I’m pretty disappointed that I didn’t get an answer to my question I emailed to Charlie Hoke on June 18.
It was a pretty simple question. I was just asking whether the tax-free nature of the interest payments we were making to Mrs. Hudson, for that Project Clover Industrial Park meant that we were issuing Revenue Bonds from the Page County Economic Development Authority, in accordance with Industrial Development and Revenue Bond Act of the Code of Virginia, Title 15.2-4900. Should be a simple Yes or No, shouldn’t it?
I may wait a while for that answer. See, that’s the glitch in the Virginia Sunshine Laws. You can’t just ask a question and get an answer. You have to know what specific documents to ask for. If my District 1 Supervisor, Charlie Hoke, would answer my question, I might just be satisfied with the answer and drop the subject. Maybe he will tell me, “No, we’re not issuing any bonds. This is just some finagling done for the purposes of the Internal Revenue Service. There is no legal obligation here. It’s just a morality thing.” If my supervisor said that, who knows? Maybe I would just forget about it after that. Maybe I’d say, “Oh, well. If it’s just a MORAL obligation, and no real debt is being created, what’s it to me.” But, you see, I’m worried about that statement by the District 5 Supervisor,
Mrs. Strickler, that was printed in the Page News and Courier on June 17. I’m afraid that the bond rating of Page County is at stake.
My goodness! If the Bond Rating of Page County is at stake, what will happen to all that debt we took on to pay for the landfill and the two schools? This could be a disaster of a proportion that may be unfixable, but for a constant raising of real estate taxes, year after year. I don’t want this foolishness to cause real estate taxes to be raised again.
I guess, if I don’t get an answer by tomorrow, I’ll have to come up with a way to ask for a specific document, so I can put in a Freedom of Information Act request.
Let’s see. What should I ask for?
Well, I could ask for the recommendations of the EDA which were forwarded to the Board in accordance with Code of Virginia Section 15.2-4906. This is the part where the EDA has to hold a public hearing before it issues Revenue Bonds.
Code of Virginia Section § 15.2-4906. Public hearing and approval.
A. Whenever federal law requires public hearings and public approval as a prerequisite to obtaining federal tax exemption for the interest paid on industrial development bonds, unless otherwise specified by federal law or regulation, the public hearing shall be conducted by the authority and the procedure for the public hearing and public approval shall be in accordance with this section.
B. For a public hearing by the authority, notice of the hearing shall be published once a week for two successive weeks in a newspaper having general circulation in the locality in which the facility to be financed is to be located of intention to provide financing for a named individual or business entity. The applicant shall pay the cost of publication. The notice shall specify the time and place of hearing at which persons may appear and present their views. The hearing shall be held not less than six days nor more than twenty-one days after the second notice shall appear in such newspaper.
The notice shall contain: (i) the name and address of the authority; (ii) the name and address (principal place of business, if any) of the party seeking financing; (iii) the maximum dollar amount of financing sought; and (iv) the type of business and purpose and specific location, if known, of the facility to be financed.
If after the hearing has been held the authority approves the financing, a reasonably detailed summary of the comments expressed at the hearing shall be conveyed promptly to the locality’s governing body together with the recommendation of the authority.
Of course, since I already know there wasn’t any such hearing, I’d at least have the advantage of getting a letter from Mark Belton saying there wasn’t one.
Or, I could ask for the results of the vote of the Board of Supervisors where they approved issuing this financing from the EDA, in accordance with Section 15.2-4906 Section C
C. For public approval, the governing body of the locality on behalf of which the bonds of the authority are issued shall within sixty calendar days from the public hearing held by the authority either approve or disapprove financing of any facility recommended by the authority.
Action of the governing body shall be by a majority of a quorum set out in a resolution. Such vote shall be recorded and disclose how each member voted.
Or, I could ask for the Fiscal Impact Statement submitted to the Board in accordance with Section 15.2-4907
§ 15.2-4907. Fiscal impact statement.
