Adjusting the Tax-rate to match the budget?...

Supervisor Karaffa held his first Townhall meeting since being elected as the Supervisor of Beverley Manor district and it seems that he now understands that the Tax-rate can be adjusted to meet budget demands. A option and tactic that Karaffa, along with many of the "Gang of Four", could\would not admit during the BOS campaigns where they made the "reassessment issue" the cornerstone of their attacks against the then sitting BOS board of Supervisors...

VERONA, Va. -- NewsVirginian
Beverley Manor District Supervisor David Karaffa met with constituents Tuesday night to get their input on a possible increase in real estate and personal property taxes to meet Augusta County’s 2012-13 budget needs.

A public hearing on the tax rate and Augusta County budget is set for next Wednesday at the Augusta County Government Center.

After 90 minutes of answering questions Tuesday night, Karaffa said he is still weighing a potential 3-cent increase in real estate taxes, and a 32-cent increase in personal property taxes on cars and trucks.

“I need to think about what is in the best interest of the people I represent,’’ he said. Karaffa said he would like to see added cuts in the 2012-13 budget. The suggested alternative to a tax increase concerns Karaffa.

He has doubts about dipping into capital accounts the county has for major building projects, depreciation and infrastructure needs to fund another $2.4 million for county schools and about $1 million for added firefighters, Sheriff’s deputies and other spending identified at recent budget work sessions.

“Pulling money out of the capital accounts is having faith the economy will turn around in the next couple of years,’’ Karaffa said.

Beverley Manor School Board member Lee Godfrey was also in attendance at Tuesday’s town hall. She said the School Board is grateful for the financial help from the Board of Supervisors. Godfrey said the added support means programs such as the Shenandoah Valley Governor’s School would continue.

Godfrey said while increasing taxes is never easy, she knows when she pays her Augusta County taxes that “I can show you where the money goes. The local money stays here. That is the beauty as opposed to the state and Washington.”

Karaffa told the audience he has confidence in the company just hired to do the county reassessment, Wingate and Associates of Roanoke.

Should property values decrease with the reassessment, Karaffa said the tax rate might have to be increased to not lose revenue.

“But we won’t know that until January 2014,’’ he said of the completed reassessment date.

Where to find the money...

The NewsVirginian has an article about the potential tax rate increase in Augusta County to cover the budget shortfalls that they have had to cover recently. $2,4 million to cover the school issue and another $1 million for Police & Firefighter coverage... Now comes the shell-game to find the additional funds or raise the tax-rate across the board for the county residents...

Taxes could go up next year in Augusta County, but that decision won’t be made until supervisors meet next week for another budget work session.

Supervisors have committed an additional $2.4 million to the county schools in next year’s budget above county growth revenue, and reached a consensus Wednesday on an additional $1 million in other obligations that include two additional sheriff’s deputies and three new firefighters in Mount Solon.


Wills said he did not see the budget as balanced if the county is borrowing money from other funds to meet operating needs. He said he was reluctant to take money from capital accounts when the county might need those funds to repair a dam or for economic development. He described “big dollars” as being needed for a potential major economic development project.


If necessary, he said, supervisors should “step up to the plate” and tell Augusta County residents a tax increase is needed to fund the 2012-13 budget. The current real-estate tax rate is 48 cents per $100 of assessed value.


North River Supervisor Marshall Pattie, on the other hand, said he was not opposed to using the capital accounts to get the county through the remainder of a difficult economic cycle.

Pattie said real property values in his district increased 47 percent during the last reassessment, and he would not like to add a tax increase to that.

And Pattie said there is additional revenue on the horizon for Augusta County, with the anticipation at some point of the Augusta Marketplace retail project opening inVerona.

Read more at: NewsVirginian

Timing the next reassessment...

The NewsVirginian reports that the BOS will be taking up the timing and method for the next re-assessment for the county in a meeting on Monday.....

The provider of Augusta County’s next real estate reassessment and the timing of it will be discussed when the Augusta County Board of Supervisors meet for an afternoon briefing on Monday.

The board’s reassessment committee will offer a recommendation about how supervisors should proceed, said Middle River Supervisor Larry Wills.

