Tax increase, FY25 Budget Passes, Truck Purchased with Found Money, CUP for an Apartment and Town Employees Get July 5th off.
Approval of the Agenda
I requested that the agenda be re-ordered so that we could vote on the budget before we voted on the tax increase but that failed 6-1.
Consent Agenda
Resolution #25-24, Amends and Appropriates FY23-24 Budget, General Fund for Crane Truck - I asked that the purchase of a new truck be taken out of the consent agenda since this was a topic that should be discussed not just rubberstamped. The mayor said we can still discuss it even in the consent agenda, but it seemed a little strange that we only had this one item in a consent agenda. The question I had is how did we find money just sitting around, is there any left to carry over to the next budget and if so, how much? Apparently, we had $64k in interest earnings that just happened to be available when a truck broke down. I still have concerns over the lack of transparency in our finances and if not put in check could lead to corruption or miss management. Vote 7-0
Council Member Liaison and Commission Reports
Public Works - Comment about event preparation.
Planning Commission – The CB Yacht Club (Mayor’s family owns it) is trying to get RVs added to marinas and the majority of citizens spoke against it at the 6/13 hearing. About 2 to 1 (18/9) were against RVs being added, and some of the concerns they raised were: safety, road wear and tear, flooding and RVs not fitting in with our town’s objectives (vote tabled until 7/11). The PC also passed their work plan 7-0.
CB Redevelopment and Housing Authority- next meeting Thursday June 27th 4:30p
Wilder Lot Dodson Phase 4 sale - I asked the town manager to give council an update on the sale status of the Wilder Ave Public parking lot (the large lot by River Boat). To me it’s crazy that a developer can offer to buy a property with a 4+ year option to decide. We were told we will get an update next month.
Non-governmental – mention sip and stroll, a triathlon will be on June 23rd
Schools - commented on their participation in the Juneteenth event.
Public safety – The police are busy with events. CBVRS is still taking donations for their new facility; the Rod Club will have another event August 17th-18th.
Mayor - She mentioned the Firemen’s Parade and PD efforts on the recent murder investigation and gave a Virginia tourism corporation update.
Town Manager Update
WWTP Third-Party Contractor Update - The Inboden WWTP representative said the plant keeps getting better and they are working on improvements like solid break up. We need to refurbish the solids press and fix other equipment issues. It was mentioned that inflow was down due to dry weather which supports the need to do testing and upgrade pipes. I asked for an update on I&I updates and we were told we should see work starting within 60 days.
Presentations
a. 20 Years of Service Recognition for Adam Schaefer – Congrats!
b. Westmoreland County Board of Supervisors, Mr. Trivett - County budget passed with a 6-cent increase (2 cent CB portion). Mentioned in the budget there was a 5% increase for employee salary and has concerns over how $3.2M was saved (mystery). Stated that the interim county administrator is retiring June 30.
c. Colonial Beach Public Schools, Dr. Mitchell, Superintendent – Dr. Mitchell has had a number of citizens question out of town students and the cost to the town. It was stated that 177 out of 580 students were from the county and the school chooses not to charge tuition because it’s hard to collect and we risk losing $17k per student if we charge.
Public Comment
Citizen – Tourism is important please don’t raise taxes
Citizen – Don’t put school costs on businesses
Citizen – Thanks for having a special meeting but please make more cuts.
Citizen – There’s a 3-year trend of tax increases, suggest collaborating with County, Expenses are outpacing revenues, if you keep spending, we’re doomed.
Ordinance No 761, Amends Chapter 20, Article III, “Transient Lodging Tax,”
Section 20-31, “Levy,” to increase transient occupancy tax and Article IV, “Meals
Tax,” Section 20-43, “Levy,” to increase meals tax, Director of Finance/CFO – We were told much work had been done to get the budget down to a 1% increase in meals and lodging tax. I asked if the public had been provided a copy of the budget we were voting on and was told no but they should know what was in it per council discussions. I mentioned that I felt we didn’t do our due diligence with budget cuts and gave examples: $5,500 budgeted for a council retreat in Dalgren and $10,800 for License plate reader software. I said the contract for professional services info was given to Council last minute and that’s why I was giving a few new examples of possible cuts. Mrs. Brown came at me saying why didn’t you bring all your suggestions before and I replied we got the info late. While I support some of what was in the budget like employee raises and infrastructure upgrades, I did not support things like hiring a combined assistant town manager/ grant writer $100k, Council retreats $5.5K, and other wasteful spending. As I’ve stated before since 2020 our spending has increased 30%. The final vote was 5-2 with Dr. Self Sullivan and David Williams voting NO. Krista Brown, Kenny Allison, Robin Schick, Vicki Roberson and Rick Wood all voted YES for the INCREASE.
Resolution #22-24, Adoption & Appropriation of Fiscal Year 2025 Budget and
Adoption & Appropriation of Fiscal Year 2025 Budget for the Colonial Beach School
Board, Director of Finance/CFO – A bit more budget discussions were had and we held a vote. As I stated before this year’s budget process was better but we still have much room to improve and I could not vote for it in good conscious. Vote was 6-1 with only myself voting NO. While Caryn stated she did not support the tax increase she felt she had to vote for the budget because of our legal obligation. Someone else did that in the past and it confused me how someone can say they don’t support the tax increase but do support the budget funded by the increase.
PUBLIC HEARING Resolution #24-24, Conditional Use Permit Application
#24-01, Director of Community Development & Planning – A resident on Mimosa Ave requested a permit to add a separate apartment that was over their allotted size per zoning. Kenny and I both had concerns about access being in an alley but Mr. Dooley said that was no longer part of the permit. Per planning commission discussions, they did not want this to turn into a STR so I made a motion to add that condition but it was voted down. The final Vote for the permit was 7-0
Town Employees Extra Day OFF
At the end with no prior notice, Council was asked to vote for town employees to have July 5th off. Final vote was 7-0
Closed Meeting
None scheduled
MY BLOGS
I must say I am flattered on the number of times I’ve had others attempt to imitate my blogs. I wish I could say the intent was good and to provide transparency but some believe it’s not about that at all. I’ve had constituents approach me saying they feel various council members take turns coming at me so I encourage citizens to be aware of those tactics. The latest person to assume the role is currently campaigning so I will ensure my supporters are aware. Since elections are decided by very few votes in this town, I’m not sure why someone would want to alienate voters by gaining points with a select few.
Please email or call with questions or comments:
540-604-4335
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