Dear Montgomery County Supervisors:
I am writing you as a parent of upcoming 7th and 4th graders and as a medium sized business owner. I want to encourage all of you to vote for plans to bring all Blacksburg strand students back to the area as soon as feasible and to vote for a tax increase and bond issuance to construct new high schools in Blacksburg and Auburn.
I own a high tech company with over 30 employees, paying county and town of Blacksburg taxes. Due to the apparent lack of will to invest in education in this county, I am now forced to investigate moving my company long term to either Albemarle or Culpeper counties. I know personally of two other companies of similar size who have moved to Salem due to school quality. I know of other similar companies in and individuals looking to do the same. I simply cannot continue to grow in this area and recruit talented individuals if the answer to the question "how are your secondary schools" is "we have no high school and/or middle school".
This issue is not about the cost of raising taxes, but rather the cost of not investing in infrastructure. As it stands, the county will lose much more money in "bright flight" than it will in the cost of building these schools. With the same population, Albemarle County raises almost 3 times the tax revenue of Montgomery County. That fact is noticed by business investors like myself. I know the median income in Albemarle is more: about $64,000 for a family as compared to about $47,000 in Montgomery, but with a 27% lower median income, we raise 53% lower revenues for schools.
Historically, my largest hurdle to growth in Montgomery County has been transportation, though it is a lower concern than education and income. I cannot imagine how this area expects to prosper with the educational system taking such a tremendous hit with no will to fix it long term.
As a parent I have been appalled by both the process and attitude behind all of this discussion. I have made well known my disappointment that the school board and administration did not begin a planning process for BHS students in March or April before they had the engineering reports. I am still saddened that the decision was to disrupt two student bodies and not just one. I have come to be appalled by the conditions in Auburn and wonder why I had not known of them sooner. I am frankly stunned to find this county in the situation it is in and wonder how you can justify the serious gaps in safety (why was the BHS gym roof not inspected on a regular basis?) and planning (how could you not let revenue for the county grow when the economy was going so well to set aside money for a stormy time like we find ourselves in now?).
For school solutions: let me state that I am for repairing the current high school if it can be done swiftly to get all students back into their home strands. The progress made on OCMS should be lauded, but the distance to the school and the fact that students have tiny lockers for supplies, no lockers for gym and have to haul almost everything they have from building to building and going outside during winter weather is hardly a school to point to and say- here's our fantastic long term BMS. If it can be done before next school year, you should fix BHS. But I cannot understand justification for rebuilding the BHS gym. That expenditure would be a complete waste- there is a community center that is under used across the street that high schoolers already use for swimming activities.
As for higher taxes: you must first consider how many people you will lose without taking proper action. People, businesses, perhaps even educational institutions. Why not consider an exemption for increase for lower income households? I would gladly pay double a $.12/$100 increase on property tax if I knew it would go toward school construction. And not just for construction in Blacksburg, but for Auburn as well.
Friday, August 27, 2010
And I Respond to the Board
Dear Ms. Perkins,
I want to thank you and Mary Biggs for getting back to me so promptly on my comments and suggestions. The information about the Dillon Rule and meal taxes was very informative.
I noticed neither of you commented on my points of construction or repair. What I can assume from your taxation comments is that the raising of $110 M or $124 M is a fairly low likelihood. If that is the case, I urge you to move as swiftly as possible to repair the current BHS structure for the cost of $6 M. Please also do not consider rebuilding the gym from scratch as that money should be saved for the future construction of a new BHS per the county's original schedule. The group of parents I work with along with the sentiment of the BMS PTA, per Lisa Garcia's comments in today's Roanoke Times, is to return BMS and BHS to their proper locations and facilities as soon as possible. I once again urge the BOS and the School Board to plan for the worst now, then go about hoping for the best.
This does not mean I am not urging you to raise property taxes across the county to build both BHS and AHS right now: I still feel that is a necessary business investment for the county.
Sincerely,
Doug
I want to thank you and Mary Biggs for getting back to me so promptly on my comments and suggestions. The information about the Dillon Rule and meal taxes was very informative.
I noticed neither of you commented on my points of construction or repair. What I can assume from your taxation comments is that the raising of $110 M or $124 M is a fairly low likelihood. If that is the case, I urge you to move as swiftly as possible to repair the current BHS structure for the cost of $6 M. Please also do not consider rebuilding the gym from scratch as that money should be saved for the future construction of a new BHS per the county's original schedule. The group of parents I work with along with the sentiment of the BMS PTA, per Lisa Garcia's comments in today's Roanoke Times, is to return BMS and BHS to their proper locations and facilities as soon as possible. I once again urge the BOS and the School Board to plan for the worst now, then go about hoping for the best.
This does not mean I am not urging you to raise property taxes across the county to build both BHS and AHS right now: I still feel that is a necessary business investment for the county.
