Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 21, 1995 TAG: 9509210042
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
Town Council approved an ordinance Tuesday night retroactive to Sept. 1 imposing a tax of 10 percent of the monthly gross charge to mobile telephone users within Pulaski, with a monthly $15 limit.
For industrial users, the rate is 15 percent or up to $250 per month.
The chore of collecting the tax will fall on the utility service seller or provider, who must report on taxes collected to town Finance Director Max Beyer. He must collect the money from the providers and pay it into the town's general fund.
Council also voted to allow payment of town obligations by electronic transfers, which could not be done before.
In other business, council held a public hearing on a proposed 320-acre Enterprise Zone in downtown Pulaski for which the town will apply next month, probably at council's Oct. 3 meeting.
Enterprise Zones approved by the state offer tax breaks and other incentives from both the state and locality for new or expanding industries.
But Pulaski Economic Development Director Barry Matherly warned that competition for the designations will be stiff. He said 130 localities already have indicated interest in applying, and only 15 zones will be designated.
Pulaski has two advantages, he said. Its zone exceeds the criteria for designation in unemployment, family income and number of vacant buildings. And the town will not have to create the citizen advisory board which the state wants, because it already has an Economic Development Board which fulfills all of those requirements.
"We're lucky that this town had foresight," Matherly said. "We feel that's going to be a strong selling point."
The state is supposed to announce the new Enterprise Zones in November. They would take effect in January. Pulaski County already has one at its industrial park near Dublin, and will apply to keep it.
Gov. George Allen sent congratulations to the town on its Count Pulaski Festival scheduled for Oct. 7. "It is fitting that your town, and all of Virginia, take this opportunity to recognize the unique and valuable contributions Gen. Casimir Pulaski made in the fight for freedom during the American Revolution," Allen wrote.
Councilwoman Bettye Steger has been named co-chairman of a committee working on enhancing the location of the town's refurbished train depot building, now housing the Raymond Ratcliffe Memorial Museum and Pulaski County Chamber of Commerce. Another co-chairman will be named. Matherly is the committee's secretary-treasurer.
Matherly told council that the town has too many heritage items to be housed in the former depot building, and probably will need an annex at the site.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***