THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 17, 1996 TAG: 9601160114
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 09 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALLISON T. WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WINDSOR LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
The Town Council has selected H. Cecil Eley, a semi-retired auto salesman, to fill a vacant council seat whose term ends in May.
Eley, 58, fills a vacancy created when former Mayor Robert C. ``Bobby'' Claud was elected to the Isle of Wight County Board in November.
Former Vice Mayor Wesley Garris assumed the town's mayoral seat in December. And at its Jan. 9 meeting, the council also elected Councilman Wesley R. ``Ray'' Holland as vice mayor.
Eley, who did not attend the meeting, was notified of the council's decision last Wednesday. His first session as a Windsor Town Council member will be at the council's next scheduled meeting, at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 13.
``As a Windsor resident, I felt like I had an obligation to do my part to help the town,'' Eley said in an interview the day after his selection. ``I'm honored they selected me.''
He is a Suffolk native but has lived in Windsor since childhood. He and his wife, Melissa, operate her business there, 66-77 Bronco Parts & Sales Inc.
Also at its meeting, the council passed the Uniform Business, Professional, and Occupational Licensing tax ordinance being adopted by a growing number of localities statewide.
The ordinance does not affect Windsor's business tax rate, town attorney Carl E. ``Ward'' Eason Jr. said. What it does do is clarify that a business will pay its BPOL taxes to the locality where the business is controlled or managed.
Consider, for example, a Windsor plumber called to fix a leaky faucet in a Surry County home. Under the old regulation, both Surry County and Windsor might require the plumber to pay BPOL taxes. But the new ordinance, Eason said, makes it clear that only Windsor would be allowed to tax the plumber.
Passage of a uniform BPOL standard statewide is an effort to prevent the 1996 General Assembly from looking at repealing the tax, Eason said. Efforts to repeal it, because of differences among localities, were killed in committee in last year's Assembly.
``Having a uniform tax will give the Virginia Municipal League a strong foundation to argue against repealing the tax,'' Eason said.
In Windsor, an estimated $11,000 - about 5 percent - of the town's $213,000 operating budget in 1996 is expected to be generated by the BPOL tax, town Treasurer Pat Mann said. But repealing the tax could dramatically hurt the budgets of some localities and regions in the state.
For example, Hampton Roads' cities pull in as estimated $50 million annually from BPOL taxes, said Connie Rhodes, executive director of the Isle of Wight/-Smithfield/-Windsor Chamber of Commerce. And in Farmville, BPOL revenue comprises up to 27 percent of the town's operating budget. ILLUSTRATION: H. Cecil Eley
Has lived in Windsor since childhood
KEYWORDS: WINDSOR TOWN COUNCIL by CNB