Sincerely,
Doug
BOS Chair Responds to My Email
To all:
An answer to questions raised: we do have a policy that allows those who are 65 and older and/or those who are disabled to receive a reduction in taxes. We are a Dillon Rule state; we can only do those things that the state allows. Counties do not have the same permission to tax as cities and towns do. We are hampered not only by these state policies but also by the fact that most of the restaurants and hotels are in the town limits, not in the county. The real estate tax is about all we have. Also, the state refuses to raise taxes on much of anything, i.e. gasoline, and the past several years has required counties to give back monies for certain areas of government for which the state has given money, i.e. some Constitutional Officers.
At our last meeting a member of our board asked if we could raise taxes for some and not for all. The answer is no.
Believe me, I share your frustration. I am sorry that businesses choose to leave, for they are the very groups who have the ability to pay and to help secure changes as well as benefits for our children.
Thank you for your comments and concerns. I appreciate your willingness to share.
Annette Perkins
An answer to questions raised: we do have a policy that allows those who are 65 and older and/or those who are disabled to receive a reduction in taxes. We are a Dillon Rule state; we can only do those things that the state allows. Counties do not have the same permission to tax as cities and towns do. We are hampered not only by these state policies but also by the fact that most of the restaurants and hotels are in the town limits, not in the county. The real estate tax is about all we have. Also, the state refuses to raise taxes on much of anything, i.e. gasoline, and the past several years has required counties to give back monies for certain areas of government for which the state has given money, i.e. some Constitutional Officers.
At our last meeting a member of our board asked if we could raise taxes for some and not for all. The answer is no.
Believe me, I share your frustration. I am sorry that businesses choose to leave, for they are the very groups who have the ability to pay and to help secure changes as well as benefits for our children.
Thank you for your comments and concerns. I appreciate your willingness to share.
Annette Perkins
Open Letter to Montgomery County Board of Supervisors
Where I tilt at windmills once again. All politics is local and I try to use my economic position in the community to give hard facts to our leaders.
Dear Montgomery County Supervisors:
I am writing you as both a parent of upcoming 7th and 4th graders and as a medium sized business owner in the county. I want to encourage all of you to vote for plans to bring all Blacksburg strand students back to the area as soon as is feasible and to vote for a tax increase and bond issuance to construct new high schools in Blacksburg and Auburn.
My company, from which I write this email with contact information below, has a gross income of over $5,000,000 annually, growing at a rate of about 40% each year with a history going back well over 10 years. This is a high tech company with over 30 employees, paying county and town of Blacksburg taxes. We are located at the CRC and are in a newly built out office space just across from the school of osteopathy. Due to the apparent lack of will to invest in education in this county, I am now forced to look at moving my company to either Albemarle or Culpeper counties. I know personally of two other companies of similar size who have moved to Salem due to the better school system there before the collapse of BHS. I know of other similar companies in Montgomery county and individuals looking at the same. I simply cannot continue to grow in this area and recruit and retain talented individuals if the answer to the question "how are your secondary schools" is "we have no high school and/or middle school".
This issue is not about the cost of raising taxes, but rather the cost of not investing in infrastructure. As the issue stands, the county will lose much more money in "bright flight" than it will in the cost of building these schools. With the same population, Albemarle County raises almost 3 times the tax revenue of Montgomery County. That fact is noticed by business investors like myself. I know the median income in Albemarle is more: about $64,000 for a family as compared to about $47,000 in Montgomery, but this difference does not account for their extraordinary contribution to education.
Historically, my largest hurdle to growth in Montgomery county has been transportation. This issue is usually about 5th on the list of importance for myself or any potential hire, well after 1) income, 2) educational system, 3) quality of life, 4) safety. I cannot imagine how this area expects to prosper with the educational system taking such a tremendous hit while the perception of the county being willing to fix this problem is perceived as nonexistent.
As a parent I have been appalled by both the process and attitude behind all of this discussion. I have made well known my disappointment that the school board and administration did not begin a planning process for BHS students in March or April before they had the engineering reports - you ALWAYS plan for the worst and hope for the best. I am still disgusted that the decision was to disrupt two student bodies and not just one. I have come to be appalled by the conditions in Auburn and wonder why I had not known of them sooner, perhaps this is my fault. I am frankly stunned to find this county in the situation it is in and wonder how you can justify the serious gaps in safety (why was the BHS gym roof not inspected along with others on a regular basis?) and planning (how could you not let revenue for the county grow when the economy was going so well to set aside money for a stormy time like we find ourselves in now?).
For school solutions: let me state that I am for repairing the current high school if it can be done swiftly to get all students back into their home strands (although I may be in the minority on this issues because I know so many parents who do not believe the main structure can be made safe). The progress made on OCMS should be lauded, but the distance to the school and the fact that students have tiny lockers for supplies, no lockers for gym and have to haul almost everything they have from building to building and going outside during winter weather is hardly a school to point to and say- here's our fantastic long term BMS. If it can be done before next school year, you should fix BHS. But I could not, for a minute, understand justification for rebuilding the BHS gym. That expenditure would be a complete waste- there is a community center that is under used across the street that high schoolers already use for swimming activities. Gyms, unlike schools, actually are not needed as core to giving students an education.
