Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 27, 1993 TAG: 9310270228
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
The Virginia Enterprise Zone Program provides firms locating or expanding within their borders a break on state sales, employment and business income taxes.
The state incentives must be matched by local incentives, which can include fast-track subdivision or zoning permits, shell-building construction, reduced water and sewer charges for amounts used above 1 million gallons per month, rebates on water and sewer hook-up fees and on certain local taxes.
The Pulaski County Board of Supervisors voted Monday night to apply to the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development for two Enterprise Zones.
One would include the Pulaski County Corporate Center and Burlington Industries near Dublin, covering the Booth and Rhudy sites, the Volvo GM Heavy Truck plant, Pulaski Furniture's Dublin plant, the Baskerville community and Flow Labs.
The other site would include the site of the AT&T plant near Fairlawn that closed three years ago and an adjacent trailer park.
It will be up to the state department whether to approve one, both or neither of the applications.
The vote Monday night followed a public hearing on the applications, as required by the state. No one spoke on the proposed applications.
The program was established by the General Assembly in 1982. Since then, 19 Enterprise Zones have been designated.
Those zones include sections of Roanoke and Saltville, designated in 1984; a joint zone in the Ivanhoe area in Wythe and Carroll counties in 1985; and the city of Galax in 1988. The zones remain in effect for 20 years after being designated.
Such zones are placed in economically-distressed distinct geographical areas where state and local incentives can be used to encourage new or expanded business. The Department of Housing and Community Development reviews applications and recommends designations of those with the greatest potential to the governor, who actually makes the designations.
In other business Monday night, the supervisors scheduled a public hearing for Nov. 22 on a draft ordinance that would allow Adelphia Cable Communications to continue providing cable television service for a period to be designated, and agreed to a second year of paying $1 per tag to veterinarians selling county dog tags at their offices.
Supervisor Bruce Fariss had misgivings about the payment, and moved that the county allow dog tag sales only by veterinarians who do it at no cost to the county. He withdrew his motion after Chairman Jerry White and Vice Chairman Joe Sheffey both said they would like to continue the existing procedure one more year and see if it results in more dog owners buying tags that way.
The idea was tried to make it more convenient for people to buy tags and have their dogs vaccinated against rabies at the same time.
by CNB