foreign
good afternoon everyone I'd like to
welcome you to the Russell County Board
of Supervisors October the 26th at 6 PM
this is a reconvened meeting from uh our
previous meeting with the attorney
general
we had a meeting with the attorney
general here and this is a reconvene
meeting I'd like to first start off with
Colorado order and roll call
Tim Lovelace here call Ray here WD here
Steve Brady here
here of course Christian president and
Luanne Wallace here man you have a quora
thank you sir at this time we're going
to have our invocation and our Pledge of
Allegiance please remain standing
let us pray
father God Lord we thank you for this
day we thank you for the many blessings
you have given us and we thank you for
allowing us to come out and be a part of
our local government father father
forgive us where we fail you be with us
lead us guide us and direct us in your
name I pray amen amen
to the flag 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
afternoon
thank you at this time we'll have the
approval of the agenda presented before
you tonight so move
second I have a second all in favor
thank you
uh at this time we will have our
presentation by our County Administrator
on the personal property tax relief
thank you Mr Lester
thank you madam chair
on the agenda tonight is the Russell
County personal uh property tax relief
uh we we had met previously on this and
this is right before the public hearing
so I wanted to give an update to the
Russell County Board of Supervisors and
Russell County Citizens on the progress
that we have made to be able to go
through
the personal property tax that we had
given as a previous board I had
mentioned these and I'm like
I've taken down why I presented before
I'm going through the summary points and
then I'll go on to what we have we have
worked on continuously
first the personal property tax has to
be legal and of course we have to be
able to audit it and it has to be fire
and equal and so the key points is
between the legal the audit and firing
and equal the hardest part to get to is
actually not the legal or the audit it
was to be fire and equal and y'all will
understand as I progress through this
so
just to hit some of the quick point I'm
not going to go back into it because the
majority of us here majority of the
Russell County citizens have have been
you know studying this
the first thing is on there that we had
to deal with was the personal property
tax relief act like I had informed
Russell County Citizens before
every car
personal vehicle car truck and
motorcycle on the first twenty thousand
is discounted with the state Virginia
since 19 the 1998 ppta act so each year
we get a certain amount of money and
that's used to supplement that means
reduce your tax every year this year
based off the inflation of the vehicles
everybody's cars went up and that's very
very rare because you know very rare do
you hear anyone talking about used cars
going up in price because usually the
old adage is once you drive it off a lot
I've lost depreciation in Midland I mean
I mean that's just common sense anybody
tells me different you know that's I
have yet to see it
so and some of them the old jokes is if
you go around pull it off with one side
of the life pull it back on it's already
dropped that quick so
so this year
based off the increases in the inflation
rates of all the cars and trucks and
motorcycles and earn money which just
stays at 1.4 million no matter what we
do how fine no matter how high the uh
assessment goes it still stays at the
same amount so it doesn't matter how
higher
of a level it goes it still stays at one
point four million but the rate of of
reimbursement will adjust so the rate
1.4 million goes up and then if it goes
if in the price of the assessment goes
up it still is at the same amount you
just got it spread they pushed the rate
of reimbursement down so if the
assessment goes up then the rate
reduction goes down so it went from 48
to 37 because y'all's prices in cars
went up
so the reimbursement rate went from 48
to 37 and we had to fix that
so Avid cars I had mentioned before we
had to carve out the 17 different things
that were in personal property which we
had to look at only cars trucks and
motorcycles
then we had to look at the legal part
again these is what public hearings we
had well taxes we changed and when we
approved the budget on June the 29th
these are the audit requirements we got
to look at the assessments we got to
look at the abatements delinquencies the
files what we really pull in cash
and
to be able to come to these numbers now
in
the personal property in 2021
was it was valued at assessed value of
250 million plus I don't know if y'all
can see that because
I know the screen I apologize
it's it's a little bit of focus but I'll
be pulling out some bigger notes so it's
250 million
that included business the abatements
and all this is a gross number so again
here's the 22 which is
327 million
now
to go into what I have continued to do
since then
here is
hang on just a second
there we go just taking a little change
time to change sorry about that
okay
now here is the numbers again and I will
bring these up into the zoom
to a little bit bigger
stars to 327 million that we had
and of course here is the 250 million
that we had in the SAS value
those are assessed values now how that
applies is just like your house
everybody here your home whether it's no
matter what it is they're all different
they're all appraisative there's not a
price here and there's not a house in
Russell County about 11 320 some is
priced the same way your cars are the
same way but you got different years to
make some models it's going to be priced
differently it is priced by the neoda
which is hired by the state of Virginia
they pay them Mega Millions per year to
send and evaluate these it isn't the
commissioner's job to to appraise he
evaluate these it's not the treasures
it's not more supervisors or the County
ministries I hadn't mentioned that
before this is done based off the market
value if you went trade your car in and
you pulled up the lot and a lot of them
