More than a dozen residents spoke out against proposed tax increases and the proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year at the April 28 Patrick County Board of Supervisors meeting.
Jane Fulk said she does not support raising taxes to balance the budget.
“It looks like we have a problem with spending more than we have with revenue. If I don’t have the revenue to come into my house I can’t spend the money, and that looks like what we have,” she said.
Fulk noted that unrestricted funds increased by $4 million since January, indicating the county may not have a revenue problem. She also criticized Blue Ridge District Supervisor Steve Marshall’s proposal to increase the personal property tax by $0.16 per year over three years.
“Because that takes away the right of the citizens to have any say for the next two years and beyond,” she said.
Fulk cited the county’s demographics — 28 percent of residents are over age 65, with 10 percent of them below the poverty line — and said 23 percent of children live in poverty.
“We need to look at taxes because that seems to be all we can think about to bring in money here. Raising the TOT (Transient Occupancy Tax) not only affects Primland, which I know is a big supporter of the TOT, but it also affects the small cabin rentals, Airbnbs, and others who only have small places,” she said.
She also criticized recent raises for county employees, saying half a million dollars in raises followed $1 million in raises last year and appeared to benefit the same employees.
When she worked for the county, Fulk said departments were asked to cut budgets a certain percentage annually. Depending on the percentage that needed to be cut, she said that was accomplished with varying levels of difficulty.
“I also did not receive a raise every year that I worked here, and I worked for the county for 35 years. If we didn’t have the money, nobody got a raise. If we had just a little money we got the cost-of-living raise. And if there was more money, we got a larger raise,” she said.
At the last board meeting, Kurt Bozenmayer said the budget shortfall had been reduced to under $200,000, and the board seemed to agree on using undesignated reserve funds to cover it.
“Where they disagreed, however, was on the means to replenish this excessive reserve piggy bank. One supervisor advanced a reasonable approach: increase the personal property tax rate, not to exceed the ‘average’ employed by surrounding counties, and spread this increase over three years,” he said.
Bozenmayer said Marshall explained the tax would mainly affect residents with high-value vehicles or “other pricey toys” and would eliminate the need to raise the real estate tax.
Another supervisor, concerned about a similar increase in the machinery and tools tax, suggested focusing on attracting new businesses. Two others, he said, supported raising the TOT to generate revenue.
“One offering his opinion that this would not impact county residents. He obviously did not seek the opinion of the Patrick County Lodging Association, or he failed to remember that the pervasive theme of the recent Tourism Summit was that we urgently need a hotel to serve as a partner in obtaining tourism grant funds. Oh, I guess that that supervisor did not attend the Tourism Summit or follow up on its results,” Bozenmayer said.
Because the budget shortfall is not caused by tourists or visitors, Bozenmayer said it is disingenuous to try to recover the funds from them, potentially discouraging tourism.
“We don’t see a lot of hotel operators lined up to open hotels here now, and that situation won’t be improved by raising the TOT rate,” he said, adding he was glad the legislature capped the TOT at seven percent.
Malcolm Roach said it is outrageous for a county of about 15,000 people to carry nearly $36 million in debt.
“The $2.4 million proposed before starting” the budget process “should have been tossed in the trash. This is like jacking up the price of a car from $20,000 to $30,000 and then a week later trying to say it’s on sale for $25,000,” he said.
Roach said the county should freeze and cut its budget by 10 percent. “Then you might be making some progress,” he said.
He criticized the rationale of comparing Patrick County to others.
“If your friends jumped off a cliff, would you jump with them?” he said, adding that just because other counties carry debt doesn’t mean Patrick should.
Roach also said the county has a moral obligation to its younger generations.
“I think we’re failing. Why would a young person grow up here and find out they’re in debt and they’re going to have to pay our bills because we can’t control our spending? It’s not right. It’s not fair,” he said.
Crystal Harris urged the board to avoid raising the personal property tax or TOT.
“I was on the board when both of these were started, we worked long and hard to get it going. Don’t make what that money can bring in for what you can get. Work with it,” she said, adding that passing the personal property tax originally was painful for board members.
Valerie Loy said some county employees are overpaid.
“The county administrator voiced her frustration in January over people being upset about pay. I don’t blame her—I would have took the pay myself,” she said.
