a willingness to save every tax dollar possible, regardless of the amount. Some cost reduction measures might seem trivial but the sum total of all implemented measures will produce a significant savings that won’t require more taxes from our citizens. Examples of non-critical cost reduction measures are as follows: (1) Eliminate financial compensation to county supervisors, school board members, members of county boards and commissions: Estimated annual savings - $85,000.00 (2) Eliminate practice of providing a county vehicle to the county administrator and any other appointed administrative employees: Estimated annual savings - $50,000.00 (3) Eliminate financial support to: (a) Virginia’s SW Blue Ridge Highlands: $ 500.00 (b) NRV Planning District Commission: $11,152.00 (c) NRV Airport Operations: $ 7,178.00 (d) NRV Alliance: $ 16,657.00 (e) SWVA Economic Development Commission: $ 1,000.00 The total annual savings to the county, if the above examples were implemented, would be $171,487.00. This equates to an approximate savings of .02 cents per hundred dollars of assessment on the county real estate tax rate. These examples aren’t inclusive of every non-essential county expenditure, all of which should be equally evaluated for elimination or reduction. It is this approach that the supervisors have never bothered to undertake. The time is upon us, as citizens, to advocate performance of such an evaluation. The time is upon us to acknowledge that we might have to forego some county services as necessary to minimize county expenditures. Education is very important, as is health and safety issues within our schools, and we must find ways to accommodate these critical needs. However, as we do this we should be very selective as to how we spend taxpayer money in all areas of county government and administration.