1 Public Hearing Monday, May 9, 2011
The Appomattox Town Council held a public hearing on Monday, May 9, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. at the Appomattox Municipal Building, 210 Linden Street, Appomattox, Virginia with Mayor Harvey presiding.
Members present: Timothy W. “Timmy” Garrett, C. Lewis McDearmon, Mary Lou Spiggle, N.H. “Jimmy” Mayberry, Steven T. “Steve” Conner and Joyce B. Bennett.
Others present: Linda Wall, Jim Nolen, Spencer Coleman, Kimberly Barton, Gary Barton, Linda and Bobby Shupe, Deborah Lester, Bob Hopkins, Edna Francis, Stephanie James, Jeff Elder, Utility Director; Stacy Wilkes, Town Treasurer; Rhonda W. Guill, Deputy Clerk; Roxanne W. Paulette, Clerk of Council and C. William Gillespie, Interim Town Manager.
Mayor Harvey called the public hearing to order.
Mayor Harvey stated the purpose of the public hearing: The purpose of the public hearing is to hear citizen comments regarding the Proposed FY 2012 Budget for the Town of Appomattox – In accordance with §15.2-2506 Code of Virginia, the following is a brief synopsis of the budget proposed by the Town of Appomattox for the FY 2012:
GENERAL FUND EXPENDITURES TOURISM FUND EXPENDITURES WATER FUND EXPENDITURES SEWER FUND EXPENDITURES TOTAL EXPENDITURES
GENERAL FUND REVENUE TOURISM FUND REVENUE WATER FUND REVENUE SEWER FUND REVENUE TOTAL FUND REVENUE
1,214,108.00 97,500.00 594,624.00 833,721.00 2,739,953.00
1,214,108.00 97,500.00 594,624.00 833,821.00 2,739,953.00
Documentation has been available in the Appomattox Town Office, 210 Linden Street, Appomattox, Virginia from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Bill Gillespie, Interim Town Manager applauded the efforts of the Finance Committee and all of Council for their work in preparing the FY 2012 Budget for the Town of Appomattox. Previously, the revenues were not supporting the expenditures, a $160,000.00 deficit. The committee and staff looked at the last several years. A tax increase would have nearly doubled the tax rate to make up the difference. So, the committee began comparing services to staff. It was the consensus of Council to balance the budget based on projected revenues. Council decided to fund the Priority and Initiative from fund reserve. The Priority and Initiative project includes a reviewing the
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sewer department for a possible sewer expansion, repairing/replacing sidewalks, and $280,000.00 for additional and future items of work.
Mayor Harvey opened the floor for public comments and reminded each speaker of the five (5) minute limit for comments.
Public Comments:
Linda Wall – 126 Atwood Street, Appomattox, Virginia I own a business on Atwood Street. I opened the business here because of its Tourism potential and of its rich historical heritage. I have been very discouraged at what I have seen happen since I have been trying to get ready for a grand opening the 15th of last month. Over $100,000.00 was cut out of our tourism budget. I grew up and spent most of my life in tourism haven - from the battlefields of Petersburg, Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown. We are so blessed in Virginia because we are so blessed in history, and many people fail to see the vision of how rich we can be and what an economic asset tourism is.
I received this brochure this week from the Virginia Tourism Cooperation, instant revenue for Virginia, that’s what tourism is. Tourism is one of Virginia’s most powerful industries. It provides instant revenue to the state. Tourism generates billions of dollars in tax revenue and supports hundreds of thousands of jobs for Virginias. In 2009 tourism generated $17.7 billion in revenue. It supported 204,000 jobs; it provided $1.24 billion in state and local taxes. State tax revenues by tourism in Virginia are enough to pay for salaries and benefits for 11,000 new state police officers. Enough for education of 76,000 Virginia students and enough to maintain 57,000 miles of Virginia roads annually.
So I am here tonight to ask council to reconsider the slashing of $100,000.00 out of the tourism budget, when tourism is an economic development asset here that has never been developed. So I closed with this little clip of Virginia CEO’s talking about the economic development that Virginia tourism brings. The video was show.
Jim Nolen –
I want to thank the Mayor and the Town Council and compliment you on the job you are doing. I also want to thank the office and the field people, we are very fortunate here.