Every request for industrial development (facility) financing when submitted to the governing body of the locality for approval shall be accompanied by a statement in the following form:
So I guess, maybe I do see the wisdom in Virginia’s Sunshine Laws. Why ask a question, which could be answered with a distraction and a sleight of hand, when you can request a specific document, which defines conformance with the Virginia Code?
Ahhh, well, I guess I’ll just wait a day or two and see if anybody bothers to respond to my email. Maybe I’m just misunderstanding what is going on here. It can probably all be explained away.
June 23, 2009 at 2:54 pm
ok…..
I just went over the agreement downloaded from whereever Alice put them and I erased my previous remarks. From what I can make of it, all the monies comes from the EDA. They are responsible for the payments. I read somewhere that the payments will eventually come from the park itself. It is stated all over that the documents that the Commonwealth of Virginia, other jurisdiction or governing body is not responsible for the debt. It list the EDA as a political subdivision of Page County. Now that title might stick the tax payers with any debt. The EDA does have the authority to make such purchases without the consent of the citizens, but if I remember correctly, only with grant funding. I’ll have to look it up to be sure. Been awhile since I was in the Luray IDA
June 23, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Keith, that’s the subtlety. It says in big letters that nothing commits the taxpayers in this agreement. But the first $1M came right out of taxpayer’s pockets, because the Board had a meeting and decided to make a “budget transfer to the EDA.” Now, the next payment is due on Jan 1, 2010. The EDA has ZERO income stream from anything. I just FOIA’ed all the grants in process from the EDA and the County. Nada, related to this transaction. So picture it. Dec 31, 2009 comes around. Mrs. Strickler notes that it would harm Page County’s credit rating if we renege on our moral obligation. We have to pay Mrs. Hudson her $350K + on Jan 1.
The EDA doesn’t have any money, because nothing has happened at the park. What will the Board do? Considering what they have done in the past, they will make another “budget transfer to the EDA” of YOUR tax money. And then fight with the schools and tell them they’re spending too much.
It says in the document that it does not obligate the taxpayers. But all the Board has to do is declare that they are going to “transfer money to the EDA” like they did the last time.
The objection here is that the deal is made assuming a data center that doesn’t exist. Will a $16M data center appear on that land and owe $300K in taxes within 6 months, when it still doesn’t have financing?
Oh, I don’t know. Will it snow if the temperature is 90 degrees and there are no snow clouds? These things have schedules and times. If there is no indicative activity, there is no data center.
June 23, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Alice,
After reading all of this I can understand why you are so confused. It appear that this is quite a puzzle maybe worthy of a Sherlock Holmes investigation.
June 23, 2009 at 9:54 am
The letter of the law permits closed door meetings in which decisions are made to take any amount of money from taxpayers to pay for anything decided behind those closed doors.
How is this representative democracy if your ’supervisor’ does not know your views? If The People were not consulted, their views are not known and therefore they are not represented.
How did this system creep up on us in The Land Of The Free? Think on these things. Is it up to The People to make the rules, or some ‘governing class’ who can do it better than us? Heckuvajob, Brownie!
June 23, 2009 at 10:03 am
Well, no, it doesn’t allow any votes behind closed doors. It requires public hearings before votes take place. The problem is that the public doesn’t normally have the information required in order to have a sentient viewpoint on the issue at hand.
In places where either the citizens are actively paying attention OR the government officials have respect for the citizens’ viewpoint, then this system can be worked to a reasonable extent. The problem arises when people are elected who do not believe it is necessary to discuss and gain consensus from the taxpayers before they commit the taxpayers to commercial ventures. Virginia law DOES require at least a pro forma exercise to give the appearance of having done that.
Unless the taxpayers make it clear that they are watching and paying attention, it would be just an exercise.
June 23, 2009 at 8:45 am
If the Page County Six and other appointed authorities and commissions did not follow the letter of the applicable Va Code then there should be judicial sanctions. Then petition the Circuit Court to void the land aquisition contract and the sale.