Augusta County Supervisor David Beyeler passes away

Word was received this morning that Augusta County Supervisor David Beyeler (R-South River) passed away last night. He had been ill for a while and had recently been attending supervisor meetings in a wheelchair. No word yet on arrangements. The normally-scheduled supervisor meeting is tonight.

Augusta County ... issues make the candidates

Bob at The Journey has the newest issue of Thyme Magazine out and it is dedicated to the local candidates of Augusta County ... those willing to step to the plate when others shy away. Bob writes:

The unrealistic assessment numbers resulted in reduced distribution of state revenues. Public safety and education resources were understandably stretched. Pastures supervisor Tracy Pyles is already in the fight, having previously introduced a motion to discard the new assessment. This election cycle sees some new candidates stepping forward to seek seats in other districts. David Karaffa is running for the position in the Beverley Manor District and Dr. Kurt Michael in adjoining Wayne.

Here are candidates who are stepping up to create solutions in such areas as fire protection. They are putting together real proposals for real problems. They deserve a hearing and your vote on November 8th.

Look for another important hat being thrown into the ring on April 30th. Augusta County will become a model for other localities to follow. Jason Bibeau invites all concerned citizens to come out to the Government Center at 9:00am this coming Saturday. THYME will have more on this important story as it unfolds.

Will more candidates announce that they will be running for local offices? Stay tuned....

Augusta to spent $15 million to renovate Wilson Elementary?

Monday's 3 1/2-hour Augusta County Board of Supervisors work session saw school superintendent Chuck Bishop briefing the board on a proposed expansion of Wilson Elementary School at a renovation/new construction cost of $15 million with the prospect of closing Ladd Elementary.

Today's Waynesboro News-Virginian has a story by reporter Bob Stuart outlining the proposal to be presented at tonight's supervisor meeting at 7 pm at the Government Center.

The News Virginian also editorialized on the school proposal, suggesting the project may have merit but is moving ahead very fast in these economic hard times when finding another $15 million in the budget with all the other issues at hand may be a difficult thing to do. I couldn't find the editorial online but it was on page A-4 of my hard copy edition. In part the editorial agreed with the notion put forth but added:

... we're a little put off by the speed of the move, the size of the renovation and the uncertainties over aspects of the plan that might justify it, such as the closing of Ladd.

The renovation would more than double Wilson's capacity, though it's just 17 percent over capacity now. Overall enrollment in Augusta is down, though it has increased at Wilson Elementary.

It's only been 18 days at this writing since The News Virginian broke the story of renovation plans. It might well be the right move, but it merits closer consideration. The economic times are tight now and figure to grow tighter next year. Before taking a $15-million plunge, Augusta officials would do well to pause and get a closer look at the justification."

Augusta County has other pricey issues on its plate including the fire department controversy at Preston Yancey in Fishersville with the recent revelation that the ISO rating was the lowest possible, a 10 on a scale of 0 (being the best) to 10 (being the worst). Homeowner premiums on local houses have gone up as a result, and citizens have expressed concern about the issue of fire safety in their neighborhoods.

Augusta County also recently lost a court case concerning real estate assessments and open meetings with a ruling that the Board of Equalization had not held open public meetings as required nor kept adequate records. They improperly voted to allow an increase in Thomas and Teresa Cline's property value but, after the judge's ruling, the Clines will save $400 a year in taxes.

The school issue will be brought up at tonight's meeting at 7 pm at the Government Center in Verona.

Augusta BOS meeting: 50 speakers ... others turned away

Joel Salatin and Tom Nelson wait their turn to address Augusta Board of Supervisors on March 11, 2009.

Mike Shull and his 11-year-old daughter, Ashley, and 10-year-old son, Aaron (not seen) addressed the Board. Mr. Shull said his children represented the future of Augusta County farming unless farms are taxed to the point where they have to be sold.

Fifty Augusta County residents addressed the Board of Supervisors Wednesday, March 11. Others were turned away at the door due to the crowd. One of those denied entry wrote a letter to the editor. Speakers were given one minute to state their case, five minutes if they represented a group.

Churchville attorney Francis Chester asked for 10 minutes and, when board chairman Larry Howdyshell told him he could have five minutes, Mr. Chester held up the stack of petitions with over 10,000 signatures and said he would like to have one minute for every 1,000 signatures. He got his 10 minutes.

Here are excerpts of what was said taken from my 18 pages of notes ...

