SPECIAL TAX DISTRICT GETS INITIAL OK

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 13, 1993                   TAG: 9304130284
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
SPECIAL TAX DISTRICT GETS INITIAL OK
Roanoke City Council gave initial approval Monday night to the creation of a special tax district that will provide money for the beautification and promotion of the Williamson Road area.
Council told City Manager Bob Herbert and City Attorney Wilburn Dibling to prepare the legal documents to establish such a district.
The final vote won't be until next month, but that is expected to be only a formality because most council members said they support the plan.
No one opposed the tax-district proposal at a public hearing. Several merchants and property owners on Williamson Road urged council to approve it.
Vice Mayor Beverly Fitzpatrick told the businessmen that council's action was a "very positive step" toward approval.
Councilwoman Elizabeth Bowles, who lives in the Williamson Road community and formerly owned a business there, said she believes the service district would enhance the three-mile commercial strip.
Councilman James Harvey, who has been hesitant to support the plan unless a majority of property owners endorse it, said he still hopes that happens before the final vote.
State law allows localities to create such districts at the request of property owners, but it does not require a minimum percentage of owners to endorse it.
Of 230 property owners on Williamson Road, 110 have endorsed it.
Within the tax district, an additional levy of 10 cents per $100 assessed valuation of property would be added to the city's real estate rate of $1.25 per $100 valuation.
The 10-cent tax would generate $52,657 a year in the Williamson Road area.
The money would be used to pay for trash cans, trees, shrubs and other beautification projects - including cutting weeds on vacant lots along Williamson Road.
And it would also pay the salary for someone to schedule festivals and arrange other promotional events for the Williamson Road area.
The money will help project a new image for the commercial strip as Roanoke's "Main Street," said Charles Overstreet, president of the Williamson Road Area Business Association.
Overstreet headed the campaign to win approval of the service district.
The promotional activities for the area are now handled by the business association, which has a $15,000 budget that is financed with a $150 membership fee.
Overstreet said the budget is too small now to have a full-time executive director and finance special promotions. With the tax district, the organization's budget would increase to $67,657.
The boundaries for the district include the commercial development on both sides of Williamson Road from Orange Avenue north to the city limits. All single-family houses and apartment buildings in which the owner resides within the district would be exempt from the tax.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB