Jobless rate on the decline
But state's food stamp pay-outs up 72 percent
The employment rate in Virginia is on the rise.
According the Bureau of Labor Statistics, June’s seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate was 7.3 percent. Preliminary results for August showed the unemployment rate falling to 6.5 percent from 6.9 percent in June, resulting in more than 17,000 jobs created in Virginia.
Goochland, layoffs have been scarce as the larger companies in the county have actually hired more workers, according to Greg Reid, director of economic development.
“We’ve been receiving more and more phone calls from realtors looking for space,” Reid said. “People are looking for investing or expanding or building. It’s a good sign.
“I hope the recession has bottomed out. I think, from what I’ve read, it’s going to be a bumpy recovery,” he said.
David Duffy, Goochland County building officer, shared Reid’s cautious optimism, but noted that construction will be one of the last industries to recover.
During an 18-month standstill with construction projects, the number of issued building permits fell from 1,100 in the first quarter of 2007 to 359 in the first quarter of 2009.
“It’s not getting worse, but it’s pretty bad.” Duffy said. “People are investing in their own property, but there are no significant commercial projects. New construction is pretty static.”
Tom Steinhauser, director of division benefit programs for Virginia Department of Social Services, said that despite the overall rise in Virginia’s employment, more people are requesting government assisted living expenses.
“We started seeing the rise in July of 2007,” Steinhauser said. “It’s increased by 40 percent.”
Steinhauser said that Virgina processes approximately 28,000 applications per month and that his staff has been handling more case loads than what is normally expected.
According to state records, the number of people in Goochland receiving food stamps has increased by 36 percent since September of 2008.
More than 1,000 people are enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in Goochland, compared to less than 800 in September of 2008.
Fluvanna County social service workers’ caseloads have increased by more than 50 percent since August of 2008, according to Esther Proffitt, benefit programs specialist.
Lynne Greene, intake supervisor for Louisa County, said that her office processes almost 250 applications per month, compared to 200 in 2008.
“A lot of people’s benefits are running out and they’re still unemployed,” Greene said.
In August of 2008, 21,463 people applied for SNAP statewide. In 2009, that number rose to 27,204.
In April, Virginia social services was allocated $5.3 million to help with administrating the increase in applications, and Steinhauser from the VDSS estimated that family benefits have increased by an average of $80 per month as a result of federal stimulus funds.
Greene said that each October, the federal government updates its income limits for government assistance.
“We always see a jump [in applications] in October,” Greene said. “People also come in for heating assistance, so they sign up for other benefits at the same time.”
According to a VDSS report, the number of Virginians using food stamps rose 27 percent from August of 2008 to August of 2009. The amount of money paid out for food stamps increased by 72 percent.
- Published in the October 1, 2009 edition of The Central Virginian
For more information, visit:
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Virginia Department of Social Services
Goochland County DSS
Fluvanna County DSS
Louisa County DSS
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Social services feeling the pinch
It is Monday morning, and Kimberly Jefferson stares at a stack of new applications for food stamps.
Jefferson, director of the Goochland department of social services, has seen applications for government assistance increase by 50 percent since 2008.
“We are seeing more and more people who have never been on food stamps,” Jefferson said. “[Houses with] two people working, dual-incomes, with one or more laid-off. We’re seeing a lot of new faces.”
Effective October 1, the federal government increased income limits for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. SNAP, formerly called the Food Stamp Program, is intended for nutritional food purchases only, and can not be used to buy a meal at a restaurant.
For a family of two, the net income limit is $1,215, which is also the poverty level threshold. For each additional household member, the income limit increases by $406.
According to the Virginia Department of Social Services, the income limit adjustments are intended to reflect inflation and cost of living changes. This allows more people to be eligible for services, but it also exacerbates the strain on an already overloaded social service network.
Jefferson said that when applicants earn above the income limit, her staff works with them to find alternative services through the Goochland Free Clinic or the Community Action Agency.
Susan Muir, director of Fluvanna DSS, said that her office was understaffed by eight people before the increase in applications began in late 2007.
“We certainly don’t have the staff to take care of the rise in applications,” Muir said.