... the board has a problem knowing who its bosses are ... house prices have dropped 18% so how could they raise assessments ... questions of why Mr. Cobb's assessment went down when the speaker's went up ... assessors didn't visit the property for a variety of reasons ... it's under water, has high tension power lines on it, is a drain field, is steep and rocky, no timber ... assessments were too high in 2005 and now they are out of sight ... board should hire in-house appraiser - "Never hire somebody you can't control" ... people are drowning and grasping for a straw - never seen such disrespect for our great people ...

... "you're destroying what built this great nation" ... Blue Ridge Mass Apprisal was the common denominator in problems in many other counties in Virginia ... Pat Coffield only saw a 5.74% increase in his real estate assessment ... unemployment in 2005 was 2.4% but is now 5.2% in Augusta County ... signing off on the assessments before this meeting was like thumbing their nose at everyone in this room [huge applause] ... budget should be examined because there is a fitness center in there and other pork ... if farm land is sold, 300 houses will end up on the property ...

... "Why are you ignoring the people you represent and not listening? You've forgotten who you work for. We live in constant fear of losing our homes" ... cut spending, cut spending, cut spending ... supervisors elected to follow the will of the people - we are the people! ... out-of-control spending by the county ... we have a corrupt government [amens from the crowd] ... will agriculture survive as the future of the county when outrageous assessments could be taxing people off their land ... seek additional legal advice besides just the county attorney - need a second opinion ... throw out the '09 assessments, throw out the '09 assessments, throw out the '09 assessments ...

... "What were you all thinking?" ... [shouts of "resign" from the crowd] ... land prices are so high young people will not be able to buy and they are the future ... terrible appraisals ...

... "I've never been involved in politics before but I will vote for anyone who runs against the incumbents even if it's Forrest Gump!"

These are just a few samples of what was said. Remarks from the public concluded at 9:45 pm.

Meanwhile, as speakers were addressing the board, clapping and cheering could be heard coming from those sitting in the hallway listening to the proceedings on speakers. Inside the board room cheers, boos, and shouting were heard throughout the remarks. Something is going on in America, and it is being seen right here in Augusta County.


Photos by SWAC Girl
Lynn Mitchell
March 11, 2009

Augusta Free Press: "Supes duped by legal jargon"

Chris Graham over at the Augusta Free Press has been doing some investigative work into the legal wranglings between the Augusta County Board of Supervisors (six of them) versus Supervisor Tracy Pyles, attorney Francis Chester, and hundreds of local residents in the current real estate assessment battle.

With permission, here is the column in its entirety or check out Supes duped by legal jargon at the Augusta Free Press:

February 25, 2009
by chrisgraham

The newspaper headlines suggesting that the Augusta County Board of Supervisors’ hands are tied with respect to legal remedies regarding the widely disputed general property reassessment come across to me as misleading.

It’s not exactly breaking news to me that the county attorney, Pat Morgan, would say that he can’t find any “lawful way,” as he wrote in a report to the Board of Supervisors presented on Monday, that the Board can halt or adjust the reassessment. I say that because the strategy offered by the single member of the Board of Supervisors, Pastures Supervisor Tracy Pyles, who has been advocating for the large contingent of county residents who have been fighting this fight, is not at all a “lawful” one, but that has been the point all along.

Pyles was the first to point out that while the county is indeed required to complete a reassessment under the State Code, the penalty for not doing so appears to be relatively minor in the form of the loss of local revenues from the sale of alcholic beverages under the Virginia ABC system, at a total cost to county taxpayers of roughly $40,000.

In that context, then, I wouldn’t expect Morgan to say anything other than what he said in his report. I mean, after all, he’s a lawyer, right? He can’t recommend in writing or otherwise that his client willfully break the law, as Pyles is suggesting as a course of action. He’d risk his law license in so doing.

Same for the part of the story involving an attorney general’s opinion in a similar case originating in Dinwiddie County from earlier this year. The Board of Supervisors there also wanted to block a reassessment that had come under fire, and the opinion of the attorney general’s office used language akin to what Morgan offered to Augusta supervisors. “(T)he Dinwiddie County Board of Supervisors cannot prevent, in a legally enforceable manner, the duly appointed professional assessor for a general reassessment of Dinwiddie County’s real estate from complying with Section 58.1-3300 of the Code of Virginia, 1950, as amended, because the Board of Supervisors disagrees with the results of such general reassessment,” the opinion concluded, again not surprisingly.