I am here to oppose the reduction in budget for tourism. I believe we have a prime product here to induce business, and if you don’t believe me you should get in the real estate business and see the views of the people that come in from outside, they thinks it’s just wonderful. I would suggest we work together with the county to jointly fund an aggressive effort through one or more individuals to represent both the town and county. I can’t see somebody trying to do tourism and skidding to a halt at the town corporate limits or vise versa. It’s like trying to ask a deputy sheriff to serve one magisterial district in my opinion, they need to work together and help pay for it. And for anybody that thinks the efforts to date didn’t produce what should have produced revenue wise. How
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do you know it wouldn’t be a lot less? We spend thousands and thousands of dollars in advertising in our business and half of it, as the old saying goes, half of it is wasted, the problem is we don’t know which half, but if you stop you are dead in the water for sure. So I think we have to keep doing what we have been doing and better.
As far as the Visitors Center, I think it is the ideal place to help the merchant’s downtown. And that is what it was deigned for, with all the money spent downtown to enhance Main Street with lamppost and everything else you could not get a better Visitors Center than the old train station, it’s just absolutely perfect.
Spencer Coleman –
I represent the Chamber of Commerce and I can’t say much more than these people here have said, I support what they say entirely. I got in the mail the other day this brochure all the way from West Virginia, now they spent that much money for tourism to send it all the way for over here 100 miles away to get people to come there and participate in their tourism program. I just think we need to support tourism and I will just leave it at that.
Kimberly Barton –
Hello, thank you for this opportunity to speak, and everyone said some good things just now. I have a business here and I have been here around 2 years, I am going on my 3rd summer. In August 2009 is when I started, I say things were going pretty good then, the economy was taking a down turn but I will tell you I think the economy is getting worse and it is a real struggle.
I have a copy of an article, the Town of Appomattox researches initiatives priorities for the future, in here is the bullet point evaluate opportunities for potential site and provide capital expense to relocate Visitors Center. The purpose to relocate Visitors Center is to increase traffic and visibility of the Visitors Center. I put in pen a question, where do you want to move the Visitors Center? I have talked to other people, they are struggling with their businesses. I acknowledge there seems to be a tug of war between county people and town people, there seems to be a way to work together. There are advantages and disadvantages with decisions we make, but we can work together. I ask you to examine and evaluate yourselves and ask yourself do I put the people first, do I have a servants heart, do I want what is best for everyone? Often times it is human nature to let greed get in the way, we put ourselves before others, but we know Gods way is to be a servant and to put others before ourselves. I will also do whatever I can to help the business. There is a very special spirit downtown; you don’t want to kill it. If you kill it you kill community. We need a revival here. We need to inspire people to work together here. I’m surprised there are not more people here from downtown, I question that, I don’t know what it will take. That is all I have to say now.
Deborah Lester –
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I think the reason a lot of the folks downtown did not show up is because they think you have made up your mind so what is the point. I am told that you don’t believe the state economic assessment of the impact of tourism on Appomattox. I’m going to make you listen to it again. They say tourism has an 8.8 million dollar impact on the county most of it being in the town. When tourism related business get a dollar we give it to our employees in way of a paycheck, we spend it at Walmart, Kmart and Jamerson. We get our furnaces fixed at Mills, those dollars get re-spent, they support the paychecks of those businesses, and that money is taxed when it is spent by their employees, when they get food and their services and everything else. So you can’t just look at tourism business and their tax revenue and call it a day. That money get circulated through out and it is taxed at every turn. The development of tourism cost less to taxpayers than any other kind of economic development. None of the pesky schools have to build for tourism and a lot of the other infrastructure doesn’t have to be built for tourism. When the garment factory was fading and Thomasville was shutting its door, tourism was still going in this town; it is what you’ve got. We hope and pray we get another industry; it’s not a good time to be looking for another industry to come to your community. Hope we get, we might but in 5 years they might move to Mexico or India or someplace else, tourism is the bird in your hand.
Property values, by the way it not just our property values downtown that will suffer, if you move the Visitors Center. I spoke to almost all Town Council Members, when I first heard about that. When I told one of them it might kill downtown their only response was a smile, its not reassuring. My husband and I called a real estate agent a week later, our business is for sale, if you look around a lot of the tourism related businesses are for sale, there is a reason for that. If downtown goes belly up and I believe it will if you move the Visitors Center. You need to think about what that will do to home values when it becomes a blighted, empty, ugly spot like so many other in Central Virginia, what is it going to do to the property values of the houses around there, the churches, your child will be going to school up the road from a not so nice place.