at the time
got more than what the book value is I
know y'all had seen it on TV in the
newspapers bring your car into us we'll
give you a thousand above about above
the NADA value many times and that's
what they did there was a lot of cars
that were just so outracked actually
there were 771 that we went through
so how could we evaluate what real tax
dollars were what we didn't budget for
we did not budget for because at the
time we had to remember we had to bring
the pptr down and to win the tax books
was cut on August the 25th to get a true
number of what it would look like
because if we applied a certain
percentile
to a car say 15 20 your car at twenty
percent will be you would get a
different refund or you would get a
different refund it would not be firing
equal
so if I apply a twenty thousand a twenty
percent discount to a fifty thousand
dollar F-150 that's ten thousand dollars
off I apply that twenty percent discount
to a seven thousand dollar vehicle
it's it's not the same refund so we had
to work through the numbers we looked at
the assessment you couldn't apply an
assessment rate you couldn't reduce the
rate because again if we go down in the
tax rate which is 195 on 100 we you had
to come to a percent though you were
still applying a certain percentile to
your car your car in your car and it
would all it all came out different
so how did we come up with this and this
was working through many long nights and
and working through many tax records
So This Is the 2021-22 personal property
tax Master tax file this is your real
records it has everybody in his rooms
cars and trucks in it it has everyone in
the counties cars and trucks in it I
have it blacked out because on two
columns because the names and the VIN
numbers are private these are just
values so and what you will see is
as we were going through these numbers
and evaluating them
that and this is the difference in the
cars as you can see we have cars in 1923
here everybody raise your hands we've
got any other ones we counted for every
car truck and motorcycle in Russell
County so we looked through 26
583 records one by one
so if you look here
here's your 21 essays value that's a
1923 car and we'll try not to use that
because that's not a good comparison but
if I go down here these values and if
you see Zero in it that's where the
Abate it off or about it
so I'll get down in here to the numbers
as you can see we have the value for 21
we have the current value of 22. these
are on your tax tickets this faster
track tax file is what you get on your
statement
these are the 21 tax here's the amounts
here's your appraised amounts for 21.22
here's your tax amounts for 21 and 22.
and your pptra remember that's a
discount so that is that applies to the
first 20 000 of all cars trucks and
motorcycles in Russell County so if I
apply a 15 or 20 discount to any one of
these cars I can go through all 25 600
and so on and it will all come out
different
some of the cars that we've seen as you
can see the value on them as you can
look through all these records
some of them
are in a negative balance how are you
going to apply a negative balance or or
a small percentile to each one of these
so if I go into this
here's the total value on these tax
right here
on the first one it was 20.47
23.40 so now this is the real tax
tickets
this one went down seven dollars so how
am I going to give a discount to someone
that goes into the negative now
now let me explain others 25 000 it was
over 1500 cars that went into the
negative so how am I going to apply a
tax rate or a percentile to something
that actually went down in that went
down in value now how did that happen
because again like your houses just your
cars they're all different not every car
and truck went up in value
some of them went up more than others so
how do you get back to it so
after many hours of running the numbers
going through all 25 000 plus records
well to come to a number and that's what
we did to be able to get to the gross
amounts so Russell County what we
because we again did not budget for it
so whatever we got back in taxes over
all y'all's cars will give you back to
you equally of what you paid
now that's that's a hard it's hard to
get to let me assure you so here's how
we're going to do it it happened just
from running converting the assessments
the Billings on all of them back to each
other's one by one through the tax
records back to what I'm going to
propose to the board as you can see hang
on a second and I'll get to that point
when we started the total tax amount
is where we started using that 250 base
at 327. this is what our gross
assessment was we was going to taxis is
what we abated
and that came out 19 now I could not
apply that 19.2 percent which we tried
to all cars
so again because I had to convert that
assessed base that is an assessment to
the actual convert bit to the budget
dollars because remember my first thing
I had to do was carve out
the first vehicles that were under the
ppta section so we had twenty thousand
two hundred twenty some odd 23 I think
and I I've got the numbers that met that
first 40.45
so then we had to add back into the
dollar ninety five everything that was
over the
the 20 000 mark for a total gross
assessment of one million eighty nine
five oh six at the end we had to
calculate the annual delete once to come
out at a million dollars okay now that
pptr that I mentioned before that also
has to be added in so again if you just
do a blanket percentile you will never
make it it's 204 dollars above it now
here is the actual tax records so
remember I had 250 327 now when the tax
rolls came out only had 120 73 million
in 21. I only ended up with 284 for a
total assessment of 110 million then I
had to back out the abatements the
business vehicles and another thing the
2022 cars how do you evaluate the 2022
cars
we have 112 cars and trucks that's the
exact number
that is your make and model of 2022.
it's the current value
how can how are we going how would you
give them a tax break because we have
112 cars that you're making models of
year 2020-22.
