DATE: Sunday, September 28, 1997            TAG: 9709270715

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A11  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Decision '97

SOURCE: BY MIKE KNEPLER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:   41 lines

REAL STORIES IF THE CAR TAX GOES, WHAT PAYS FOR NEEDS?

Jo Ann T. Clarke doesn't love taxes, but she fears the alternative - especially when it comes to the personal property tax.

``It already exists as a source of revenue,'' said Clarke, who doesn't believe that economic growth or other sources will replace the revenue of a phased-out or rebated tax on cars.

``I personally have seen how localities are struggling for funding for basic infrastructure needs - schools, water and roads,'' said Clarke, a loaned executive to the United Way of South Hampton Roads.

Already, Western Branch Middle School, which her 12-year-old son Lee attends, is ``128 percent over capacity,'' Clarke said.

``I make sure he continues to learn in that kind of situation,'' she said. ``But I think it produces an amount of stress on the entire system from the administration down . . .

``There's a discipline problem too. There's a lot of fights because of the overcrowding. There's a lot of intimidation because there's just more children congested in one area.''

Clarke already fears that Chesapeake has fallen behind in building schools because of the city's tightened land-use policies.

``We have a level-of-service policy,'' she said. ``If the schools stay over-capacity, nothing else could be rezoned. So we can't grow to replace the revenue we will lose from this (personal property) tax.

``We can't grow if we can't keep up with our infrastructure needs.''

And Clarke believes the personal property tax, although unappetizing, still allows some control. She can keep her tax relatively low by driving older-model cars.

Also, Clarke takes comfort in writing off some personal property tax when she itemizes on federal and state income-tax returns. ILLUSTRATION: NHAT MEYER/The Virginian-Pilot

Jo Ann T. Clarke...

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