Public hearing on county budget is held Monday evening

Turnout was lower than expected for a public hearing on the Alleghany County budget Monday night, according to Alleghany County Commission Chairman Ken Richardson.

Richardson noted at the meeting that he had expected a possible overflow crowd. After the speakers had concluded their comments, he said, "This is a much smaller turnout than we expected...with a public hearing you never know."

Richardson informed the crowd that the board would not be voting on the budget Monday night, but instead would be setting a meeting next week for that purpose. A budget meeting was held after the hearing, during which the commissioners continued to pore over requests and line items in the budget.

Just prior to the public hearing, Richardson asked speakers to limit their comments to a three-minute time period.

The first speaker was Citizens for Fairness Vice Chairman Gleason James, who presented a petition to Richardson. James said the petition was signed by 900 people.

James later clarified that the petition stated that those who signed had asked Citizens for Fairness to represent them in achieving a lower tax rate.

In an apparent change from his earlier request that the county adopt a 20-cent tax rate (per $100 in assessed value), James said he would support a 35-cent tax rate if the commissioners are seeking a revenue neutral rate.

"If you are going to go with a revenue neutral rate, 35 cents sounds fine to me," James commented.

James later qualified that an attorney he talked to said a revenue neutral tax rate can't go below half of what the county had last year, which was 70 cents.

James said Monday that he would urge the county to put out an honest effort to decrease the budget and cut the tax rate.

He also noted that the way property is evaluated has changed over the years. He said the change has lead to a drastic increase in value for many property owners this past year after revaluation.

"I'm asking you to not slap the citizens of the county with one great big tax bill this year," James said.

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