Wills, a member of the reassessment committee, said there have been four proposals from private firms to perform the reassessment. Supervisors will also receive an estimate on Monday of the cost to the county if the reassessment was performed in-house.
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“A tremendous amount of work has gone into this,’’ said Wills, who anticipates a lengthy discussion by the board at Monday’s meeting.


“This is a good team of people on work on things,’’ Pyles said.

“This is a group able to assimilate a group of facts and issues and make decisions.”

One of the considerations is the timing of the reassessment, Pyles said.

He said it is possible the work could be done in less than a year and be completed by January 2013. Another option is to finish the work a year later.

Karaffa said he is concerned about doing an assessment by January of next year.

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“I think January 2014 is the date we have to aim for,’’ he said.

Maybe the NewsLeader has noticed?....

The NewsLeader has a in-depth article about the recent changes over at the Yancey Volunteer Fire department were it was recently reported would now be under control of the Augusta County government control. This article goes into the changes that have occurred over the years and how this community has gone away from citizens stepping up and becoming part of the "volunteer" staff to serve their community.

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Good information and interesting reading. Only hoped that the NewsLeader would have done a article like this back during the recent Board of Supervisors campaign\election were this issue was used as a campaign issue by one of the candidates and it would have been obvious that it was only being used as a "Campaign Issue".....

In the late 1970s, there was no Emerald Hills, no Teaverton, no sprawling suburban-like development, recalled native Larry Swisher.

"Fishersville was a little crossroads community," Swisher said. "Everybody knew everybody because they were related, or they were friends and went to school together. There was a strong sense of community."

Back then, momentum for the idea gathered quickly, and the community of friends and relatives made it happen: The Preston L. Yancey Volunteer Fire Company sprouted from all the talk and fundraising, and volunteers took turns listening out for emergencies to answer calls.

In what eventually became an unfortunate, but increasingly typical paradox being played out around the country, Fishersville grew, but fewer people were willing fill volunteer ranks to fight fires. Now, years of unreliable volunteer fire coverage has forced the department to fold into Augusta County control.

A vital community service that had been provided through civic spirit and charitable donations is now offered by paid professionals who are part of a growing portion of the county's regular expenses.

The population of 9,000 mostly newcomers in the high-growth area is hardly close-knit.

Civic involvement in Fishersville didn't keep pace with the population boom. Despite all Yancey members' recruiting efforts, the company found itself in recent years trying to cover emergency calls in the area with 15 to 20 volunteers, about half of whom are active regulars, Swisher said.

Nearly two years ago, the Insurance Service Office, a subsidiary of New Jersey-based Versick Analytics, whose analysis is used by companies to set premiums for property owners, gave Preston Yancey a 10 rating for fire protection. It is the lowest possible score a fire department can receive — given to areas with no fire departments serving them.

Since then, inadequate volunteer staffing — a longtime problem — continued to plague the company, which serves the fastest growing community in Augusta County since 2000.
Volunteer issues, however, are not limited to just Preston Yancey.

"People now, they would rather sit at home and pay somebody else to do the job that they used to be willing to get out and do on their own," Swisher said.

Augusta County Board of Supervisors Watch

Link added to take you directly to a new site that provides the text of the BOS Board of Supervisors meetings. So if you miss the actual meetings you can read what was said at the BOS meeting and by who... This site was developed by "John Galt" who is a visitor \ commentator to Operation Drumbeat and provided a valuable assest to the Citizens of Augusta County...

Thanks "John Galt"....

click on Augusta County BOS meeting minutes--->

Higher rating for Yancey Fire Department....

The NewsLeader reports that with the recent improvements and additional paid staff to the Yancey Fire Department has raised the area's service rating which will decrease the insurance rates for "some property owners" in the area. This after a very active campaign by some from the Wayne district to draw attention to their increased insurance rates and that the BOS had allowed the rating to fall.

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In fact this became a campaign issue used by some in hopes to install a "gang of four" to the board of supervisors that could favor this issue. Media events were held to draw attention to the higher insurance rates and the "failure of the BOS" to prevent this, but these events also failed to increase the amount of local citizens volunteering to correct this situation. The NewsLeader also reported that the Yancey fire department was
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"Unable to recruit enough volunteer firefighters to respond to calls, Yancey eventually decided to fold and officially become part of Staunton-based Company 10."