According to VDSS, the number of SNAP cases in Fluvanna has increased by 51 percent since 2008. The amount of money paid out has increased by nearly 120 percent.
Fluvanna employs 23 full-time social service positions, and Muir said that they are understaffed by more than 30 percent.
A VDSS report generated by Hornby Zeller Associates, Inc., confirmed that social service departments in Virginia may be understaffed by more than 1,000 full-time employees.
“The state needs to step up to the plate,” said Bob Lingo, director of Orange DSS. “We’ve gone beyond the rising tide–it’s a flood.”
Lingo said the increase in applications compounds the workers’ case loads because every six months the applications must be reviewed.
In April, counties received stimulus funds for SNAP benefits, and some districts also received funds to help with administrative costs. But county officials are concerned that temporary jobs created by stimulus funding will not solve long-terms problems.
“Hiring new workers takes time to train,” Lingo said. “Stimulus money lasts, really, for only 15 months.”
Orange DSS employs 25 people, and like other localities, has shifted employees’ responsibilities to meet the increase in demand.
“We have a number of programs, and the standards are different with each program,” Lingo said, adding that re-training staff to perform new duties is also time-consuming.
Goochland employs 20 full-time employees, including an emergency eligibility worker. Jefferson said that her office has been able to handle the increase in case-loads.
Orange employs several independent contractors for ongoing services, Lingo said, to help administer the increase in applications.
- Published in the October 8, 2009 edition of The Central Virginian
For more information, visit:
SNAP program information
Commonwealth of Virginia report (pdf)
Orange County DSS
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Broadband battle in Goochland
A Goochland broadband study revealed that 48 percent of survey respondents are dissatisfied with their Internet speed.
Virginia Broadband (VABB), a Culpeper-based fixed-wireless Internet provider, is looking to change that.
VABB applied for a federal loan from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and Goochland provided them with a support letter indicating the county’s broadband accessibility and the need for improvement.
But, should VABB invest stimulus funds into Goochland, some citizens are concerned 
that the service would be unable to compete with upcoming technologies.
Matt Brewer, systems consultant with Brewer Communications, said that if VABB builds in Goochland, then Verizon and AT&T are “gonna blow past us. I don’t want the county to invest in a fixed product.”
Because VABB’s fixed wireless signal is not portable, Brewer said its functionality is limited when compared to the Verizon and AT&T mobile broadband services.
Warren Manuel, CEO of VABB, contends that the fixed-wireless system is more stable because there is a set number of people using the network, which cannot be overloaded and slowed down like cellular networks.
“If we went portable, it’d be the best system in the world,” Manuel said. “Nobody’s figured out how to do it yet.”
VABB’s Internet service uses a mix of unlicensed 900 megahertz and five gigahertz frequency bands, with download speeds ranging from three megabits per second to 2.5 mbps.
Currently, Verizon and AT&T are operating third-generation (3G) networks, with download speeds comparable to VABB.
During the next three years, however, the companies will begin “rolling out” a fourth-generation network, one that Verizon has defined as long term evolution (LTE), and will achieve speeds eight to 10 times faster than 3G speeds, said Sherri Cunningham, spokesperson for Verizon.
However, it is not certain when Goochland will have access to the 4G network, and as long as Goochland continues using 3G, VABB’s connection speeds will be comparable.
Manuel said that he believes VABB’s signal will still be better than 4G, because newer smart phones are bandwidth-hungry, and will slow down the 4G networks.
A report done by Cisco Systems, Inc., stated that smart phones use 30 times the amount of bandwidth of regular cell phones.
But Verizon, AT&T and Sprint are petitioning the FCC for more bandwidth. They have also invested in the county during recent years, bringing more cellular options and better service.
Since 2007, 11 cellular towers were built in the county, increasing the total to 28. Paul Drumwright, management analyst, stated that a “conservative three-mile radius” of coverage surrounds each cellular tower.
Cunningham said that Verizon owns and leases towers in Goochland, some of which are co-located with other service providers.
“We have 100 percent coverage in Goochland,” Cunningham said, adding that Verizon employs a team whose sole purpose it to find network dead spots.
