Town Council Fails to Trim Budget, Favors Borrowing
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
May 3, 2013
Last week Cape Charles Town Council instructed Town Manager Heather Arcos and Treasurer Kim Coates to sharpen their pencils and come back this week with a proposed budget that would not increase taxes.
The marching orders were to cut 2 percent from staff budgets across the board.
But at last night’s budget work session, Treasurer Coates presented only two options: 1) raise taxes to fund a higher budget, or 2) keep taxes at last year’s level but borrow money to make up the difference.
Given those choices, Council tentatively agreed to a budget exceeding the “equalized rate” by $77,844.
Town staff did make some cuts to reach even that figure, most significantly scrapping a proposed 1 percent cost of living allowance increase. Originally, Town staff had recommended a 3 percent COLA.
Additional savings are proposed to come from eliminating Town contributions to most community-funded activities, including the Tall Ships Festival, the Birding and Wildlife Festival, the Shore Soccer League, Star Transport, and the new Cape Charles by the Bay tourism website.
Left in the budget was $10,000 for July 4th fireworks. [Read more…]
Town Council Budget Work Session 6 p.m. Tonight
May 2, 2013
Cape Charles Town Council will conduct a budget work session 6 p.m. Thursday, May 2, at Town Hall. The public may attend but not speak.
Town staff will present a revised budget reflecting a 2 percent reduction from the previous proposal.
Town Council requested the revision in an effort to keep from raising the tax rate higher than the amount needed to obtain the same amount of money as last year.
Because the meeting is only a work session, there will be no vote on the budget proposal. The Town plans to advertise a proposed tax rate coming out of this meeting without having voted on the rate.
Under state law, a municipality can not enact a tax rate higher than advertised. [Read more…]
MAY CALENDAR for Town of Cape Charles
COMPILED BY CAPE CHARLES RECREATION DEPARTMENT
LIBRARY — The old library is closed, but the new library opens May 8 at 201 Mason Avenue. Phone number is still 757-331-1300. Hours are Monday through Wednesday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Activities include:
COMPUTER CLASSES for beginners every Tuesday at 11 a.m.
ARTS AND CRAFTS every Wednesday at 4 p.m.
STORY TIME every Thursday at 10:30 a.m.
CAPE CHARLES HARBOR summer office hours are Monday through Thursday 8 a.m.-6 p.m. and Friday through Sunday and all Holidays 7 a.m.-7 p.m.
NO DOGS allowed on the Cape Charles Beach from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. from April 1 to Labor Day. All dogs must be on a leash in Northampton County.
MAY 2, 9, 16 – New Roots Youth Garden 4-5 p.m.
MAY 2 – 10:30 a.m., Parade of Books led by Foster, the Brown Dog Ice Cream dog. The Cape Charles Christian School will begin the move of the library to its new location.
MAY 4 – Crabby Blues Festival in Central Park, 3- 8 p.m. Tickets on sale and vendors on location.
MAY 17 – Black Drum Tournament sponsored by the Northampton County Chamber of Commerce.
MAY 18, 19 – Rhythms of the Shore at the Palace Theatre. Arts Enter School of Dance final performance. [Read more…]
Four Months Without a Hoop
Shanty Restaurant owner Jon Dempster has added his voice to those concerned over the removal last Christmas of the basketball hoops at Central Park. Dempster has offered to help with construction and funding of a new court. In the meantime, some residents think the Town should replace the hoops it removed, since construction at the Old School has again been delayed. (Wave photo)
By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
April 30, 2013
Four months have passed since December 26, 2012, when Town maintenance workers returning to work after the Christmas holidays removed the backboards and hoops from what had been Cape Charles’ only basketball court.
One week earlier, on December 19, Mayor Dora Sullivan had signed over the deed conveying to a developer the basketball court, playground parking lot, and Old School at Central Park.
The backboards and hoops were not excluded from the sale, and so belonged to the developer, but the Town was allowed to have them in exchange for removing them. They have been in storage ever since.
Developer J. David McCormack, formerly operating as Echelon Resources but now doing business as Charon Ventures, struck a deal with the Town to convert the Old School into an apartment building and the basketball court into a private parking lot.
The property was valued on the Town tax rolls at $921,000, but Town Council agreed to pay Echelon Resources $41,000 to take the property. No bids were requested, and offers from the community group Old School Cape Charles were rejected without a vote.