so how would you give them a tax rate
because that is the current ndta because
they are brand new some of them just
came off the Lots some of them are there
so how would you work it out so we had
to look at those issues so again I had
to break up those numbers that were in
the tax rows based off my estimate based
off the tax rolls I had to take the 45
145 145 out of course for the vehicles
that are twenty thousand less calculated
back in so this is the actual tax record
of one million 47 994. okay
now
then we had to look again flight across
the board of delinquencies and come to a
total net amount of 963.70. now remember
my number is actually higher because I'm
pushing record by record and that's
that's I'm
I'm and that's the way we're doing it so
between the both amounts mine was 11 I
proposed ten percent of the total
assessment last time well it's real I
mean here it is I I had 10 11 to 12 and
I was trying to go conservatively
because those numbers for different
Vehicles move out of Rapid pace
we had abated 14 million dollars worth
of cars and trucks off just this year 14
that sounds that's a lot that's a so if
you average that out just to the month
of October you're averaging over a
million cars per month moving through
here and they hit that number that was
going that was very difficult
so if we go into that again if I use
this number and or that number we came
to these numbers on the budget to be
able to go back what we found out to
equal the 2021 base so that's what I'm
going to propose to the board of
supervisor how do you get Fair
how do you get equal each and every one
of y'all sitting here and all 27 000 res
at 25 750 some resistance in here that
owns cars trucks how do you get back to
no tax
now to do that
going through the records going through
the evaluations and the values
on this
what I'm going to propose is
to be equal in fire taxation the 22
pound your 22 vehicle assess tax base
will roll back
to the
2020 I mean calendar year 2021 it says
face value so when you get your tax
ticket last year that has calendar year
21 on it it's going to be the same in
22. there will be no increase
we're going to take those tax records
that you've seen on that thing for 25
000 some odd records I'm going to move
those money those numbers back to your
accounts and you'll you will end up at
the 2021 base for value
now
to fix the second component of it I'm
going to have to bring up the pptra
because remember the state pushed us
down from 48 to 37. I'm going to have to
bring that leverage in up because if I
do not do it here's what happens
here's a comparison analysis
if now this is on a forty thousand
dollar vehicle
now if I go in here and say I'm going to
give you 20 off this forty thousand
dollar vehicle so that would be because
I can't apply it to the first twenty
thousand I've got to apply that to the
upper twenty thousand not the first
twenty thousand and the total value of
assessment so if we go from the 20 and
we're going to give a 20 discount that
would be uh 20 on the four so
that'd be eight thousand dollars
remember was getting 20.
hang on a second verse 20 20 32. okay
I'm gonna go back to the
40.
that was if this was the 2020 your ass
value was at 40. we give you a 20
discount to bring you 32. see how much
of a discount you're getting
that's not 20 percent
that's the first component each vehicle
by vehicle will come out to a different
percentile because each one of them are
evaluated and assessed separately
so again I that was the first part of
the formula the second part of the
formula is we got to take it back from
the 37 to the 48.
so if I take that same vehicle up here
back to the 12 000 take the 20 off
thank you
sorry about that cows are lazy
I want to get a very practical masks
see I'm still six percent off even on
the end
you see what I'm saying if I don't
include this in it you're going to be
off by that six percent and remember we
started at 20. we're now we're down 30.
and we're down and we're getting we're
missing totally the six so how do I get
it back again
take the 22 what you have incurred and
I've already looked at the ones it's
already paid well what happened is we'll
take those 22 assessed values
and
we'll push the 21 over top low the
master tax file because we've already
talked to the Auditors and programmers I
will take your tax 21
assess value and move it into the 22. I
will move the
pptra back up from the 37 to the 48 to
where it's equal when you look at your
21 tax ticket in your 22 tax ticket they
will be exactly the same amount car for
car dollar for dollar and the county
will not incur anything it will be a 100
percent tax re-back rebate back to every
citizen
so now in part of that again in part of
the terminology we go go back to the
audit and the legal which the
programmers is going to do it now the
ones it's already paid
our programs can grab the ones that's
already paid when we upload this into
the system it will create a credit for
you it will move it over into the
accounts payable and generate a check
refund back to you there is no more
another mail as you will not get another
statement this will be done
automatically if you decide to pay it at
the window now if the abroad supervisors
approves this when they come in tomorrow
tomorrow we're going to try to work with
the programmers as soon as it does you
walk to the window it will have the
correct
2021 amount
so that's the only way that we could do
car by car resident by Resident to be
dollar for dollar equal and fair you
couldn't change the rate
because that would apply to everyone
especially when I showed y'all someone
went down somewhere I'll be given a
credit to a credit
you couldn't do it you would be given
the big dollars to the big F-150s I'm
telling you right now and I run the
numbers however you want to run them
sorry about your own big 150 of them
but it's just the way it is
now if
but also the last component in we had to
put the pptra back in so I had to put it
in to make the balances work when I put
all those in that's how I came back to
that 11 does that make sense because
I've got to put a dollar in to match
your 2021
refund off the assessment off the pptr I
got to put a number back into the budget
by law to make sure that your total
refund of a million dollars goes to
y'all all equally
so when I did it so we turned around and
we wrote the the
hang on just a second let me switch
gears here
so here is my Amendment of the county
operating budget for year 2021-22 I mean
22 23. the deals only with this movement
we had looked at Auditors look at it to
make sure everything is in compliance
and this is within you know the rim of
the board supervisors it says whereas
and the rest of it is just first
language I'll be going to the middle
whereas the Board of Supervisors Russell
County adopted on October 26th meeting
solely the calendar year beginning
because remember this is a tax year so I
gotta back all the way up to catch you
on January 1 to 22. this will end on
December the 31st 2022 because your tax
is on the calendar year not a fiscal
year it's on from January to December
the Appropriations and allocations
because see we didn't budget for it so
we've got to put it in the bank we
cannot spend it legally I don't care
what it is a white amount of money you
cannot spend money that's not in the
line on them and be inappropriated when
the Board of Supervisors approves the
budget on June the 29th of 2022 if that
number was not in there you better not
be doing it if I do I have to come to
them to ask that's why you'll see me
when we're up here asking for Grants
I'll ask for an appropriation and
allocation and the Auditors do look at
that because you've got to bring it into
books it's like put it in your bank
before you can spend it so I'm bringing
this in to give it back to Russell
County Citizens
so the allocation of an additional 1
million