For tax solutions: first of all you must consider how many people you will lose without taking proper action. People, businesses, perhaps even educational institutions. Second of all, why only look at a property tax increase? Why not consider an exemption for increase for lower income households? I know almost every parent in Blacksburg would gladly pay double a $.12/$100 increase on property tax if we knew it would go toward school construction. And not just for construction in Blacksburg, but for Auburn as well. I would happily go out to dinner more to pay a 3%-5% special tax on meals if I knew it would be properly invested. There are many other avenues you could explore and the good faith and future growth in the county could be restored, vastly offsetting any hardship (little as it would be) to any short term tax increase.
Thank you so much for your time and consideration,
Doug Garnett-Deakin
Dear Montgomery County Supervisors:
I am writing you as both a parent of upcoming 7th and 4th graders and as a medium sized business owner in the county. I want to encourage all of you to vote for plans to bring all Blacksburg strand students back to the area as soon as is feasible and to vote for a tax increase and bond issuance to construct new high schools in Blacksburg and Auburn.
My company, from which I write this email with contact information below, has a gross income of over $5,000,000 annually, growing at a rate of about 40% each year with a history going back well over 10 years. This is a high tech company with over 30 employees, paying county and town of Blacksburg taxes. We are located at the CRC and are in a newly built out office space just across from the school of osteopathy. Due to the apparent lack of will to invest in education in this county, I am now forced to look at moving my company to either Albemarle or Culpeper counties. I know personally of two other companies of similar size who have moved to Salem due to the better school system there before the collapse of BHS. I know of other similar companies in Montgomery county and individuals looking at the same. I simply cannot continue to grow in this area and recruit and retain talented individuals if the answer to the question "how are your secondary schools" is "we have no high school and/or middle school".
This issue is not about the cost of raising taxes, but rather the cost of not investing in infrastructure. As the issue stands, the county will lose much more money in "bright flight" than it will in the cost of building these schools. With the same population, Albemarle County raises almost 3 times the tax revenue of Montgomery County. That fact is noticed by business investors like myself. I know the median income in Albemarle is more: about $64,000 for a family as compared to about $47,000 in Montgomery, but this difference does not account for their extraordinary contribution to education.
Historically, my largest hurdle to growth in Montgomery county has been transportation. This issue is usually about 5th on the list of importance for myself or any potential hire, well after 1) income, 2) educational system, 3) quality of life, 4) safety. I cannot imagine how this area expects to prosper with the educational system taking such a tremendous hit while the perception of the county being willing to fix this problem is perceived as nonexistent.
As a parent I have been appalled by both the process and attitude behind all of this discussion. I have made well known my disappointment that the school board and administration did not begin a planning process for BHS students in March or April before they had the engineering reports - you ALWAYS plan for the worst and hope for the best. I am still disgusted that the decision was to disrupt two student bodies and not just one. I have come to be appalled by the conditions in Auburn and wonder why I had not known of them sooner, perhaps this is my fault. I am frankly stunned to find this county in the situation it is in and wonder how you can justify the serious gaps in safety (why was the BHS gym roof not inspected along with others on a regular basis?) and planning (how could you not let revenue for the county grow when the economy was going so well to set aside money for a stormy time like we find ourselves in now?).
For school solutions: let me state that I am for repairing the current high school if it can be done swiftly to get all students back into their home strands (although I may be in the minority on this issues because I know so many parents who do not believe the main structure can be made safe). The progress made on OCMS should be lauded, but the distance to the school and the fact that students have tiny lockers for supplies, no lockers for gym and have to haul almost everything they have from building to building and going outside during winter weather is hardly a school to point to and say- here's our fantastic long term BMS. If it can be done before next school year, you should fix BHS. But I could not, for a minute, understand justification for rebuilding the BHS gym. That expenditure would be a complete waste- there is a community center that is under used across the street that high schoolers already use for swimming activities. Gyms, unlike schools, actually are not needed as core to giving students an education.
For tax solutions: first of all you must consider how many people you will lose without taking proper action. People, businesses, perhaps even educational institutions. Second of all, why only look at a property tax increase? Why not consider an exemption for increase for lower income households? I know almost every parent in Blacksburg would gladly pay double a $.12/$100 increase on property tax if we knew it would go toward school construction. And not just for construction in Blacksburg, but for Auburn as well. I would happily go out to dinner more to pay a 3%-5% special tax on meals if I knew it would be properly invested. There are many other avenues you could explore and the good faith and future growth in the county could be restored, vastly offsetting any hardship (little as it would be) to any short term tax increase.
Thank you so much for your time and consideration,
Doug Garnett-Deakin
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