Government

    Tammy Parker, chairman of the Bedford County Board of supervisors, questioned the accuracy of the claims that Gary Hostutler, chairman of the school board, made in an article that appeared in the Bedford Bulletin last week.
    Parker, in an e-mail, accused Hostutler of playing politics and timing the article, less than two weeks before the June 9 Republican primary, to advance a political agenda.

    Bedford’s town planning commission voted 6-0 to recommend creating a new zone, a Health Care Establishment District (HE), at last Thursday’s meeting.
    The new district will consist of the Bedford Memorial Hospital campus plus two adjoining properties.

    On a 6-1 vote last Tuesday, Bedford Town Council passed a 2 cent tax increase to the real estate tax rate, raising the rate to 32 cents per $100 of valuation.
    The increase means town of Bedford residents will pay a rate of 84 cents for the upcoming fiscal year, with the addition of the county’s tax rate of 52 cents per $100 of valuation added to the town’s rate.
    Still, Bedford Town Manager Charles Kolakowski noted that town residents are paying less than they did when Bedford was still a city.

    Bedford Town Council continued to wrestle with the possibility of raising real estate taxes last week.
    Town Council had earlier asked Town Manager Charles Kolakowski to rework a budget that originally called for a five cent increase in the real estate tax rate and a 4 percent increase in the electric rate. Kolakowski came back with a budget that contains a two cent real estate tax rate and that’s the rate that was advertised.
    Some members of Council were still uncomfortable with a tax hike.