THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 18, 1994 TAG: 9412170097
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
The Suffolk City Council passed its legislative torch to its state delegation Thursday, asking them to stump for several key issues that could affect Suffolk during the next session of the General Assembly.
A short list of city priorities include:
Increased aid to local cities.
Allowing the city to use impact fees on developers.
Asking the state to create a citywide rental occupancy program.
The City Council creates a legislative agenda every year to serve as a guide for the city's delegates in Richmond.
Thursday's legislative breakfast was attended by all of the council, City Manager Myles E. Standish, various city officials and the city's delegation in Richmond, including Del. Robert E. Nelms, Sen. Richard J. Holland, Sen. Louise L. Lucas and Sen. Frederick M. Quayle. It was held at the Holiday Inn in Suffolk.
Most of the discussion at the hour-long meeting focused on five areas: budget issues and aid to localities; impact fees; industrial access road funding; the rental occu pancy program; and waste management.
Among the items, Suffolk officials are asking the state to give back some of the money lost when the state reduced aid to local cities in the 1995-96 budget. This included the loss of $316,000 in fringe benefits for coinstitutional officers and $100,000 in payments for school maintenance.
All of this came before Gov. George F. Allen announced his intention to eliminate a local business tax over the next five years, a move Suffolk officials said could cost the city $1.6 million.
``There is a very real feel that there will be even greater reductions in aid to localities once the governor has presented his budget,'' reads the legislative agenda.
City officials fear these cuts will shift the payment burden onto local cities, which have little or no flexibility as to how they can raise money.
The city is also asking that the General Assembly create legislation allowing Suffolk and other cities to charge impact fees on development and help pay for city services.
Nelms will be responsible for carrying a request for industrial access road funding into the state House.
Suffolk has urban standards for its roads, standards that allow for greater widths, curbs and gutter. However, the state Department of Transportation will reimburse the city only for its own rural standards, causing Suffolk to lose money.
The city believes this law should be changed and the city reimbursed for their standards, not VDOT's.
During debate over the agenda earlier this year, the City Council voted not to include a request for a charter amendment allowing citizens to directly elect the city's mayor. The council also asked to postpone a request allowing citizens to hold referendums on issues coming before the council. by CNB