two thousand four hundred and one
dollars budgeted Revenue Appropriations
that reduces the calendar year 22
personal property Vehicle tax assessment
to equal
the 21 personal property Vehicle tax
assessment that includes remember I got
to include this one the personal
property tax relief the pptr of 11 so
I've got to raise it back up
on for genius reimbursement rate from 37
to equal to calendar year 2021 personal
tax relief rate of 48 which is 11
increase on all vehicles on the first 20
000 of assessment value on all
non-business again because there's
non-business this is Russ Kennedy
seasons
for automobiles trucks of less than two
tons SUVs motorcycles a lot of counties
didn't include motorcycles either but we
went ahead and included those
uh and motor vehicles with specially
designed equipment used for handicap I
had let's allowed you had to put those
in in there noun I had to also include a
separate legal line item for the all
vehicles that were a year of 20 year
make and model of year 2022 because I
can't go back to the 21 base because
there are 22 car I couldn't back it back
all the way to 21 because legally they
are a current your car so but they will
be eligible for the pptra they can only
we can only take them back to the NADA
as of January so if you go to of those
112 that we have on record if you come
in we have to use legally
the commercial Revenue they and we can
take these One By One The your calendar
year 22 assessment for that 22-year make
and model so but you still will be moved
on that 37 back to the 48. but we still
legally have to use your 22 assessment
base
now the next part of the equation was of
course whereas the county personal
property tax tickets do
they will change from November
28 were extended out to December the
15th give everybody ample time don't get
it in give you time to worry about it
give us time to get the programming in
and you can you know by the time you
mail that's another thing if you mail it
in so if they already Melody and after
this and they say okay when it comes
into the treasurer's office they have to
put it in the system your rebate will
already be in there what it will do it
will generate a list for us to give you
a check back into the accounts payable
we were doing a rebate so whether you
show up at the door you mail it in you
pay at the bank
or you've already paid it it will go
back to your 2021 tax ticket
so
all eligible rebates will be applied
immediately to the calendar year 22
personal vehicle tax records
that's where we're going to move you
from the
calendar year 22 assessment
give you the 21 assessment
and taxpayers that have already paid for
the county year 22 personal property
vehicle taxes wherever you're funding
back to your residence immediately
now that is what I'm proposing back to
to be equal and fair car by car
make modeling Year all the way from
1923.
tonight 2022.
that live that is not an increase in any
car or vehicle or truck in this County
that's what I'm going to propose to the
Board of Supervisors to approve
thank you madam chair thank you Mr
Lester
um so we're going to proceed now with
the uh public hearing
so at this particular time I will open
up this um body to the public hearing to
hear about the personal property tax
relief if anyone would like to comment
on that do we have a list of names
please
do we have a separate list for the next
hearing okay all right that'll be fun
thank you first on the list is Mr
Charlie Hess of Lebanon
okay thank you Mr Hess Doug Mays
thank you Mr May Sandy Hayes
Sandy has surgery
um I've lived in Russell County my
entire life I have worked for the county
in some capacity for over 20 years but
up until April of this year I had never
felt the need to speak at a board
meeting honestly I'd never even been to
a board meeting that I could remember
until March and that was due to the
noise ordinance
um
I'm sure that you all have noticed over
the last couple of years more citizens
are becoming involved and paying
attention to the actions of the board
I would like to say that I do recognize
that you all do have a difficult job uh
you can't please everyone all the time
um and I appreciate what apparently is
being done tonight
um but you all do have to recognize
as well that some of the decisions
that's been made by certain members of
the board and the administrator have
spurred new citizen involvement
the latest issue with the taxes is the
perfect example of why the citizens are
becoming so vocal nobody likes to pay
taxes regardless of the political party
we understand that they're they are a
necessary evil to bring Revenue into the
county
however it's the perception
of how this took place that has so many
upset
uh the fact that the County
Administrator had been warned that this
increase was coming
the treasurer had repeatedly tried to
get the board to act
the fact that this huge increase in
Revenue
was obviously hidden from the majority
of the board
the fact that none of this huge Revenue
was factored into the budget discussion
at all
the fact that the chairman by her own
admission in the last meeting knew that
the letter predicting the increase was
included in the packet yet it was not
mentioned at all during any of the
budget discussions
all of this leads to distrust of the
board by the citizens
uh the County Administrator likes to use
the word Fair a lot
and what would have been fire
would have been that the county would
have been made known this huge increase
uh it would have been fair that the
citizens wouldn't have had to went
through weeks of worrying about how
they're going to pay these taxes
uh would have been fair that you all
went and had went through all these long
nights of pulling records and numbers
and pulling your hair out trying to
figure out what to do about this that
would have been fair that would have
been fair to to the county
that would have been Fair
but regardless
um I do appreciate the fact that you all
are willing to apparently do something
but
my last point is all this could have
been avoided all of this could I mean we
could have been back in May when I sat
through these budget meetings we could
have handled this back in May uh the
percentage of the assessment could have
been decreased like the general assembly
allotted and all of this could have been
could have been avoided but I do
appreciate the fact that you are doing
something
foreign
next on our list is Larry Hughes please
good evening my name is Laurie Hughes I
reside at 30 Glade Hall Drive Lebanon
District Five
I do want to thank the board for
allowing me to speak and I know you'll
have a tough job and I thank you for
what you do
but I have two thoughts I want to
address this evening one is a pro
congratulations another one is concerned
is to call off my agreements that I have
uh that's corrected by the board due to
this tax resolution
I want to thank Mr Steve Braden for
standing up for our fellow citizens and
their rights and I think Mr Lonzo Lester
resolution even though I understand the
last time there was nine percent of you
was a 10 producer production but a
non-excending increase so that really
concerns me
but in a manner to mitigate it was all
this issues they've tried to come up
with this it's great but this is this is
unwarranted that uh we we delayed this
wrong
because of the adverse Auto attacks
frenzy whatever and that's what it is
the forensic during the past two board
meetings you were put on those that you
do have a critical fiduciary
responsibility that's the board and a
legal constitutional obligation
two citizens of this County so we ask
you to understand this make sure you
understand we got you got a job to do
with this being said the board of
supervisor you've failed your obligation
properly And Timely addressed the tax
changes there were reference in the
letter from the commission Revenue Mr
Randall Williams dated March 25th 2022.