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VERONA — Improvements to emergency services in Fishersville have persuaded the firm that studies fire protection to upgrade the area's service rating, which should mean lower insurance costs for some property owners.

The New Jersey-based Insurance Service Office has revised the area's rating from the worst-possible 10 to a range of 5 to 8, county Fire-Rescue Chief Carson Holloway announced Wednesday..

The rating applies to Fishersville and to the area just outside of Staunton covered by the county's Fire Department Company 10, which is based within city the limits.
Last year, the county merged the area covered by Fishersville's Preston L. Yancey Volunteer Fire Company with Company 10. The move was one of many the county made since 2010 to improve fire protection in Fishersville. The local government also agreed to pay for additional firefighters to work out of Yancey, which is now dissolving as an independent department to come under county administration.

At supervisors' regular meeting Wednesday, Holloway congratulated the county government for the help provided to address the issue.

"This was a unified effort of many people working here in this building," Holloway said, referring to the Government Center. The improved fire rating will officially take effect July 1, the chief said. The bottom-of-the-barrel insurance rating given two years ago for the Fishersville area signaled the demise of Yancey as an independent company.

A the time, ISO cited inadequate training and equipment at Yancey, but the lack of volunteers has been especially dogging the department.

A rating of 10 is the equivalent of not having a fire department service in the area at all, Holloway said. That grade sent some homeowners' insurance soaring.

The county eventually beefed up the number of paid firefighters to answer calls in Augusta County's fastest-growing area. Supervisors later agreed to have Company 10 answer calls out of Fishersville automatically and signed a deal to quicken responses from the Waynesboro Fire Department.

Unable to recruit enough volunteer firefighters to respond to calls, Yancey eventually decided to fold and officially become part of Staunton-based Company 10.

Augusta County takes control of Yancey VFD...

The NewsLeader has coverage of the County taking over control of the Yancey Volunteer Fire Department... Several people have observed how this district of the county has gotten the extra attention of the BOS since the Wayne district citizens rallied after their insurance rates increased due to a poor rating for the Yancey FD. Many observed how the folks over in Wayne were able and willing to petition and pressure the BOS for a paid staff at Yancey but not to volunteer or help out at the same FD they were complaining about. Some from this district even made it a campaign issue this past fall. Numerous other districts in Augusta have volunteer staffs that carry most of the weight and respond to the call of their neighbors. These same volunteers, besides carrying the weight of their locales, are now paying the taxes and salaries of the majority paid staff over at Yancey...


VERONA — The end of a more than three-decade-old tradition of an independent volunteer fire department in Fishersville won't change who responds or how they respond, Augusta County and Preston L. Yancey Volunteer Fire Department officials promise.

The Yancey company's decision to turn itself over to the county mostly means the county will assume the administrative headaches of running a fire company along with its equipment and station, which will remain in place, said Tracy Pyles, chairman of the board of supervisors.

"It doesn't matter whether it is a career patch or a volunteer patch on a firefighter's shoulder," he added.

Augusta County already stations 12 paid firefighters at Yancey, for round-the-clock staffing by four county employees.

The county will not need to station more paid firefighters at Yancey and the takeover should not affect the budget, Pyles said.

"It's like squeezing the balloon," he said. Any additional expense the county incurs taking over the administrative and business functions of the company will be offset by a lower payment to the volunteers who will continue to respond to calls, he said.

The county has stepped up support for Yancey over the past year and a half after an insurance rating agency gave the company a failing grade. In addition to assigning more paid firefighters to the Fishersville station, the county decided to automatically dispatch Company 10 and Waynesboro Fire Department to calls in Fishersville alongside the volunteer department.

But Yancey has seen a decline in the time people can commit to volunteering, even as it served one of the county's fastest-growing areas. It has recently averaged one volunteer firefighter responding per call, and had averaged three in 2010. The insurance rating body that gave the company a failing grade says a minimum of four firefighters are needed on a call.