Loy said residents are frustrated at the high salary and the required assistant.
“That’s costing us tax dollars. That’s our money,” she said.
She said the administrator’s salary should reflect education, experience, communication skills, population size, household income, and comparisons to neighboring counties.
“The county taxpayers shouldn’t have to continuously pay for bad decisions that our local government makes while they feel entitled to give themselves raises,” she said. The raises that are (proposed) in the packet this year, that should not happen. Our personal property taxes should not have to go up because of the local government’s negligence. We shouldn’t have to pay for people that don’t know what they’re doing in their job.”
LeeAnn Seeley said the proposed tax hike is a big deal given the county’s poverty levels — over 15 percent of children and nearly 20 percent of seniors.
“In a rural county, mass transit is unavailable. Having a reliable car for getting groceries, medical care, errands large and small, is mandatory,” she said.
Using a $27,000 used car as an example, Seeley said rising vehicle costs and taxes would mean residents could pay around $600 per year in personal property taxes in three years, compared to $351 currently. A new $48,000 car would incur around $1,000 in taxes under the proposed rate.
“This may sound like a drop in the bucket to some, but to those who are on fixed income and taxpayers of this county, it’s devastating,” she said.
Galen Gilbert said the three-year proposal is “ridiculous.”
“I just got rid of a 20-year-old Tahoe and now I have a 10-year-old Yukon. But with the value of cars as they are now, you’re about to tax me out of that vehicle,” he said.
Gilbert, who lives in a mobile home, said it’s also taxed as personal property.
“Where’s it going to stop? I understand we need revenue, but there’s also going to have to be a tightening of some belts around here because we can’t keep going in the direction we’re going,” he said.
Rachel Martin said she opposed the hike because it burdens residents already struggling with inflation.
“We all already have a lot of burdens,” she said.
Martin rejected the argument that the increase would only impact wealthier residents.
“Just because you have a lower income doesn’t mean that you don’t have to go out and buy a new car or a newer vehicle,” she said.
Vance Agee said inflation has impacted everyone, while county employees continue to receive raises.
“What I also think is paltry is the salary you guys get paid,” he said, noting that board members don’t receive annual cost-of-living adjustments, but other departments do.
Janet Rorrer, former Commissioner of Revenue, explained that the machine and tools tax is $1.71, and the personal property tax rate is $1.87.
“Machinery and tools tax is not your average business tax — it is only on manufacturers that take the raw product and make it into something else,” she said. “The business personal property tax — most businesses are in that.”
For instance, she said a $125,000 valuation under the machinery and tools tax would yield $2,137 in taxes. The same valuation under the personal property tax would yield $2,337.
If the rate were raised to $2.20, that amount would increase to $2,750.
“By law, those two rates don’t have to be the same, but just keep in mind you’re throwing your businesses out of whack,” she said. “Small businesses are struggling anyway.”
Steve Helms, vice-president at Primland, said the TOT was originally intended to support tourism and promote the county.
“I see how much is paid and how much money those owners put into this county” and in reinvesting in the property, he said.
Last year, Helms said Primland and its guests paid over $1.25 million in county taxes, with $617,515 from TOT alone.
He said Primland’s owners have never taken profit out, reinvesting everything back into the property. I’ve worked for them for 40 years and we’ve got a lot of employees that’s been there a lot of years, I think more than 97’s been there for more than five years. Last year’s peak season we employed 275 employees, and a lot of them are county residents,” he said.
While Primland’s owners keep building onto its property and investing into the county, Helms said more taxes kind of take that incentive away.
During his tenure with Primland, Helms said the owners have never taken any money back.
“They’ve always reinvested back into this property. I’ve never sent them a check back, so all that moneys’ been reinvested back into this county,” he said.
Al Biela raised concerns about a proposed event ordinance, particularly about safety and ensuring TOT collection at large events.
“If there’s an event with 600 or more tickets being sold and EMS numbers are published, that’s putting pressure on the county,” he said.
Steve Ferring said criticism of employee salaries is misguided.
“Nobody works for nothing. Salaries should be competitive, and it doesn’t do any good as far as I’m concerned to set examples when you’re talking about other peoples’ income and livelihood if you don’t want to show your own,”” he said, encouraging fairness and transparency.
Ferring also thanked the board for presenting a balanced budget.
