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BOS Votes No on Additional Lodging Tax

Lisa Watson McCarty
Publisher

Supervisors spent a good portion of last Wednesday’s meeting learning about tourism development efforts in the county but declined to support proposed legislation that would add an additional fee on lodging.

The board voted 4-3 against a request from the Heart of Appalachia Tourism Authority to seek General Assembly approval to levy a $3 fee on hotel/motel rooms in the seven counties of Southwest Virginia.

According to the proposal of the $3 collected, $2 would go directly to the Heart of Appalachia Tourism Authority. The remaining $1 would be paid to local tourism committees.

While Scott County has relatively fee rooms available for overnight stay, the county currently collects a 2 percent tax on motel rooms. But some of the counties in the Heart of Appalachia area have a large number of motel rooms and the anticipated revenue could top $665,000.

According to the proposal, a total of 1,245 rooms are available in the seven-county region of the Heart of Appalachia Tourism Authority. Of that number 102 are located in Scott County at the Travel Inn resulting in potential revenue of $18,168 allocated to the tourism committee.

Dr. David Redwine, chairman of the board, told tourism representatives present that he would rather money slated for tourism development go directly to the Scott County Tourism Committee.

Redwine, District 1 Supervisor Paul Fields, District 5 Supervisor Randall ‘Buck’ Kinkead and District 6 Supervisor Chad Hood voted against the motion. District 2 Supervisor Joe Horton, District 3 Supervisor Danny Parks and District 4 Supervisor Joe Herron were in favor of the motion.

Supervisors unanimously approved adding a portion of Scott County and other counties in Southwest Virginia to seek designation as a Coal Heritage Trail. Joe Fuller, a member of the tourism committee, explained that West Virginia has already earned the designation and the new areas are an expansion of that trail.

Sally Kelly, who was chosen for a position on the Scott County Tourism Committee during the appointment portion, gave a brief update on the county’s acceptance into the Preserve America program.

In other business, transportation items dominated the remainder of the meeting as fallout from a proposal to shut down area maintenance shops continued to resonate. Supervisors unanimously approved a resolution that noted their strong opposition to any plan to return secondary road construction and maintenance to localities.

James Parsons, Jonesville Resident Administrator, suggested the board hold its annual public hearing on the Six Year Road Plan at the end of January. He said some counties are removing proposed projects from the plan because many have been on for 10-15 years and probably aren’t going to be started anytime soon.

Parsons said roads that are listed as being in the development phase in some areas are dropping off the plan because “it’s not realistic to keep them on.”

The board will hold its public hearing on the Six Year Plan on Jan. 25 at 6 p.m. at the Scott County Career and Technical Center.

Scott County Administrator John Strutner said some of VDOT woes were because construction money was being transferred to maintenance projects tied to federal money.

Parsons explained that in order to receive federal transportation money, some state money must be used as a matching amount and the federal dollars must be spent on projects located on federal routes. In Scott County, VDOT has used the funding to replace some bridges but in Lee County, none of their priority roads met the guidelines.

“Obviously, federal money will affect what we do with the plan,” Parsons said. “By leaving some of these projects on, it is a very unrealistic plan. We haven’t added any new roads since 2002 …and we’ve taken three major cuts since then.”

Fields remained adamant that First District Del. Terry Kilgore had explained to him that the Virginia Department of Transportation had plenty of money to complete its project.

Parsons remarked that tax revenues were down and maintenance costs were up and he honestly didn’t know where all of VDOT’s funding had gone. He added that the agency was trying to do the best it could with the amount of money it was budgeted.

Hood replied that Kilgore had written in a letter about a $1 billion reserve fund specifically for the VDOT. The District 6 Supervisor asked the delegate about the letter and mentioned it at the Nov. 28 public meeting on the proposed closings of several area headquarters but didn’t get any response.

Some board members criticized firms hired by VDOT to perform contract duties such as mowing, spraying, brush-cutting and snow removal. Hood event went so far as to request a breakdown of the amount of money spent on private contractors in the past few years in the Bristol District.

Horton and Herron, who attended the Virginia Association of Counties annual meeting in November, said new VDOT Commissioner David Ekern was grilled by supervisors from all over the state during transportation sessions. Horton added the Bristol District was the hardest hit in terms of the number of employees and area headquarters affected by the proposal to consolidate some maintenance shops.

Herron stated the commissioner gave no indication if VDOT’s consolidation plan could be derailed. It’s my understanding from what I saw at these meetings, he explained, they are going to do it regardless of what people think.

Herron also said there wasn’t anyone at the VACo meeting in favor of turning over maintenance of secondary roads to counties. Horton added that members of the General Assembly certainly heard the same notion – that no one was happy with VDOT.

Parsons explained that the plan to consolidate area headquarters was from VDOT but a proposal to turn over secondary roads for counties to maintain was coming from the General Assembly.

There has been a lot of discussion on VDOT’s proposal to close some maintenance shops and it was a great deal more negative than expected, he noted. There will be changes to the proposal and I can’t say right now what they will be but hopefully we’ll know by the next board meeting, Parsons concluded.

"It's a monster,” Hood added. “I don't know who is fueling the monster. Unless we stand up to it, I don't know if it will do any good, but we need to do something."

Horton noted that only three counties at the VACo meeting could afford to maintain their own roads but they, too, were against the proposal.

Strutner said General Assembly plans to change Virginia’s secondary system might be weakened but the board needed to keep on its toes.

“We need to monitor this,” the administrator said. “VACo took a strong stand, too. This is wounded like a snake but you better make sure it is dead or it will be back.”

The board also chose several new persons to fill vacancies on various boards. Rebecca Coleman was chosen to fill an interim position on the Mountain Empire Community College Local Board. Jon Lawson was tapped for seats on the Upper Tennessee River Roundtable and the Litter Task Force.

Two new members were selected for the Scott County Economic Development Authority. Dewayne Vermillion and Sherry Hilton were each appointed to three-year terms.

Virgil Sampson returns to the Lenowisco Board of Directors as a citizen member and District 2 Supervisor Joe Horton was chosen to fill the other citizen slot. He joins Herron and Parks, who currently serve as supervisor representatives on the board.

Ellen Barker was selected for a position on the Social Services Board.

Supervisors also voted to hold a public hearing at their Jan. 3 meeting regarding an ordinance for a permanent pump and haul guidelines. They also agreed to abandon a portion of Old State Route 614, near the Washington County line at the request of Douglas and Elizabeth Humphreys.

The board also followed the lead of its neighbors to the west when they approved a resolution requesting the General Assembly enact legislation to require deeds to be timely recorded.

At the request of Lenowisco, supervisors agreed to pay a portion of the costs for a Richmond legislative reception in January during the 2007 session of the General Assembly. Scott County EDA and the board will split the county’s costs for the reception which is co-sponsored by Scott, Lee, Wise, Dickenson and Buchanan Counties and the City of Norton.

The Scott County Board of Supervisors meets the first Wednesday of each month at 8:30 a.m. in the county office building. All meetings are open to the public.

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