Getting thru the tax filing deadline of Monday was a real pain. But I made it thru 🙂 Took a day off and got a bit of rest Tuesday. Interesting things in the Pilot while I was under the gun:
Norfolk ward 2 council candidate Andy Wallach forced council to hold separate hearings on real estate taxes and the budget. I knew that council always held the hearings together but Wallach pointed out that the Virginia Code calls for those hearings to be separate. Surrounding cities – Portsmouth, Chesapeake and Virginia Beach – already hold separate hearings.
So far, the citizens of Norfolk have paid $138,358.73 to keep us from voting on the Bay Oaks Park referendum, a case which has yet to go to trial.
Forward Norfolk presented their report card to council on council’s performance. The reception was more than chilly.
Delegate Ben Cline (R-Rockbridge) has pulled the loss of the Norfolk Ford plant into the budget debate. Cline thinks Virginia is too expensive a state for Ford to operate in.
Norfolk mayoral candidate Dan Montague says that current mayor Paul Fraim is using the city’s public access channel to his political advantage. Fraim’s State of the City address has been running daily on Channel 48, with his biography being shown underneath. Fraim has asked that the address not be re-run until after the May 2 election.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Vivian:
What do you think about Del. Cline’s comments? BTW: Nice picture of you on your page!
Thanks!
I think Cline is off the mark. Virginia is no tax-and-spend state. We’re ranked 41st out of 50 in terms of tax burden so how Cline made such a leap I’ll never know.
Did Cline perhaps “make the leap” because that is all some Republican-type folks think about: taxes? Or, was he perhaps considering other fees and expensive bureaucratic regulations as well as simply taxes? We need a little more explanation here. Or, is Cline’s opinion one of those never-minds?
Hard to say, Teddy. I’d tend to go with your first choice: that some R’s “just say no” to any taxes.
(By the way – if you click on the link to any Pilot stories and that registration screen comes up, just choose the “Ask me later” button down on the right hand side.)
Vivian: In addition, don’t manufacturers get an exemption on their tangibles? That wouldn’t be a local option, I don’t think.
Now, isn’t that a question for you? 🙂 Yes, I believe manufacturers are exempt from personal property taxes on equipment used in manufacturing.
Vivian: Now how many manufacturers does Arlngton have?.. 🙂 Ford’s tax liability must not have been out of the ordinary… Too bad they are leaving.
Actually – I have no idea 😦 My guess is not many.
I don’t think Ford had any more of a tax liability than other businesses. I do know that they appealed their real estate tax assessments throughout the country last year. Perhaps we should have paid more attention to that.