Although Verizon reports its coverage as 100 percent, there are areas in the county with no service. Cunningham said that people living in those areas can purchase an antennae called a femtocell that will boost their wireless signal in their home.
To accelerate broadband accessibility in Goochland, county officials have shown an interest in developing public-private partnerships that could cost the county $250,000 to $1 million in annual operating costs.
Drumwright said that Goochland has no formal agreement with VABB, and the support letter provided by the county only iterated the need for better broadband accessibility.
“It will be worth it for the citizens, for them to have multiple providers of broadband,” Drumwright said.
Drumwright added that VABB was one of two broadband providers who responded to Goochland’s request for information issued in October 2008, although the county sent letters to several providers, including Verizon and Comcast who did not respond.
William Quarles, District 2 supervisor, said in a phone interview that he would like to eventually see broadband as a public utility and that the county should take the lead in providing the service to rural residents.
Brewer and Ben Slone, software engineer with Finite Matters LTD, believe that government should only provide incentive for investors and not get involved directly.
“[Government-run Internet service] closes competing private sector development,” Slone told the board of supervisors on October 6. “[They bring] in solutions that don’t make sense, that don’t conform and adjust to advancing technology.”
Slone said that government-run Internet service could impede on individual rights, and that public Internet systems have a long history of failure in the United States.
According to Quarles, “broadband today is like the early days of electricity.” He added that access to information is essential to a free society.
If VABB is awarded stimulus funds, the company would increase its workforce by more than 200 percent, Manuel said.
“If funded, we’ll hire 45 people.” Manuel told supervisors. “That’s good for the economy, and that’s good for Virginia Broadband. We think it’s gonna be great.”
- Published in the October 29, 2009 edition of The Central Virginian
For more information, visit:
Virginia Broadband
Verizon Wireless Internet
AT&T Wireless Internet
Goochland board of supervisors
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Post offices take siesta
Lunch hour closing 'inconvenient ' for some residents
Town of Louisa resident Edward Gerald went to the post office around 1 p.m. to get a package.
He walked towards the clerk’s area, eager to grab his mail, but his enthusiasm waned when he was stopped by locked doors.
“It’s very inconvenient,” Gerald said of the post office’s one-hour lunch time closing.
Gerald said that he works during business hours, making it difficult to schedule a time to collect mail.
Matthew Kersey, postmaster, said that he is willing to make special arrangements with people if they contact him in advance.
“Some folks are not overly enthusiastic about it,” Kersey said. “It’s a matter of changing your schedule around a little bit.”
Greg Frey, a spokesman for the United States Postal Service, said that localities were asked to decrease operating hours because of the current financial recession.
More than 150 billion pieces of mail are handled by the USPS, accounting for nearly half of the world’s mail. But as a result of rapidly declining volume, the USPS has reported revenue losses for 10 consecutive quarters.
The USPS reported $4.7 billion in losses during its first three quarters of fiscal year 2009, resulting in the elimination of 100 million work hours and 12,000 carrier routes.
Kersey said that his office was required to eliminate one hour per day as a result of the cutbacks.
“Originally, it was proposed for summer hours,” Kersey said. “But we had to keep it throughout the year.”
The town of Louisa’s post office hours changed in July, but Kersey has not altered or eliminated any mail routes because they are rural.
“Rural routes are contracted for the year and can’t be changed,” he said.
Kersey estimated that his office is saving $125 per day as a result of the new operating hours.
Jamie Talley, Mineral’s postmaster, said that his office is also closed for an hour during lunch, but they also close 30 minutes earlier each day.
“It’s out of our hands,” Talley said. “We do what we gotta do.”
Many Louisa residents said they understood the situation and appreciated the need for an hour break.
“Everybody should shut down for an hour,” said Janet Barlow who works near the town’s post office.
Nora Jane Leake agreed.
“I don’t think it’s inconvenient,” Leake said, adding that “some business people around here might find it hard, but I think you can learn to deal with it.”
L.R. Mitchell said that when the Louisa post office began closing, residents did not welcome the change.
“People were not happy,” Mitchell said. “But I think they’re learning to deal with it.”
Frey said that the USPS receives no tax dollars to function, and operates solely on revenue from products and services to pay for operating expenses.