if this was not publicly and with
foresight made available to all elected
board members and this shortcoming must
be addressed by the board
there's no need to create
anxiety for many of the most Financial
strapped and of all decisions trying to
balance their tax obligation and
expenses to live today's inflationary
rapid
you can't we have
the always people always said you know
some people are struggling to pay the
bills anyway but now you create this
problem a lot of anxiety on people is no
deeper I can get through it but I got a
lot of friends who have a tough time
that's not right
and again as I as in attendance I'm you
know again I was not intended to know
who was involved with the county budget
Committee hearing but I understand that
the new tax initiatives was never
discussed in the budget review
a question why was not
or is our select few hoping to gain a
tax Surplus from some Pet Project that's
the question for you you need to answer
that I don't know if the board advisor
staff or selected members of the board
are withholding proper notification
towards proper
on a timely basis here too in this
instance it appears that the relevant
tax state was not provided
if this is a single instance of
communication failure if you should
convenient into a closed session ensure
this manner is resolved however if this
is a has occurred before and this this
probably then a desperate action must be
taken by the board being any such
reoccurrence of communication without
holding
here with the board of supervisor
putting those in the man to report back
to the system that you have addressed
this erroneous and drain just Behavior
by the hard staff or otherwise as a
taxpayer citizen I along with others
have a right to request you the board to
take positive and correct action report
back without unnecessary and private
human resource detail has been disclosed
otherwise to expect more decisive action
by consistency
foreign
thank you Mr Hughes
uh Pastor Don
thought long and hard about coming down
here and I spent a lot of time in prayer
I know that there's a God in heaven who
hears our prayers he answers our prayers
and God is good
you know I also believe that God tests
the faith of the community
just as he tests the faith of
individuals
God gives us problems that we might work
together to work them out
sometimes I think we can all lose sight
of that fact
the board is not the enemy
they're here to serve us
and I'd like to commend the board in
your service to us
on this tax thing
I don't know how many of you spent time
praying about it
and asking God to give our board
the wisdom
prepare their hearts
to work out a viable solution I hope
that you did
but I have been praying for this board
that we would have a viable solution
a fair and Equitable solution
and I'd like to commend the board
but more I'd like to thank God for what
God has done in answer to our prayers
it's a God thing
plain and simple
there are times when we come down and we
speak and share our peace
praise the Lord they graciously hear our
Peace of Mind whether they like what
they hear whether they don't
but
over the last
two years
we have always arrived at the right
decision
sometimes through much angst
but in the end God is glorified
we arrive where we need to arrive
because God is in control
and we are not
so I just want to
just say a prayer tonight if I may
father God we just thank you
we thank you that you are a God who
hears our prayers but more Lord you are
a God who answers our prayer
you are a God who knows what you are
going to do because you are in control
and father you are God and quite frankly
we are not
so Lord we humbly bow before you tonight
we give thanks for your graciousness and
your mercy
and your abundant goodness unto each and
every one of us
Lord in every situation we all need to
remember the admonishment of scripture
that in everything
through prayer and supplication make our
requests known unto God
and the peace of God that passes all
understanding shall guard our hearts and
Minds in Christ Jesus
Lord if we are filled with frustration
and angst it's simply because we've not
made our request known unto you that we
might receive of you the Blessed promise
of peace
the peace that passes all understanding
that peace that guards our hearts and
Minds
Lord again we give thanks for the
promises of God we give thanks that
father you have said in your word that
our God shall supply all our needs
according to his riches in Glory by
Christ Jesus
father we thank you for your Amazing
Grace we thank you for your abundant
Mercy
we thank you that your mercies failed
not that they are new every morning
and Lord as we have worked hard and as
this board has worked hard we thank you
for the fair and Equitable solution that
they have come up with
Lord we thank you that they recognize
the needs of the citizens of this County
and we thank you Father that we can work
together for the good that you have for
us and the good that you want to do for
us in this County
Lord we just say thank you blessed be
the name of God most high amen and amen
thank you Pastor Don
um I'm going to murder this name so I
think that it is
krisha Tyson
does that even remotely sound familiar
okay
I apologize if I mangled it really bad
and I know I did thank you
all right
um Jeff last name I cannot read Jeff
did you sign a paper all right you're up
all right very good I have no more names
does anyone else in this room that did
not sign up to speak does anyone else
want to speak on this topic
all right
name and address please
all right I appreciate all of you for
what you do for us
but I do have a issue if it was known by
some ahead of time and wasn't made known
to all your board members
and I mean I don't know if that's what
happened or not and I'm hate that I
wasn't at this last meeting but if that
is what happened and you all wasn't made
aware of it
but there needs to be some action taken
to where that won't happen again
and I do appreciate all of you all and I
appreciate all your time you put in for
us
and that's all I have to say tonight
thank you for coming we appreciate you
at this time I will close the hearing on
the taxes the personal property taxes
tax relief for Russell County at this
time next I'm going to move into the
next public hearing which is the Honaker
Redbud Festival property
uh this is the Russell County Harper
house project as we're calling it so I
have no one's name on a list to come and
speak publicly on this
