ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 15, 1996 TAG: 9603150041
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTERS
ABE LINCOLN'S school was a log cabin and he grew up to become president.
If Roanoke County hadn't been sticking homeowners for the past 10 years with big real-estate tax increases, the people wouldn't hesitate to vote April 2 for this bond issue for a new high school and improvements to other schools. But when our tax assessments go up about $4,000 each year, and Vinton increases its taxes, a homeowner couldn't vote for the increase.
When you complain, workers at the county office say all homes in your neighborhood should be the same for tax purposes. The only way the county knows how to raise money is real-estate tax increases. All homes aren't the same. If someone else has money to add to his or her property, it shouldn't affect my taxes. It makes you not want to upgrade your home.
The county is already in debt up to its eyeballs, and with so few high-paying jobs in the Roanoke area, people are leaving and going where there are jobs and low taxes. People who don't own real estate don't pay taxes, even if they have kids in school.
I graduated from high school in 1953, and we didn't have all the modern conveniences students have today. We didn't have air conditioners or computers. But we made it.
Maybe a solution is to put a sales tax on everything except food and medicine. All people in Roanoke County would then pay for the schools. Also, get some of those people who donated money to political campaigns to donate some to the schools. We could name a school after them. Put tolls on some of the major highways coming through Roanoke County that are used by people who don't live in the county. This would bring in revenue from outside our area.
I realize kids need the best of schools to learn in and the best teachers available, but not at the expense of young homeowners or senior citizens. Just taxing them isn't fair.
NINA BOARD
VINTON
Cave Spring isn't the be-all, end-all
CAVE SPRING, Cave Spring, Cave Spring. Everyone should move to the Cave Spring area. Why? The county constructs a reservoir in West County. The water lines pass through West County and go straight to Cave Spring, but no one in West County benefits from this.
Cave Spring wants a new high school, so everyone's taxes go up. And the only ones again to benefit from it will be those who live in the Cave Spring area.
It seems like Roanoke County starts and ends in the Cave Spring area. Maybe it's time for those in West County to petition to be annexed into Salem.
DIANNE L. HALLAHAN
SALEM
Consider future and vote yes
ON APRIL 2, Roanoke County residents will be asked to approve a $37.4 million bond referendum for education. The money will be devoted to capital improvements and renovations in a variety of schools as well as for much-needed computer technology. These improvements - including the construction of a new Southwest County high school - will help take our schools into the 21st century.
Much rides on this important issue. Every parent, teacher and voting-age student in the county should vote in favor of this bond referendum. In addition, citizens who no longer have children in schools but care about the future economic security of the county need to support it. A yes vote will help assure that the county continues to attract business and industry that help provide the tax base the county needs to support services at the level our residents have come to expect - including high-quality schools. If this referendum fails, it may be years before projects this money is needed for will be available.
Those against the bond issue claim they're not anti-education, but have other reasons for not supporting it. The trouble with the various arguments being used is that, regardless of the rationalization being given, a no vote will nevertheless be a vote against education and against the children of Roanoke County. It will also be a vote of lack of confidence in the county's future. We cannot afford to send a negative message like that to those outside our community.
Citizens shouldn't pit the needs of one part of the community against another. If that continues to happen, the real losers on April 2 will be the children. Please consider the full implications of the bond referendum, and vote yes.
JUDY DEYERLE
President, Roanoke
County Education Association
SALEM
No new school without fairness
ANOTHER letter about those poor little ninth-graders at Cave Spring who must attend junior high school. Well, here's one for you.
Glenvar was promised a middle school in the last bond referendum. What did it get? Some classrooms added to the high school that the county cannot now find the money to furnish. These students will be required to use the high-school cafeteria (eating at 10:45 a.m.) and library.
Do you wonder why these people aren't happy with this referendum or why a grandparent like me will vote against it?
Had all areas been treated fairly, I could gladly accept a tax increase.
BETTY C. GARST
ROANOKE
Taxpayers are getting skinned
THE PENDING school-bond referendum seems to be causing much dissension among various Roanoke County districts. I certainly appreciate the value of quality education, although I have no children now in school. However, the bond issue as presently drafted does appear a little tilted to one area. Possibly had more of the entire county's needs been included, it wouldn't appear that just a few crumbs have been thrown in to appease the electorate.
Further, do we need all the school buses when many run only half-full, and school parking lots seem to be filled with vehicles? Possibly fewer buses or a parking fee might assist in reducing the schools' operating costs, and the savings could be applied toward debt reduction. Presently, it seems that debt reduction is the sole responsibility of the homeowners and those with taxable personal property, without regard to the hardships of ever-increasing taxes.
Your March 12 news article (``N. County residents call school plan unfair'') attributes to Board of Supervisors Chairman Bob Johnson the following statement: ``If you want to divide this county, Roanoke city will pick you off like plucked chicken.'' The following tax rates in other counties indicate to me that we're not being plucked like a chicken, but skinned.
Chesterfield County: personal property, $3.60 per $100 of evaluation; real estate, $1.09 per $100 of evaluation.
Henrico County: personal property, $3.50 per $100 of evaluation; real estate, 98 cents per $100 of evaluation.
Could this possibly indicate a better utilization of funds and projects in those counties or that Roanoke County tries to do too much at taxpayers' expense?
JAMES C. MARTIN
VINTON
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