foreign
is
thank you
chair
I'd like to welcome everyone to the
Russell County Board of Supervisors
April 11 2023 at 6 pm on a reconvened
meeting uh I'd like to first start off
with roll call and uh call Porter Tim
Lovelace
call Ray here
David Eaton here
Steve Brady here
Rebecca die here
and Norris Christian present
and Luanne Wallace here
ma'am you have a quarrel
thank you at this time I will ask for
the invocation please remain standing
for the Pledge of Allegiance
father God lord we love you we thank you
and we praise you today Father father
forgive us for where we fail you each
and every day and thank you for allowing
us to be part of our local government
and father we thank you that 2000 years
ago you die for our sins but better off
you Rose from the grave so be with us
lead us goddess and direct us in your
name I pray amen
of the United States of America and to
the Republic for which it stands one
nation under God indivisible with
liberty and justice for all
right
thank you at this time I'm going to ask
for the approval of the agenda please so
move
I have a motion I need a second
got a second any further discussion
all right I'll call for the vote all in
favor
any opposed any abstentions motion
carries moving along to new business
Mr Lester it's all yours thank you madam
chair
as we're here today on April 11th which
is actually one month before we did last
year we last year we set the tax rate in
May
uh this year where even though that the
state of Virginia which we got word
today they're still working out for what
in the uh what they call it skinny
budget
but there's a butt there again they're
saying that the state budget will
probably be late until June
now as far as the counties is concerned
as far as our boats you know y'all have
had enough opportunity to look through
the numbers and while our operations are
over the next fiscal year we have stayed
within our means again we've operated in
that with you know little to no variance
other than what we had to deal with one
on the casino money which y'all divided
out gave you know to the race program
you gave to the fire and the rescue and
then the rest went to the courts per the
code of Virginia
the next thing that we dealt with was
the personal property we went through it
we did evaluations after evaluations on
all those and those come out with little
variance other than the ones that were
related
you of the newer model cars
the third one was excuse it the third
one was the disposal contracts which was
a big variable and of course uh Mr Ray
and Mr Lovelace they said on that board
and what we know what we have seen so
far we think that we can go ahead and
proceed with the current tax rate no no
increase in taxes and being able to move
forward with the disposal uh contracts
that will be awarded at the end of the
month and move forward and set the tax
rate tonight that's at the pleasure of
the Board of Supervisors
so we feel comfortable the Constitution
officers feel comfortable the treasurer
feels comfortable in the commissioner
ever knew feels comfortable all of this
to move forward so even though we may
get some numbers in and hopefully the
governor is generous in his three
billion dollar Surplus that we'd love to
have that problem
uh but he looks like he is advocating
he's positioning self for a tax break
back to the residents of Virginia so he
is looking at some special programs
through education through 12 K through
12 and he is looking at some of his uh
funding back to some of these for
economic development which he has talked
to us on too which you know I hope for
Russell County will be one of those
recipients
so to make a loan
a long meeting or a short meeting out of
this
if it's at the pleasure of the board if
you want to set the tax rates at this
I'll make a motion we go ahead and
proceed
with the
existing tax rate second
that was fast
well do you want to keep going while
we've got emotion on the floor so we can
have discussion yes thank you thank you
while we doing it while we have
discussion on floor for the public here
remember last year we had two one we had
to delay the tax date because the
governor the state of Virginia was
delayed so we had to push it almost into
near June 30th so we we took the dates
back to what we originally had done in
Russell County so the real estate
personal property Machining tool will be
due on May the 25th the merchants
capital and the annual tax is November
the 25th and the mineral tax reporting
date will be February the 1st
the proposed tax rates hang on say that
again please I'm writing say that all
again
fifths May the 25th will be real estate
personal property and machining tool
Merchants capital and mineral tax will
be November the 25th
yes ma'am and the mineral reporting date
which that's a separate line separate
report has to be in by February the 1st
now at the board's pleasure matching
what
before
at the board's pleasure
the 22 rates were this real estate 63
cents on 100. mobile homes 63 on 100
personal property 1.95 on 100 machine
and tool a dollar ninety five on the
hundred and Merchants Capital which is
65 100. so
if that is pleasure of the board there's
a motion on the floor the second a
discussion to equal 22 tax rates are
equal and 23.
okay we have a motion and a second much
discussion and explanation any more
questions
and that's and that's a good question
now on the casino buddy we we actually
year marked it for the race program so
that takes a good burden off the county
and it's a good educational program
which we've met with the college today
and hopefully as more students come out
they'll take advantage of that uh Dr
Wright and the state uh Chancellor for
all the colleges were we met with them
today and they're also discussing the
expanding programs into that some of the
Taylor Fields like we talked to him
about the AEP project the battery power
storage units we've talked to him about
potential for an SMR in the area that's
the governor is still pushing forward
now and also evades so he is changing
his curriculum to include those EV
curriculum skills and certifications and
these technical for electrical on these
electrical components for AEP or these
type of businesses that are Alternative
Energy so they are actually modeling
theirs we were very specific about what
we asked and discuss with him because
as you know Russell County is Coal
County we're in Coal County Southwest
Virginia energy is energy and I'm not
using the governor's Latin air but it is
we are in the energy business why not
use it for a knowledge of energy as we
transition through different phases
because if you would go back to you know
before oil you know it's cold so we're
just transitioning through another a new
phase of energy
and the second component is that we gave
to on the casino was for the fire and
rescue as you all see they've had a hard
time during the pandemic their their
numbers are down they they have
Pikachu's of what they had to do it was
very concerned but they all performed
within their duties and they and they
they made sure that every Russell County
Citizens was taken care of
so that was the second component now the
third component we had to do by the code
of Virginia was to ensure that the
courts were supported due to casino
because that was the actually the
original purpose of it because as you
know as as beat out with t our traffic
counts have increased and you're going
to get more of these out-of-state
vehicles coming through because they
come out of Ohio Kentucky West Virginia
Force Route 19 and 58 is more than two
major other than I-81 is a major conduit
to the casino so we're going to get a
lot of through traffic
so and hopefully that would translate to
different businesses in the economic
development but those are the three
things that we took the 600 000 that we
have projected that the casino board
will be meeting here in Russell County
on Thursday and we will start to process
to get to get the funding by July the
first for those three components
okay I had overlooked that okay thank
you
any more questions
hearing none I'll call for the vote all
in favor
opposed
abstentions motion carries we have a tax
rate we have a tax rate thank you madam
chair that concludes the uh 2023 tax
rate
uh
and next will be just we will be
finishing up the rest of the budget like
we said we've already set the budget
based off of these tax rates already now
one of the things I do want to give the
board a heads up on which is in the
house and seeing it right now in the
state of Virginia
they're still kicking around the five
and seven percent so
we've got it built to the seven so if it
goes back to five but whatever the
schools and the sheriffs every one is
equal and far as you all have done in
your two in your two tenures so whatever
one gets the other will get so again
over this time no tax raises the County
employees have this one will make if
it's eight seven percent will be a 30
pay increase if it's not then it's a 28
8 pay increase since y'all have during
our seniors
thank you
okay at this time we'll um have our
board discussions and reminders I'll
start with Mr Lovelace uh no ma'am Mr
Ray I have nothing man Mr Eaton just uh
just want to let everybody know the red
butt festivals uh this Saturday and
hopefully the weather will cooperate not
like it was last year in snow but
everybody's invited
it's breeding no ma'am I don't have
anything it's duh no thank you nothing
tonight it's Christian
come on nothing all right well at this
time I'll adjourn this meeting thank you
all for coming
our next meeting