- Published in the September 17, 2009 edition of The Central Virginian
For more information, visit:
USPS
Locate a post office near you
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The post on rails
Goochland man honored for service to railway post office
The year was 1961, and Richard Harvey was preparing himself for work.
His new job was with the Railway Post Office, and would require 18-hour shifts on board a steam-powered locomotive for six days straight.
“It was an interesting job,” Harvey remembered. “It was a fine bunch of people I worked with.”
The 82-year-old Goochland resident, along with several former co-workers, was honored for his dedication to mail delivery on August 7 at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C.
Approximately 50 former RPO clerks attended the reception, and their memories are now a permanent installation at the postal museum.
“RPO clerks had to memorize thousands of city and town names and locations to do their job,” stated Meradyth Moore, a public information officer for the museum. “It was the most dangerous job... The RPO car was placed behind the engine and tended to take the brunt of an accident.”
Moore stated that RPO clerks were the most trained mail employees and that the job was strenuous and necessitated a particular attention to detail.
For Harvey, the World War II veteran had found a job that offered him a camaraderie akin to his experience with the Navy in the South Pacific.
“We had a lot of things happen,” Harvey said. “I still keep up with some of those guys. A lot of them are gone.”
Moore said that RPO clerks were considered “the elite postal employees,” and that many clerks practiced mail sorting techniques during their time off.
“We’d have eight to 13 men on board the train, just like a regular post office,” Harvey recalled. “Sometimes we wouldn’t stop, we’d just throw [the mail] off.”
The RPO clerks often utilized what Harvey called a “catcher crane,” to receive mail from towns that were not big enough to warrant a stop. This was called on-the-fly mail delivery.
The catcher cranes were located outside the local post office beside the train tracks. Harvey said the RPO clerk had to extend an iron arm that would grab the incoming mail placed there by the town’s postmaster. Simultaneously, the RPO clerk had to kick the outgoing mail off the train. Sometimes the mail bag would not be kicked hard enough, and the bag would get shredded by the train’s wheels, sending letters flying through the air. The clerks called this a “snowstorm.”
Harvey said that often times an RPO clerk would have to listen to the tracks to know which side the crane was on, as some towns had several cranes on either side of the track.
According to the postal museum’s Web site, the on-the-fly system was winding down by 1962, and only 262 RPO lines existed after the program peaked in the 1930s. Harvey retired from RPO service in 1968, three years shy of the program’s end.
Harvey attends the informal RPO reunion each year in Rocky Mount, North Carolina the first Saturday in October. He made the trip to D.C. with two former RPO employees from Mechanicsville, Harvey’s hometown.
- Published in the August 27, 2009 edition of The Central Virginian
For more information, visit:
Smithsonian National Postal Museum
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Working to learn
Stimulus funds create local opportunities
Alicia Traneum has been looking for a job since she lost hers in 2007.
“I was fired from a temp agency,” Traneum said.
The prospect of finding work in today’s economic climate proved daunting for the mother
of two.
Then she learned about a new program offered by Louisa County Parks and Recreation called Work2Learn.
“I applied and I got the job,” Traneum said.
Work2Learn is funded with federal stimulus money, and gives participants an opportunity to earn college credit, get paid, and acquire life skills and occupational aptitude.
“We get to clean up the community for people,” Traneum said. “We’ve learned a lot, more than just working in the park.”
Louisa hired 10 county residents aged 18 to 24 for the Work2Learn program. Eight of the participants are working to clean up Louisa’s county parks, clearing brush and cultivating. Others are working at the Jefferson Area Board for Aging senior care center in Louisa.
Since the funds are federally allocated, it gives Louisa a chance to tackle some projects that have been deferred in recent years.
Jane Shelhorse, director of LCPS, said that Louisa is one of the few counties in the state taking advantage of this specific stimulus allocation.
“It’s modeled after a program in Charlottesville,” Shelhorse said. “It’s all through Piedmont [Workforce Network], they provide reimbursement for supplies and they pay the participants.”
The PWN is part of the Thomas Jefferson Partnership for Economic Development. The federally-funded PWN works with localities to generate jobs.
