The Shadow
LOW MOOR – Clifton Forge is asking Alleghany County to consider a tax-abatement program to encourage improvements to older properties.
Tuesday, Clifton Forge Town Councilwoman Johnette Roberts introduced the idea to supervisors during a meeting in Low Moor. Roberts said Clifton Forge is set to act on its own tax-abatement program March 23.
Roberts said the Clifton Forge plan would provide tax incentives for rehabilitations of properties that are at least 40 years old. In return, the property owner would not pay full real estate taxes on the improvements for 10 years. The improvements must increase the property’s assessed value by 25 percent.
“We want real rehabilitations and improvements,” Roberts said.
In years one through six, 100 percent of the taxes on the increased assessed value would be waived by the town. The abatement would drop to 80 percent by year seven, 60 percent by year eight, 40 percent by year nine and 20 percent by year 10.
Roberts said Clifton Forge will hold first reading of an ordinance to create the tax abatement program March 23. The Clifton Forge plan is being modeled after tax-abatement programs that are being offered in Norfolk, Danville and Fairfax County.
Roberts said that if supervisors do not want to offer a countywide tax-abatement program, they should at least consider one for Clifton Forge through a special district.
“Since the county gets the lion’s share of the real property taxes [in Clifton Forge], it would be most beneficial if we both did it,” she said.
Roberts said older homes in Clifton Forge are attractive to residents of metropolitan areas that are planning to retire and relocate in more rural settings. Roberts and her husband moved to Clifton Forge from the Washington, D.C., area and quality-of-life issues heavily factored into their decision. She noted that several new businesses, including Jack Mason’s Tavern, have recently located in downtown Clifton Forge and the tax-abatement program will serve as an incentive to facilitate more growth.
Supervisors said they would research the idea further before making a decision.
“I like it, because it’s different. It’s not going to cost us a lot of money, one way or the other,” Supervisor Chairman Steve Bennett said.
But Falling Spring Supervisor Rickey May said he must see cost projections before endorsing any tax abatements.
“I’ve got to see some numbers about what it does, one way or the other, to help me understand it better,” May said.
County Administrator John Strutner said Commissioner of the Revenue Valerie Bruffey is already researching the matter.
“We don’t have a rural area like us that we can really look to as an example,” said Strutner, who noted that Danville, Norfolk and Fairfax County are all municipalities.
While supervisors talked about tax abatements and other ways to grow the area’s economy Tuesday, Strutner delivered another bleak assessment of the upcoming budget process. He said that due to cutbacks from the state, the county will be hard pressed to maintain services without raising taxes.
“I don’t think we can balance the budget with only cuts,” he said.
Strutner said there has been much discussion about the county’s $18 million fund balance since it was reported in the Virginian Review March 3. Follow-up comments in the newspaper’s “Shadow” column have created a public perception that the county has an $18 million surplus at its disposal.
“As long as he [The Shadow] has been around, he ought to know the difference between a fund balance and a surplus,” Boiling Springs Supervisor David Price said.
The county is required by law to maintain at least 10 percent of its operating expenses in a fund balance, Strutner said. With expenditures in the county budget standing at $110 million, the county is required to keep $11 million in its fund balance.
Strutner noted that the county’s General Fund has been decreasing in recent years. In 2007-2008, the General Fund stood at $$32.8 million. It fell to $32.1 million in 2008-2009 and $31.7 million in 2009-2010.
“In the last two years, we have reduced our General Fund budget by $1 million,” he said.
The public also needs to understand that Alleghany County has a limited real estate tax base, Strutner said. Fifty percent of the land is owned by the U.S. Forest Service and excluded from taxation. The county also provides tax exemptions for land use, elderly residents and disabled residents.
“When people have to wonder why we have to raise taxes, you have to take into consideration the base that we begin with,” he said. “If we make cuts, we are going to have to drastically cut services, and I am not talking about line items.”
Some analysts are predicting that it will take Virginia five years to return to economic levels that existed prior to the recession.
“This is probably the biggest challenge that those of us that are post-Depression Era babies will see during our lifetimes,” Strutner added.
Bennett said Alleghany County is better prepared to handle the financial storm because government is used to dealing with lean budgets.
“As conservative as we are, we can probably make it through this if we have some moderate growth,” he said.
Bennett said the number of applications the county has received for a job opening in its Public Works Department indicates how tight the economy is. Public Works Director Chris Clarke said the county received 60 application since the a vacancy for a sanitation worker was advertised in the newspaper two weeks ago. The job pays $7.50 to $11.50 an hour, depending on experience.
“That is a good indication of where we are in this economy right now,” Bennett said
Supervisors took action Tuesday on a project they hope will bring high-paying jobs to the county.
By a 7-0 vote, supervisors approved a purchase option on abandoned mine property in Low Moor. The option increases the total land available for purchase to 38.7 acres. The former Low Moor Iron Company mine property is owned by K.A. Sizemore and Sons, a general partnership.
The Alleghany Highlands Economic Development Corporation is marketing the property as a potential site for an underground data security center. The project has the potential to bring up to 300 high-paying jobs to the county, David Kleppinger, executive director of the Economic Development Corporation, said.
Kleppinger said the amended purchase option approved by supervisors Tuesday merely clarifies which portions of the property are available for purchase.
“This is a result of finding out exactly where the mine is underground, as opposed to where we thought it was,” he said.
Three properties in Virginia are being considered for underground data security facilities, with the Low Moor mines being northernmost in proximity to Washington, D.C. Kleppinger said the EDC expects to know by the end of the calendar year if the Low Moor project is viable.
In other business Tuesday, supervisors:
– Agreed to pay 50 percent of legal costs incurred by the Citizens Committee to Perfect a Consolidation Agreement. Covington would pay the remaining 50 percent.
– Heard comments from Janet Nelson, vice president of the C.P. Jones Memorial Library Board of Trustees.
Nelson asked the county to provide the library with level funding due to budget constraints, However, she asked supervisors to change funding to the library in future years based on usage of the library. Nelson said that 57.7 percent of the library’s patrons reside in Alleghany County, while 42 percent live in Covington.
– Appointed Nelson to the League of Older Americans advisory board.
– Appointed Mac Campbell to the Industrial Development Authority.