I have read and reread that opinion, and did not find any reference to the penalties that could be incurred were the Board in Dinwiddie to violate the terms of the Code applicable to reassessments.

I e-mailed Morgan late Tuesday night to ask what to me is the salient question in this instance - namely, is Pyles right that the only penalty to the county for failing to comply with the Code on the reasssessment the loss of $40,000 in ABC revenues?

Morgan got back to me on that point early this morning.

“There is another possible penalty found in 22.1-97 of the Code of Virginia, dealing with school funding,” Morgan wrote in his e-mail reply. "As you are probably aware, funding from the state is based on what is called a composite index. The State looks at many factors to determine a locality’s fair share of the costs of educating our children. One of the factors that goes into determining the composite index for a locality is if its real estate values are correct. Under 22.1-97 of the Code of Virginia, if the Department of Education determines that a locality is not appropriated sufficient funds, it can notify the Attorney General and he or she can petition for a writ of mandamus directing the locality to make such appropriations as are required by law.”

Interesting point there. A counterpoint, not legal in response to Morgan, but political to the Board of Supervisors, is that it would appear that this composite-index issue could also bite us another way if the reassessments are allowed to stand.

As has been pointed out elsewhere in the local news media, the average property in Augusta is now in Chesterfield County range with our new reassessment. The problem that we will face is not having anything close to Chesterfield County’s economic base or its tax rate. Get this - Chesterfield’s property-tax rate is 95 cents per $100 assessed value. Augusta is currently at 58 cents, and if the reassessment is allowed to stand with the tax relief to come from a reduction in the rate aimed at equalizing things, we could be in the 50-cent range when all is said and done.

And what does that mean? You got it. We get Chesterfield County-level money from the state for education with a tax rate about half what Chesterfield assesses its citizens to make up our local share.

The second part of Morgan’s answer was also helpful.

“To date, I could find only one County that failed to reassess when lawfully required,” he wrote in his e-mail. “That was Pittsylvania in the mid-’70s. The Board there followed a faulty interpretation of a statute that allowed Counties to alter the reassessment schedule if they had been subject of an annexation suit. In a formal opinion, the Attorney General determined that the County had violated the code, but also concluded that it would receive its ABC funding when a reassessment completed. The law concerning adjustments due to annexation suits has since been repealed,” Morgan wrote.

So we might not even lose our ABC revenues if we go this route.

Interesting, that.

Augusta BOS meeting ... fireworks between supervisors

Wednesday night's Augusta County Board of Supervisors meeting had a moment when there was an exchange of terse words between Chairman David Beyeler and Vice Chairman Tracy Pyles. The firewords were not unexpected but this particular heated exchange was not where the fireworks had been expected to come from.

Pastures District Supervisor Tracy Pyles, who had questioned the budget for a proposed road plan in a development hoping to locate in Fishersville, mentioned several times that he was not allowed to speak at Monday's staff briefing. He reiterated it throughout his presentation and, when he finished his presentation, Mr. Beyeler, with voice shaking, informed him that there was something introduced about the development a month earlier that Mr. Pyles had missed, and when supervisors went to "view" the project Mr. Pyles was not there, and he testily said, "I don't want to hear it." Mr. Pyles and Mr. Beyeler then went back and forth with Mr. Pyles adding that he was not allowed to speak, and his fellow Board of Supervisor members did not speak up for him ... they did not stand up for his right to speak. Whew! It was refreshingly not boring!

But before all that occurred, Mr. Pyles accused the other board members of trying to rush the project, saying it was on a fast track when it was presented with only two days notice and no time to look over the multiple-paged proposal, study facts and figures, or delve into costs. He said there was no opportunity to vet the numbers with outside sources because they had been accepted by the other members of the Board of Supervisors, and argued there were steps to go through before spending the taxpayers' money ... qualifications that must be accounted for.

This is not the first time Mr. Pyles has rocked the boat. As reported by Bob Stuart in the Waynesboro News Virginian:

... supervisors overwhelmingly agreed that the road, a half-mile portion of Route 636, was needed.

The road would serve as an eventual connector between U.S. 250 and Augusta Medical Center.

Supervisors also agreed that Crescent’s 420-unit project of townhouses, duplexes, single-family homes and apartments was being put in the right place.

The development will be located in Fishersville directly across the entrance from Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center, the Augusta County Schools offices and three Augusta County schools.