In addition to beautifying the county parks, Shelhorse said that Work2Learn participants learn how to balance a bank statement, improve communication skills and dress properly.
“They learn all the basic stuff,” Shelhorse said. “They also learn CPR, so they can have that certification. ”
The participants will also obtain Occupation Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) training, so they can be aware of their workplace rights, Shelhorse said.
Derrick Dewberry, 18, appreciates what the program has given him, although he admits it can be difficult to be on-site by 6:45 a.m.
“I needed a job badly,” Dewberry said. “I wanted to help my mom out with the rent.”
Dewberry added that the program keeps him busy and that seeing his work gives him a sense of pride.
“I can walk in the park and see how good it looks and think, ‘I did that,’” Dewberry said.
The federal stimulus money will last for one six-week program. Shelhorse noted that if PWN offers to fund another program, that Louisa would probably do the program again.
- Published in the July 9, 2009 edition of The Central Virginian
For more information, visit:
Federal stimulus projects
Virginia stimulus projects
OSHA
Thomas Jefferson Partnership for Economic Development
Louisa County Parks and Recreation
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Jefferson to visit Goochland's 4th
Thomas Jefferson, Virginia hero and American icon, will be speaking at the Goochland Courthouse green on the Fourth of July. That is, Rob Coles will be speaking as a professional Jefferson reenactor.
The 49-year-old Coles is the fifth great-grandson of the late founding father. Coles will take to the lawn at 5 p.m. in front of the circuit court to take turns reading from the Declaration of Independence.
The 1,300-word document declared America free from British imperial rule and was signed on July 4, 1776 by Jefferson and 55 other American patriots.
To share in the reading duties, retired circuit Judge F. Ward Harkrader, Jr. and Goochland attorney John Williamson will take turns proclaiming America’s independence 233 years after its birth.
The Goochland Bar Association and the Goochland Historical Society are sponsoring the event.
Bar association member David Branch looks forward to the day.
“We wanted to do something different for the community,” Branch said. “It’s the first year we’ve done it. We’re hoping it will be an annual event.”
After the reading of the Declaration, Coles will perform as Thomas Jefferson and will answer questions from the crowd.
Branch noted that questions should be restricted to Jefferson-era topics.
“He can’t answer a question that has to do with the Internet,” Branch said.
- Published in the June 29, 2009 edition of The Central Virginian
For more information, visit:
Thomas Jefferson reenactor
Goochland Historical Society
David Branch
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Tax collections up
Goochland's third-party collector keeps rate above 99 percent
Since Goochland hired a third-party tax collector, real estate tax delinquencies have decreased by 75 percent.
Rebecca Dickson, county administrator, stated in an e-mail that in 2001 there were 350 or more delinquent properties. Now there are approximately 90 parcels that have been delinquent from 2003 to 2007.
“About 19 are in court, 10 are being prepped for suit and another 25 or so have arrangements and are in various stages of payment,” Dickson stated.
In 2001, Goochland hired lawyer Anthony Paone to handle the collection of taxes that were delinquent for more than two years. Paone receives 20 percent of the final tax amount collected as his fee.
Brenda Grubbs, county treasurer, said that she sends out past-due notices after 30 days and that she is often able to set up payment plans.
“The plans can’t exceed six months,” Grubbs said. “After two years, it gets turned over to [Paone].”
A county document stated that Paone is given a list of delinquent taxes from the past 18 years. After 20 years, the county must write-off the uncollected taxes as bad debt, Grubbs said.
“It’s very hard to collect taxes on some of these properties,” Grubbs said. “Some of them don’t even exist. The surveying methods back then used rocks and sticks to layout the properties, and sometimes it just doesn’t add up. In very rare instances, you don’t know who owns a property.”
Collection rates have improved, Grubbs said, and since the hiring of Paone, the percentage of collected real estate taxes now remains above 99 percent.
Myrtis Quarles, director of finance, said that when she creates the fiscal year budget, she anticipates collecting 97 percent of real estate taxes for that year, which is approximately the amount of tax collected within the assessment year.
The collection process for personal property tax is a different story according to Jean Bryant, commissioner of the revenue.