is there anyone in this room
that
okay thank you very much
my name my name is Alicia McLaughlin
from Honaker uh I want to ask you if you
guys will consider to bring this
property back in and then give it to the
Harper house it's something that we
really need it's something that's going
to be really worthwhile in our community
that's going to do a lot of help and
I've been talking uh with April and them
about it and I'm very excited because I
want to volunteer there I want to try to
help all that I can to do anything that
I can to help to get this going but I
just ask you if you guys will consider
this and bring it back in and give this
a home to the Harper house because I
think it's something that a lot of
people children especially can benefit
from thanks
thank you Miss McLaughlin we appreciate
your comments anyone else want to
comment on this property
okay hearing none I'm going to close
this public hearing concerning the
Honaker Redbud Festival property Russell
County Harper house project
now before I go on to I'm going to go on
and listen to uh citizens comments
because that's next we want to make sure
that if you did not come to speak on the
tax relief or you did not come to speak
on Harper house but you did come to
speak on something else we'll have it we
have an open session now three minutes
for for anybody that wants to come up
and speak on something else that that we
haven't had tonight
going once
twice
I mean it's God fear and folk we have
church on Wednesday nights and it kind
of comes across to me that
and I hope from Pastor Don's uh words
tonight you understand we're not the
enemy we pray for you all too
but by having these meetings on
Wednesdays it doesn't pose a difficulty
for us where you have to choose I've
asked respectfully that the board
considers picking a different night for
these meetings
and when you have these meetings once
again when I got here tonight I had to
sit outside the TV's not on there you
know you can hear the sound but if we
don't have the big room could you please
allow that TV to be on so that way the
citizens that can't fit in here can be
part of the meeting and see what's going
on
that's the end of my comments thank you
thank you appreciate you making a
suggestion did not realize our TV wasn't
working out there
anyone else
[Music]
all right
so then we're going to move on to the
next part of their meeting and what's
the board's pleasure on air personal
property tax relief
I'd like to make the motion that we read
and accept this resolution because I
feel like none of us
realized this and we're just we're here
to help our citizens none of us want to
put any type of burden on anybody in our
County these are the folks that we've
gone to school with we're keen to we're
married into the families we go to
church with we go to ball games with
we do not want to put any undue pressure
on this and this is troubling times and
I want to read well Lonzo has read this
resolution and it will put it back and
I'm making the motion that we accept
this resolution and put the taxes back
for our citizens second thank you Steve
I appreciate that
okay we have a motion and a second
further discussion with this board yes
ma'am I'd like to see something uh
I'm sure you're under information
overload and I want to tell you it is a
complicated process I worked for the
last two weeks ever since our last board
meeting putting trying to come up some
sort of
solution based on a percentage that ones
that you know proposed 90. I finally got
it down to age somewhere between 85 and
80 percent that looked like it was was
going to fit pretty good uh and it would
reduce everybody's taxes but Lonzo is
right there are abatements that I can't
take into consideration
there's also the fact that when you
start removing when you start lowering
the tax rate you hit that twenty
thousand dollar range anything above
twenty thousand dollars is taxed at a
dollar ninety five when you move below
that range you drop back to the old I
think it was 2006 uh number which is
1.45 see basically you're losing when
you move cars when you reduce your value
and that causes them to drop below that
twenty thousand dollar range you're
losing 50 cents per 100 which has a
pretty substantial impact on the bottom
line on your on your taxes on on the tax
that you would come that comes in that
we base our budget on
uh I sit down with Lonzo yesterday and
he went over this name I said
you can do bottom line bring everything
back to the 21 tax rates everybody's
taking it'll be exactly like it was last
time the 22 cars we can't do anything
about so they'll just pay the tax but
he's going to come back and look at the
lowest in Ada rate that they can get so
try to give everybody as much a break as
we can so you know it's I've I've been
tough on Lonzo on this but I'm gonna
give them Kudos on this because it's
that was a tough and he showed me what
he's doing I mean he apparently
spent nights going over that detailed 27
000 person list of vehicles so uh it's
that's more than I had access to I want
to thank commissioner revenues office
because they I would like to worry them
to death getting generating information
for me and Alicia for looking at
everything so uh
I think this is great
we should have done it back in April
you're right and we could have done this
without uh
without having sent the tax tickets out
we could resolve this issue but that's
in the past uh I sure will I will do my
best to make sure it didn't happen again
and I have other members of support will
too so that's all I've got to say I just
like say one thing I'd like to thank
Alicia our Treasurer and Randy our
commercial Revenue
for their hard work in this process also
it takes a lot of people putting their
heads together to to get to where we're
at today and I think this is great for
the citizens
and
okay sorry
also
one thing I did not say
and me and Steve talked about it also
we're going to have to do this again
next year
we're not out of it so this same formula
we're going to have to keep these same
records to be able to go back now we
have talked with DNA Ada which they
State Virginia pays about three million
dollars a year or two they do a million
assessments a month
it's already dropped about eight percent
but not every car and truck some muffins
went up some went down some but again
we're going to have to go keep the 21
base until
the the federal government decides what
it's going to do here so I mean that's