Also, I heard that you are taking $100,000.00 away form tourism, but you are thinking about building a water park for $60,000.00, which to me sounds like a slide and a man with a hose. But you should know there is an absolute fact by huge numbers that more people visit museums than sporting events and theme parks alone. Lynchburg has recently increased their tourism budget to $1 million in preparation for our museum; they have been dipping their fingers in our pocket for a long time. They are laughing up their sleeves at us, it is embarrassing. People come into my store and laugh at us at least once a week. What is wrong with this town, this town is a goldmine. Mayor Harvey: Ms. Lester you have about 1 minute. Ms. Lester: Campbell County makes $33 million off travelers; people are not coming to see Point of Honor. They go to Campbell County because they have come to Appomattox. I would like to if not reverse that trend, at least to have some impact on it.
We are not going to be here any longer than we have to, we are sorry to leave Appomattox it breaks our hearts, but we can’t stay heavily invested in a town that is actively working against our interest. I will be gone but this town deserves better than it
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is getting. And I hope that you will seriously reconsider what the numbers mean, how you are looking at them and what your level of investment should be.
Gary Barton –
My daughter and I came to this area, I had worked in this area in the past and I had always liked the area and liked the people. I attended a lot of vision meetings; to some extent we worked with the Town Council and Mayor to try to be an asset to this area. We didn’t ask for anything, a lot of areas that want development will make tax incentive available, will help business to relocate or to start. We didn’t ask for anything, we funded everything, we paid our taxes, and I have always paid my taxes. Quite frankly, I don’t know what’s going on. We had, I thought a Town Council that was proactive towards tourism, business and community, and they seemed to take those things serious; to make this a better place and to capitalize on the assets here. I see the Mayor is here, the same mayor and a lot of different people representing the town. Quite frankly, I don’t know what’s going on, we have a Town Council that doesn’t seem to care much about the old historic district, which is the town. Yes, the town is out here on 460, but that takes care of itself and we have the Surrender Grounds and the park, they advertise and they take care of itself. A lot of people come through here from Virginia Beach going to Roanoke or wherever on 460 and their concept of Appomattox is the shopping center on 460. With the internet and some advertising, I’m sure a lot of advertising that brings them downtown is put out through the State and tourism industry.
We have been here as my daughter said for 2 years; this will be our 3rd summer here. We didn’t get opened until August, because of the red tape; we still had a better year than last summer. It takes 2 years or more to establish a business and to show a profit. We are not showing a profit, but we are still trying to be here. Now I ask as a taxpayer and as a citizen, what about the grant money that was spent in the downtown district, taxpayers money, does anyone know what was spent there to make Main Street what it is and the other areas in the downtown district? Could anyone speak to that? Anybody? I mean it was taxpayers money, our money and your money, it looks like you would have some idea the investment on Main Street. If you care about other peoples money. Anybody? Roxanne Paulette: We can research that matter for you. Mr. Barton: I would think if someone is elected to office and they care about the area and they are concerned about downtown and the town itself, there would be some idea. We have invested in the downtown area in the form of grants and tax payer’s money; there has been much effort in the revitalization of that, the buildings, the business, the advertising, the time, the money and the effort.
We have an excellent Visitors Center; I commend these people, that is where the people come to. They know about the surrender grounds, that’s not a problem, they know about Lynchburg, but they don’t know about the old historic district unless someone tells them about it. And because of the Visitors Center that is usually the point they start. They spend sometime downtown and then they go to the surrender grounds, and then visit the area some. And thanks to the Visitors Center and the people that work there, and they do an excellent job, then our business is made known or at least the visitors are made aware
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of our business. They are made known of Mr. Nolen’s business, Deborah’s business, Shelia’s business and Linda’s business and they spend some time there. We have two Bed & Breakfast’s down there, we have numerous businesses and it was a ghost town before, because business moved out didn’t they, out of the downtown, but they are back and we are trying to make a go of it. I can see why you would like to have a small Visitors Center that is funded near the museum, but I don’t see why you would want to take the Visitors Center out of the train station and the other businesses that are in the train station. I just don’t know why, I guess you can address that and you can take a few minutes since my minutes are almost up. Tell us why would you want to move the Visitors Center from downtown and kill the downtown, and kill the business and kill the rental properties? Thank you very much.
On a motion by Councilmember Mayberry, seconded by Councilmember McDearmon, Council voted to adjourn the Public Hearing at 7:30 p.m. All members present voting aye. Motion carried.
Roxanne W. Paulette, CMC
Paul D. Harvey, Mayor