According to county documents, collection methods for personal property include placing liens on bank accounts, holds on tax refunds and placing stops on vehicle registration.
“We try to work with people as best we can,” Grubbs said. “If you take a person’s car they can’t get to work to make money to pay their taxes.”
Dickson said that the county has had to make difficult decisions this year with assessments and budgets. Bryant had to re-evaluate her original assessments after learning that personal property values had decreased dramatically.
“Once I ran some preliminary figures,” Bryant said, “it was looking like it was going to be a 17-percent decrease [in personal property value] from the previous year.”
Bryant said that the economy contributed to the devaluation, resulting in a $1.2 million decrease in tax revenue for the county, reflecting a 12-percent drop in value.
“There is no exact science,” Bryant said of the assessment process. “You can’t look into a crystal ball and know what’s going to happen. You have to take into consideration a variety of factors.”
Bryant uses DMV data and information provided by the National Automobile Dealers Association, in addition to other variables, to generate assessments.
Glenn Branham, county assessor, said that he uses neighborhood sales to assess real estate value and that he estimated that values will decrease by 10 percent next year.
- Published in the September 3, 2009 edition of The Central Virginian
For more information, visit:
Goochland County treasurer's office
Goochland County assessor's office
Goochland County revenue department
National Automobile Dealers Association
Department of Motor Vehicles
Tony Paone
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Inheritance issues cloud clean-up
Goochland officials fund trash removal on Miller's Lane
Joe Bates departed this world in 1984 without a will of inheritance, leaving his 13 acres in the Dover district to be divided amongst his remaining heirs.
Without a specified owner of the parcel, Goochland has had its hands full trying to clean up the property which had accumulated trash since Bates’s death.
Steve Oakley lives near the property, and told the board of supervisors that he was tired of seeing the trash in his neighborhood.
“It’s unsightly,” Oakley said. “It’s a blight on the entire community, not just our [neighborhood].”
The trash issue on the Bates property intensified when supervisors learned that the property had been in arrears since 2005.
According to Goochland records, Bates’s daughter, Helen, had paid the real estate tax until 1998–just before her death in 2002. In 2001, the property taxes fell into arrears.
That same year, Goochland hired attorney Tony Paone to collect delinquent taxes after more than 350 parcels in Goochland had fallen into delinquency.
“When I started, there was no procedure for collecting delinquent taxes,” Paone said. “The [delinquencies file] looked like an unabridged dictionary.”
Paone discovered that there were 37 heirs to the Bates property. Bates had 10 children and 27 grandchildren and in-laws, who each held a respective percentage of interest in the Bates property.
In 2003, Paone collected taxes from the previous four years through Myrtle Ricks, Bates’s daughter, who lives in Massachusetts.
“I paid $9,000 to get caught up,” Ricks said. “I tried to sell the house after that, but it didn’t sell.”
Ricks tried to buy out the other heirs’ rights to the property, but Paone said that an arrangement could not be made, partially because many of the heirs’ whereabouts were unknown.
Then, in 2005, the property went into arrears again, this time Ricks was not willing to foot the bill.
“I can’t keep paying taxes on it,” Ricks said. “I don’t even live there.”
Paone began the collection process, again, and letters went out to the heirs to remind them of their tax obligations.
However, Cecelia Lewis, Bates’s granddaughter, said that she never received a letter from Paone.
“The only thing I ever got was about the trash,” Lewis said.
Ricks said that her brother, Shirley Bates, had been storing various items on the property for an extended period of time, and now the county was attempting to clean-up the property.
At the September 1 board of supervisors meeting, the board appropriated $15,700 to clean up the Bates property. In June, supervisors passed an ordinance amendment that would allow the county to clean up properties such as the Bates’s.
Bates’s heirs would be responsible for the clean-up bill, Paone said.
During a phone conversation, Paone said that this case is unique because there are 37 heirs to the property who each must be contacted before actions can be taken.
Paone is now representing Ricks in a partition suit that would allow Ricks to sell the property. The county would collect the property’s delinquent taxes after the sale.
“People don’t understand,” Paone said. “Situations like these can be very confusing.”