The children’s playground parking lot was also conveyed, and will become private parking for tenants at the 17-unit apartment complex.
The Old School and parkland had been zoned Open Space until the Town rezoned it R-1 Residential.
Although apartment buildings are not permitted in R-1 Residential, the Town Planning Commission voted last August 23 to recommend an exception. A condition to that exception was that the basketball court be relocated.
Eight months later, relocating the basketball court has yet to appear on Town Council’s agenda.
Town Council has, however, extended until August 23 the deadline for developer McCormack to begin construction, which means the former basketball court could sit unused another four months. [Read more…]
COMMENTARY: Cut Taxes to Reflect Lower Property Values
By TIMOTHY J. KRAWCZEL
April 29, 2013
Ronald Reagan famously said, “Government is not the solution, government is the problem.”
A Cape Charles town employee told me last summer, “We don’t need anything except money.”
The thinking seemed to be: Money is supreme, run government like a business, we know more about it than you, don’t argue with us, we’re technocrats.
A few weeks ago, my wife and I bought a new fax/printer. It cost $125 and is better than the one we paid $400 for four years ago. Why? Because when there is competition, prices go down and quality goes up. That is the free market.
If the cost of a product is too high or the quality is too low, a consumer is free to buy somewhere else. Business responds by cutting costs and improving quality.
Not so with our Town government. It has a monopoly on service, and the Town Council year after year has allowed monopoly power on setting prices, i.e. tax revenues.
The taxpayer has no choice — pay the tax or face a penalty and a property lien.
This year the money numbers are indisputable. Real estate assessed values are down 20-38 percent, depending on the source of the estimate. Undeniably, the sale value of real estate in Cape Charles has declined from the last assessment five years earlier.
In real terms, many taxpayers have seen the market value of their investments evaporate, and some have lost their life savings.
But what is happening with the cost of local government? Has the Town reduced the burden of taxes in response to lower property values? No. All the Town taxpayers have gotten is a flaccid discussion of whether taxes will go up or stay the same. There has been no discussion of actually cutting tax rates, — of making choices that every homeowner and investor has to make, namely, how to do more with less. [Read more…]
Town Council Splits on Tax Increase
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
April 26, 2013
With one week left to agree on how much to increase Cape Charles property taxes, Town Council members are split over what to do.
Last year’s rate was 18 cents per hundred dollars of value, but the Town would have to slash its budget to maintain that rate.
That’s because Northampton County has reassessed all properties for the first time in five years, and values in Cape Charles dropped an average of 35 percent.
According to Town Manager Heather Arcos, the new “equalization” tax rate would be 27 cents per hundred dollars. That means that on average, with a rate of 27 cents, Town property owners would pay the same amount of tax as last year.
At last night’s special meeting of Town Council, Mayor Dora Sullivan said Council needs to make whatever budget cuts are necessary to keep from exceeding the equalized rate of 27 cents. But she acknowledged that this would not be easy.
“I don’t think it has ever been this difficult to arrive at a budget before,” Mayor Sullivan said, speaking as one who has served more than a decade on Council.
Her husband, Councilman Mike Sullivan, agreed that the Town needs to draw the line at 27 cents.
Councilman Frank Wendell added his voice, bringing the number of supporters of a no-growth budget to three.
On the other side was Vice Mayor Chris Bannon, who thought a tax increase to maintain Town services might be necessary.
Councilman Steve Bennett sided with Bannon.
Councilman Tom Godwin was on the fence. He would prefer equal budget cuts for all Town departments in order to hold the line, but if that were not possible he would vote for a tax increase.
The tie-breaker would have been Councilwoman Joan Natali, but she was out of town.
Natali and Bannon usually vote the same way. [Read more…]
THURSDAY 4/25: Town Council Meeting to Extend Date for Start of Construction at Old School
Cape Charles Town Council will hold a special meeting 6 p.m. Thursday, April 25, at Town Hall to approve a second delay to the start of construction to convert the Old School at Central Park into an apartment building. [Read more…]
MONDAY 4/22: Wetlands Board Hears Bay Creek Request for Riprap for Golf Course
Cape Charles Wetlands and Dune Board will hold a public hearing 3 p.m. Monday, April 22, for consideration of a request by Bay Creek South to install 600 feet of stone riprap along the Bay adjacent to Holes 4 and 5 of the Nicklaus golf course. [Read more…]