The proposal was tabled at Mr. Pyles' request on Monday because of the lack of notice in order to investigate. He expressed a frustrated feeling of being made to feel guilty by his fellow supervisors because he was asking questions and digging into figures.

That digging into figures was what caused him to find the $100,000 mistake in the figures presented by the contractor, figures that had been across the desks of the county manager Pat Coffield, the commissioner of revenue Jean Shrewsbury, the county attorney, and VDOT, according to Supervisor Wendell Coleman. The developer admitted the mistake and said it was an honest oversight.

Mr. Pyles, whom I have called "Mr. Numbers" for years because of his ability to take a spread sheet and make it quiver at the very thought of his prying eyes canvassing the page, then launched into his findings.

Traffic impact studies, the Fishersville Small Area Plan, the Comprehensive Plan adopted in 2007, and other tools were used in his research. School overcrowding, street overuse, lack of traffic light at Rt. 250 entrance, more traffic for the overburdened Rt. 608 interstate bridge, fire and rescue buildup. When, he asked, were they planning to do these necessary items of business ... or was they going to be dumped on the back burner like so many other projects that are waiting to be done?

The one item that stood out the most to me, for some reason, was seeding of grass which was in the contract for something like $6,000 an acre but when the figures were scrutinized it ended up costing $11,000 per acre. Mr. Pyles dryly remarked that instead of the projected $78,000 cost, he and his sons could do it for $50,000.

The rebuttal to Mr. Pyles' accusations and questions came from Wayne Supervisor Wendell Coleman who responded on most levels in a sufficient way. The project is in Mr. Coleman's district. The deal was already in the bag ... Mr. Pyles was going up against the other six supervisors on this one. However, they had worked with the developer for a deal that they felt was best suited to the county's favor. Mr. Coleman said the county is in a habit of building everything when it's already too late ... classroom trailers populate school grounds before additions are finally added to the building ... traffic backs up at congested intersections before we finally build the roads to alleviate the backup. This road, he stressed, was a proactive measure that was a win-win situation for the citizens of Augusta County.

A humorous part came when Mr. Coleman was explaining how the contract was set up and how they had redone the numbers to remove the $100,000 mistake ... and then Mr. Pyles asked if it said the county would pay only for contractors' invoices, and Mr. Coleman responded ... and they actually almost started renegotiating the contract as they went back and forth! I found it hilarious to watch.

Tracy Pyles is my supervisor and we have certainly had our differences during the past year. I was particularly distressed when his claws came out during a debate between himself and the Republican candidate running against him last fall ... I felt he unfairly took some cheap shots that were not necessary from an old warhorse like himself. It was not dignified for the incumbent to say some of the things he said.

However, he is fiscally conservative, and I am always amused when he goes up against the rest of the board. He stands alone, one stubborn Democrat, determined that even when he is facing odds that are not in his favor, he is going to speak up for what he thinks is right. That's what we saw at Wednesday's meeting.

The vote was, predictably, 6-1 with Tracy being the only one voting against the project.

Dems losing control of Party?

I received an unsolicited email from my Democrat Supervisor Tracy Pyles who publicly endorsed Emmett Hanger a few weeks ago along with the rest of the Augusta County Board of Supervisors.

Tracy and I have gotten along well over the years. Now we're on opposite sides of the fence. It makes me wonder who he will support in the General Election because the Democrats have backed a candidate.

Will Mr. Pyles support Republican Emmett Hanger, the person he endorsed in April? Or will he endorse the Democrat who will represent his Party?

I looked up the Democrat Party Plan:

DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF VIRGINIA STATE PARTY PLAN
Section 10.8 Party Support

No Democratic committee member or officer of any Democratic committee shall publicly support, endorse, or assist any candidate opposed to a Democratic nominee. In the event any Democratic committee member shall undertake such public activity, the appropriate Democratic committee shall remove said person from office. Such action shall not be taken without at least ten (10) days written notice to the accused member and an opportunity for him or her to refute such charges. In the event that no action is taken against such person, the
district committee shall initiate the necessary action. The Steering Committee may take further action within the thirty (30) days after the receipt of a written complaint by any member of the Democratic Party in relation to such matters.

Section 10.9 Candidate Support

The obligations and duties imposed on any county, city or district committee or the Central Committee and their members in this Plan shall not be deemed to require support of any candidate who is publicly supporting a nominee on the ticket of any other political party in any general election where Democratic candidates for office appear on the ballot, or who publicly supports any other candidate opposed to a Democratic nominee.

Interesting situation for Mr. Pyles....