- Published in the September 10, 2009 edition of The Central Virginian
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Goochland takes expenses public
County officials launch online check register
In response to many citizens’ call for more fiscal responsibility, Goochland County has provided a lauded solution–an online check register.
According to Walter J. Kucharski, auditor of public accounts for the commonwealth of Virginia, Goochland is the only county in central Virginia with an online check register.
Ned Creasey, District 3 supervisor, said that this is a “great step to transparency.”
“Our dilemma here is that you’re changing a culture,” he added. “There was no transparency in the [past].”
Rebecca Dickson, county administrator, presented the board with the proposal in September and after a month of review, the supervisors passed the motion unanimously.
The online check register includes all county and school division expenditures, except for salaries and payments to individuals who are protected by privacy rules, such people receiving services through the Comprehensive Services Act for At-Risk Youth (CSA) and foster care.
“All other regular vendor payments are included,” Dickson stated, adding that gross salary information is publicly available but is not included in the online register.
Deposits are also not included in the register. Dickson stated that “there’s a lot more volume related to revenues than expenditures–about 50,000 records per year for taxes alone.”
Dickson also expressed concern that including deposits would create more privacy issues, but that she welcomed feedback regarding the register.
Creasey said that providing aggregate deposit information would be feasible, but providing line-by-line information would be unnecessary.
- Published in the November 26, 2009 edition of The Central Virginian
For more information, visit:
Goochland County check register
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Bandwidth changes costing counties
Goochland spends $102,000 for radio change consultant
Radio communications will be getting a makeover. By January 1, 2013, all public safety radio systems operating below a frequency of 512 megahertz must be narrow-banded.
Robert Kinney, a spokesman for the Federal Communications Commission, said that narrow-banding is a process that improves spectral efficiency.
“It’s like going from a two-lane highway to a four-lane,” Kinney said. “It’s an advantage to public safety operations since there will be less interference.”
On September 1, Goochland’s board of supervisors allocated $102,000 to retain the communications consulting firm, Intertech, to assess the radio systems in the county.
“They’ll be looking at several things,” said Chief Deputy Don Bewkes of the Goochland Sheriff’s Office during a phone interview. “[They will be] looking at inventory, makes and models and serial numbers, to see if we need to change some of the hardware or do some reprogramming.”
Sheriff Jim Agnew said that Intertech would assess the radios used by the sheriff’s office, fire-rescue, school buses and buildings and grounds.
“Ten years ago we did an estimate,” Agnew said. “It came to around $25 to $30 million.”
Lieutenant Colonel Timothy Murphy of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said that Orange has been slowly replacing a percentage of its equipment each year since the ordinance was passed in 1999.
“We are desperately seeking grants,” Murphy said. “We’ve been working on it slowly, piece by piece. We will meet the deadline.”
Kinney said that localities have had ample time to update systems.
“If they don’t make the transition, there will be some interoperability issues,” Kinney said. “It will put them behind.”
Interoperability is the ability of localities to communicate with each other by sharing radio frequencies.
Presently, Goochland is interoperable with Louisa, Fluvanna and other adjacent counties, allowing emergency service teams to efficiently coordinate cross-county efforts.
Federal and state officials anticipate that narrow-banding will improve interoperability while simultaneously freeing-up the air waves.
Tammy Johnson, the director of communications for the Fluvanna Sheriff’s Office, said that Fluvanna expects to replace approximately 50 devices, consisting mostly of hand-held radios.
“Every vehicle, pager, car radio has to be [replaced or reprogrammed],” Johnson said. “It’s not going to be free.”
Goochland’s agent, Intertech, will help Goochland acquire funds through federal grants, but Johnson said there are no specific grants for the narrow-banding.
Kinney said that the Department of Homeland Security offers emergency service grants that can be used for narrow-banding, and can be acquired through Virginia’s DHS office.
According to Constance McGeorge, the commonwealth of Virginia’s interoperability coordinator, Virginia has a mandate set for July 1, 2015 that will require the interoperability between all localities.
Virginia’s mandate includes provisions for the narrow-banding, as federal law will not issue licenses for devices and equipment with 25 kilohertz-wide channels after January 1, 2011.
