Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 12, 1995 TAG: 9504120043
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
A final "second-reading" vote on the new levies and the budget is set for April 24.
The increase, to 68 cents per $100 valuation, means the owner of an $85,000 house will pay an additional $42.50 in real estate taxes this year.
The 5-cent jump was not nearly high enough for Councilman David Worrell, who moved to approve the full 10-cent advertised rate.
His motion failed for lack of a second.
Worrell said he wanted the additional revenue to pay for several supplemental requests. His laundry list included money for new police radios, two new police officers, a salary scale adjustment for city police, additional money for two new teachers, and money to cover an extra 2 percent wage increase for city workers. He also wanted to grant funding requests to several area agencies that had asked the city for help.
In apparent protest, Worrell voted against the 5-cent real-estate tax rate and against increases of 36 cents each in the furniture and fixtures and machinery and tools taxes, raising both to $1.76 per $100 valuation. He also dragged his feet before finally voting "yes" on the budget itself.
Tuesday, Worrell said he was "disappointed, but not surprised" at his colleagues' lack of response to his suggestion.
However, Councilwoman Polly Corn said council could have balanced the budget "without doing what we did," and pledged not to vote to raise taxes again next year.
Corn also called on council to set up a committee by this summer to explore areas to trim city expenditures and to consider consolidating city and School Board accounts. "I don't want to start out next January going through the same process," she said.
Council also approved:
A new utility tax on cellular telephones, effective July 1. The utility tax is 20 percent, up to a maximum $3 maximum for residential and $40 for commercial accounts. Cellular telephones also would pay the 55 cents-per month E-911 tax.
nAnother $5 for city motor vehicle decals, now $15, effective Jan. 1, 1996.
No changes were made in the personal property tax, now $2.14 per $100 valuation.
In other business, council members unanimously voted to establish the Radford Commission on Arts and Events to oversee a proposed "world-class" annual festival in the city.
Council took no immediate action on a proposed pedestrian walkway between Belle Heth Elementary School and Radford High School, but did request planning estimates for the project, estimated at upwards of $500,000.
Rozetta Reed, a senior Girl Scout with Troop 209 in Blacksburg, outlined plans to create a camping area in the Riverside Park just east of Bisset Park on the New River. Reed, a senior at Radford High School, told council members she had contacted Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, about money for the project and asked them to support the plans for a closed shelter, tenting area and lavatories for use by scouting and other groups.
Recreation Department Supervisor Kenny Goodyear said the plans fit in with the long-range plans for the city's parks.
Council also unanimously approved creation of the Darden subdivision, comprising four house lots off Forest Avenue adjacent to the intersection with Preston Street.
by CNB