that's we're gonna have to deal with
this next year so now we've got the
programs we've got the the model set up
we can deal with it next year and give
continuous tax relate because again we
did not include this in the budget so
we're going to have to do it next year
too I think one thing I point out too is
that the personal property tax relief
is has been a flat number it's a million
four hundred and thirty seven thousand
two dollars I think it's been that since
they initiated back in what 2006 it
doesn't change every year but it was all
based on that 2006 form to a dollar 45
times 100 percent at that time now the
county has to reduce that number
to spread it over all the cars that are
eligible for it so the more cars that
you get coming in you can see already
we're down there we were down last year
to 37 percent almost we lost almost
two-thirds you know there's been that
many more cars that come in that we're
eligible for it so you know it's it's
not like it's a flat percentage it just
you know we just get that every year and
you got to divvy it out and you know you
know everybody gets a little piece of it
it looks to me like if we go back to 48
at the maximum pptr that you can get is
at twenty thousand dollars
139.20 which is a pretty good chunk yeah
foreign
that the due date is going to change
also as part of this resolution from
November from November 28th to December
15th
yeah we we extended it out but
and we have to close the books out there
the taxes the calendar year thing so we
had to you know make sure the books were
closed by the Auditors even though we
did the program give people ample time
to pay it and no matter what method they
use whether they went to the bank or in
because if anyone knows and I'm going
back to their previous tax tickets on
the real estate remember we had to
extend the date to that to June the 29th
because we were sitting waiting on the
State numbers because they were not here
so
we're shifting we shifted to real estate
we're Shifting the personal property on
the cars
and again it doesn't look like any hopes
coming up over the horizon I'm sorry to
say I mean if anybody's watching the
news you have to know this so I mean
but we're going to work as hard as we
can to keep this as equal as our our
budgets the Board of Supervisors has
level funded for all other than
increases in benefits and this and that
the contracts is level funded for seven
years
you can not there has not been a rate
increase in the eight years that they're
going on
and that's an accomplishment in itself
yeah we do get a few bumps I gotta admit
but I can't give out more you can't
recommend more or recommend less
to some and give more to more does that
make sense you've got to make it equal
in Fire and that's what their their
motto has been whether it's raises it's
fire across the board everybody gets the
same if you're going to give out the tax
it's got to be fire across the same the
only one I called on was the 22. I
couldn't back it up to the 21 says value
but I can back it we can back it up to
the true true 22 assessment and give
them the 37 to 48.
yeah
that is not correct
that was we and we we took that come
home well a lot of counties actually put
it in it's not illegal but what could be
fair the odd it should be and and one of
the things that we've seen because when
we start going car by car it was it was
too much of a juggernaut and one of the
things that if you've done that now you
can pay late now you you still get the
benefits if you come in and pay your
ticket but again by law and and I'm not
going into the treasurer's issues
once the due date ends your assessed
interests and penalties we we got to do
that by law we can't we can't we don't
have authority to change that so you you
still get the discount you're still
going to pay penalty centers you pay
late so and I know everybody's waiting
on this
and we've been watching
how they're coming in so everybody's
waiting to what the board supervisors
does and then we're going to run these
through the records as fast as possible
get you to get records updated if you
have a problem go to the Commissioner
Revenue go to the treasurer's office
they're glad to help we will run these
records like I said I got all 26
5837 here so we can run you fast okay
I'm going to use
during this
that we have opened on the floor and
allow the treasurer to speak
I just I just have one question when I
was looking at this resolution and this
is probably for Katie this says that it
will change the due date for the
personal property to these to December
the 15th but we also have real estate
with a due date of November so does this
resolution need to include real estate
too or because we don't need two
deadlines
yeah I mean
it would this it would mean that the
original due date for Real Property
would stand because that's not included
in this so so if the board is wanting to
change the due date for all tax
I need an amendment to that motion then
that's a good point
yeah so Katie that's all I need to do
yeah you just need you need to make a
motion to Amendment
uh my original resolution here is that
all of our taxes Alicia will be decent
is December 15th that's your girls your
office will be fine all right second
okay I have a motion and a second to
amend to all taxes will be due at the
very same time in December
I'm going to call for the vote all in
favor
any of
us thank you board
now moving on to
um the Honaker Redbud Festival property
Mr Eaton this is your district and your
heart you want to give us a motion on
that yes ma'am I like to make a motion
that the county accept this property uh
for the Harper House this will be a home
uh for foster children until we can get
placement for them I'm really excited I
want to thank Alicia and a lot of those
that have reached out to April uh to
want to volunteer and help in any way
they can so I'll put that motion on the
floor Mr Eaton I'm sorry we've already
accepted the property back we did that
at the last meeting so this would be to
convey it to them I'll make the motion
to convey sick I have a motion and a
second to convey this property back to
uh two uh the Russell County Harper
house project yes
all right we have conveyed it we will
convert it to her correct okay it's it's
an entity it's um it's um child abuse
reporting and enforcement center of
Southwest Virginia is the legal industry
and that'll go to the okay and there's
not going to be any like she said there
won't be any ex expenses won't be on us