Published in the September 17, 2009 edition of The Central Virginian
For more information, visit:
Virginia interoperability
FCC
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Pondering prezoning
Can Goochland spur growth through zoning changes?
On September 1, Goochland residents made their opinions clear to the board of supervisors–county officials need to increase their efforts to promote development.
“Raising connection fees and utility rates will keep people from building here,” said Kathy Crockett at the board meeting. “We need to provide incentives, not scare people off.”
One avenue to encourage investment could come through the zoning map. Goochland has two pre-zoning projects in the works–one in Centerville and one in Oilville.
Pre-zoning is a county-initiated rezoning process intended to attract investment by streamlining the development process.
“Pre-zoning is supposed to make land more marketable,” said Bob Hammond, director of planning.
According to Hammond, most of the land in Centerville is zoned for agricultural and would be zoned for commercial use, if individual landowners agree to the change.
Hammond said county officials are still contacting landowners to assess interest levels, and that the county will only rezone parcels owned by interested landowners. The planning commission and the board of supervisors must hold public hearings for each property before it is rezoned.
“It’s a continuous dialogue to see [property owners’] interests,” Hammond said.
Some citizens are concerned about pre-zoning their property. According to Glenn Branham, county assessor, if the land is rezoned, it would alter the tax assessment of land.
“Rezoning the property, even if initiated by the county, will increase the market value of the property,” stated a report prepared by Tom Coleman, principal planner.
An increase in market value will effectually increase property taxes. In Centerville, the ad valorem tax, which is associated with Tuckahoe Creek Service District users, would also increase.
Hammond added that most of the land designated for pre-zoning in Centerville is in land-use, a tax advantage for the landowners.
“If it’s zoned to B-1 or B-3, the property owner will have to pay higher taxes until it gets developed,” Hammond said. “It’s hard to convince people development will come if they rezone. Will they pay higher taxes for one year or 10 years? No one can say.”
In July, Coleman reported that the county had contacted 13 of the 17 property owners in Centerville regarding the pre-zoning. Of the 13, six indicated they were likely to decline the offer, three were undecided, and two were interested in pre-zoning.
“If I rezoned, I couldn’t afford the taxes,” said Cecil Wise, a business owner who lives in the area. “If the economy turned around, I’d be all for it. I just can’t do it now.”
Charles Luck III owns land off Ashland Rd, the focus of the Centerville pre-zoning effort near the I-64 Rockville interchange.
“I think [the pre-zoning] will give people some options,” Luck said. “With the real estate market in limbo, it’ll be good in the long range.”
Luck added that many details needed to be considered before citizens would accept a tax increase as a result of their land being pre-zoned.
Goochland’s 20-year comprehensive plan designates Centerville as an established major village. Wise said that he understands the situation, but that he and other landowners may have difficulty selling their houses if they chose to rezone.
Another incentive for development would be to initiate mixed-use zoning, which, according to the American Planning Association, is “development that blends residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, and where appropriate, industrial uses.”
Goochland’s comprehensive plan considers mixed-use as a possible means to attract development, but Goochland has no mixed-use zoning district in its ordinance. Establishing one would require legislative action.
“I’m not aware of any [mixed-use] demand,” said Jim Eads, District 5 supervisor during a phone interview. “If people have an idea for mixed-use, bring it to us.”
Eads added that he would not support a county initiative to pre-zone to mixed-use.
“People who own the land have to do it,” Eads said.
George Andrews, an attorney in Centerville, said at the September 1 meeting that he had approached the county with a client interested in establishing a mixed-use development, but that county officials were hesitant to move the project forward.
“People can buy land in Henrico that’s already zoned for mixed-use,” Andrews said in a phone interview. “Goochland has to be competitive. We have so much land that we could provide truly beautiful, tasteful development.”
Ned Creasey, District 3 supervisor, said that mixed-used is something that the county should push for.
“I would also like to offer waiver fees for people who develop,” Creasey said. “We need development. [Mixed-use] needs to be done. It’s in the order of priorities.”
Wise said that the county’s situation with the TCSD warrants the development.
- Published in the September 17, 2009 edition of The Central Virginian
For more information, visit:
Goochland County planning and zoning
Goochland County community development department
American Planning Association
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