The Land Gobblers

This Tuesday, November 20, at 7 p.m. at Stanley Elementary School, the Board of Supervisors will vote on the issue of purchasing the land for the new County Office Building/Government Complex. This is the land that is offered at $66,000 an acre. An explanation of the rationale behind the purchase of the land and the complex building can be found on the county website at http://www.pagecounty.virginia.gov/ Go to Our Government, and then at the bottom left you will see a menu heading for FAQs. This is where you can download the white paper. Look carefully at the section that says The Big Picture Financial Considerations. You have to read that section three or four times to get the full measure of it.

This is the public hearing for this issue, and they will vote on it the same night. If you have anything to say about this issue, please call your Supervisor, and the Supervisor Chairman, Tommy LaFrance, and then call everybody else’s Supervisor, before Tuesday night, and also come to the public hearing and speak. The phone numbers are:
Tommy LaFrance (Chairman) 743-3715 (home) and 860-1122 (cell)
Charlie Hoke (District 1) 743-9434 (home after 4 p.m.)
John Rust (District 2) 743-5316 (home)
Gerald Cubbage (District 4) 778-3227
Carol Lee Strickler (District 5) 652-3211

There are two issues here. The first is the price of the land. The county argues that this is a fair market price, and the best they can do. The land is owned by John Douglas Atwood. The land is assessed at $48,250 (compared to the purchase price of $600,000). The land is assessed at that value, even though a property across the street sold in 2004 for nearly $60,000 an acre.

Both John Rust and Tommy LaFrance can be expected to vote in favor of this. There’s not too much point in calling them, so call the others instead. Charlie Hoke is open to arguments against it. I don’t know for sure, but I believe both Carol Lee and Gerald would be open to hearing arguments against it. Carol Lee is the person most likely to vote for it, in my opinion. But phone calls from you, their constituents, would be important in helping them make their decision.
The second issue, after you stop thinking and thinking and thinking about the assessed value being $48,250 for that property, compared to the assessed value of YOUR property, is the whole concept of building a “county government COMPLEX” .

This is a wondrous thought. A fine and lovely place, where the school administration office can be, and the county offices, and who knows what else, with lots of parking. A legacy left behind by a Board that will no longer be in place when it actually happens and the bill comes in.

Then the people who live here – Chris Says, Peter Rabbit, Concern Taxpayer, P.Od Citizen, the Wizard of Odds, and all the other lovely characters we met during the last few months – including you and me – will have a fabulous place to visit when they need court documents and tax records. But they will also have tax bills that double again, in the near future. A building plan like this, combined with the shortfall of what will still be spent on the new, 75% occupied, schools and the renovation of the middle schools, will decimate the populations’ ability to pay.

The thinking behind actions like this is that “growth is coming.” The population is booming.

Growth is not coming. The roads are not conducive to bringing in jobs, the population is not growing, and for every retiree that arrives, a young person graduates from high school and leaves. The housing market is near collapse, nationwide, and the retirees who could be expected to be the only population who could move here, can’t sell their houses to do it. Those who would argue for this plan say this is a temporary situation, and we need to be prepared for when the market recovers, by taking on this enormous additional debt. Of course, if the market recovers after 15 – 20 years, we will have paid these prices during essentially a full generation, waiting.

Actions and behavior like this impact a community’s entire future. What businesses and retirees will come here, with a tax structure that forces people out of their homes, bad access roads to the county, and a questionable workforce?

We have already purchased land for a county office building. We have already paid for architects’ drawings for it on that land. We did this earlier in 2007, not a long time ago. The argument is we can use that land for something else (what? Something else that’s free, or something else that costs more money?) There is also an argument that buying this land is not a decision to go forward with the Government Complex. It’s just a great idea for the county to buy up land. At 12 times greater than its assessed value. Partially in the Flood Plain, by the way.

If you agree with this decision to buy the land, do nothing. It will be passed on Tuesday night if there is no citizen outcry. Your silence will be interpreted as agreement.

If you disagree, call Gerald, Carol Lee, and Charlie in the next few days. Come to the meeting Tuesday night and explain your opinion before the vote.

Alice