she is taking that in under her
non-profit correct yes I mean today the
only motion on the floor is to
um is to convey the property that we've
accepted back from the Redbud Festival
um incorporation to this this entity
okay I have a motion in a second any
further discussion
I'll call for the vote all in favor any
opposed any abstentions motion carries
uh at this time we're winding down so
I'm down to board discussion and
reminders any uh Mr Lovelace no man
Mr Ray nobody Mr Eaton yes ma'am I just
got a couple of things uh I would like
to for the board to be able to recognize
the retirees like Mickey Ray and I think
we had a lady that retired from lonzo's
office with a plaque uh if we could do
that I think that would go a long way to
show our appreciation for their
commitment and service to our County
some of them have worked here I don't
know how many years but any any other
going forward that any retirees I would
like to be able to do this for them I'd
like to put that in form of emotion that
we do that no motions tonight remember
um but anyway we will put that on air
next month's agenda Mr Lester it's me
thank you thank you yes uh like for the
uh since we're not making motions uh to
take under consideration I talked to Tim
Lovelace today me and Timmy went through
if you've ever had an opportunity as a
board supervisor remember to visit our
local schools
and kind of to get a gist of the needs
that they have that I know our schools
are working on some very large projects
but there are also some pending projects
the school system gave us some money
back and I would like to see us give
them seventy five thousand dollars
that's 25 000 per area to Tim's got the
list he can go into a little bit more
detail and I'll let him do that but on
our next board meeting I'd like for us
to take it into consideration if you go
visit some of these areas and this is
all for the kids they need uh you know
some mulch areas and some curtains in
the schools and some of those area gyms
have need those play mats replaced uh
and I I'd like to partner like we have
in the past with our school system to be
able to make sure that we can partner
with them and suffice some of the needs
that they do have and Tim if you want to
I think you covered it well but uh we we
just have a lot of issues with you know
sidewalks guttering uh old heating and
cooling units in the classrooms that
just you know just need to be replaced
and
we'll see that that's on our next month
agenda one more thing and I have lists
from all
today got a list he can provide uh
another thing I want to bring up we
talked about ladder last meeting as far
as this drug money coming in I know we
don't have the legal
terminology or the restrictions that
apply to that but talking to some of the
parents and some of the kids through
this pandemic we have a lot of kids with
mental health issues and our school
resource officers uh are very critical
and I talked to County Administrator
about this and we have a now I think we
worked it out before we have a school
resource officer at every school but I
would like to see if there's an
opportunity to take some of this funding
through that drug money that we're going
to receive to be able to cross-train
some of these school resource officers
one their pay is really low compared to
a road officer and I'd like to be able
to see if we can't work something out
with the Department of Social Services
to have some classes for these uh School
resources now they're doing the job as
we speak they're just not getting
reimbursed for it or they're not getting
paid for what they do they are a social
worker they are a school resource
officer they do a lot of these jobs
that's required of them but I would like
to see if there's a way that we could
take some of that money instead of
sending that money back to the state
through the Department of Social
Services seeing if we can't cross train
and hire them as a social advisor or
social slash worker to help work they're
on the ground they're working with the
parents they're working with the kids
and I think this would be a great asset
plus I want to take I'd like to see us
take some of that money to set aside for
these events like they had for the mark
marrow that was an outstanding event and
take some of that money to be able to
host an event each year in our school
systems to be able to provide a God
thing to our children and that's all I
have Madam chair thank you thank you Mr
Eaton that shall be placed upon Mr
Lester to run that little rabbit for you
all right promise
what's the braiding
the only thing I have is that as a part
of the program life resolution we agreed
to initiate a meeting of the public
uh
to discuss some issues community-wide
issues maybe that group could work on
and I just like
see if Mr Lester would go ahead and see
if we can initiate that meeting I'd be
glad to work with you on it
it was as that was known as part of the
motion or part of the resolution so I
don't think we need a motion of any sort
thank you it's done
I'm going to steal a phrase from uh Mr
Williams that he used last last meeting
was you know we've never been here we've
never crossed this bridge before with
our taxes in
just to let y'all know we we sincerely
do not want to put any hardship on you
and we will work with you all on any
time that we can we will listen to you
and we do want you to have all the
benefits for the county yes this is a
hard job but we asked for it we stuck
our necks out there but we are here to
fix it for you going forward this is
fixed for you all and we we appreciate
your understanding of where we sit with
this thank you
it's Christian
yes at our last meeting just before we
adjourned I said I was willing to do
anything to help relieve the tax
situation for the citizens uh anything
we could do legally it looks like we
have a post-step point tonight I'm glad
that we have and hope that we can maybe
avoid this later on in the days ahead
but you know you can't hit it off a lot
of stuff it kind of creeps up on you
unaware you say well you're done this
you're done it's easier for you to sit
in the office and say that and us having
the information everything that we need
sometime to take the steps that we in
this need to take necessarily but I do
appreciate
um things come to this point where we
can give you some relief on your
personal property taxes
formally adjourn the meeting for
um tonight I thank you all for coming
have a good evening