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Government

  • Supervisors vote for tax hike

    Taxes are going up.
        The Bedford County Board of Supervisors voted 4-3 Monday night to set the real estate tax rate for the next fiscal year at 52 cents per $100 in assessed value. This is a 2 cent increase over the previous tax rate of 50 cents.
        Although the budget county staff presented was balanced without the tax increase, some supervisors felt it left important issues unaddressed.

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  • Public speaks out

        Public hearings on the county’s budget have been sparsely attended in past years, but this year was different.
        A proposal to raise the real estate tax rate half-filled Gibson Memorial Auditorium at the Bedford Science and Technology Center, where the hearings are held. A majority of the people attending came to oppose a proposed tax hike — something that was visually revealed when Tommy Scott, before speaking, asked everybody who didn’t want their taxes raised to stand up.

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  • Fee plan hits a snag

        The supervisors who were looking at a flat fee to fund opening a new cell at the landfill, and firetruck purchases got some bad news from County Attorney Carl Boggess Monday evening.
        Boggess began by reminding the supervisors that Virginia is a Dillon Rule state. This means that localities do not have the authority to do something unless the Code of Virginia gives them the authority to do it.

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  • 3 cent hike?

        When citizens show up for a public hearing, slated for April 7, to voice their opinions on the county’s budget, one of the issues they will be able to weigh in on is whether the county’s real estate tax rate should be raised.
        Last week, at a Wednesday evening work session, the supervisors voted to advertise a 3 cent per $100 of assessed value real estate tax increase.

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  • Tharp, Stanley won't run again

        Bedford Town Council will have at least two new members on it after November’s election because two current members of council have opted not to seek re-election.

        Councilmen Skip Tharp and C.G. Stanley have announced they won’t be running for their current seats in the fall. Four years ago Stanley decided the current term would be his last and Tharp decided this week he would step aside.

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  • County may raise taxes

        The budget Bedford County’s supervisors are developing may include a real estate tax increase.
        During a Monday night work session, Deputy County Administrator Frank Rogers described two measures that will close the $141,000 gap remaining in the county’s budget. One comes from savings on medical insurance.

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  • Fralick says goodbye

        Frederic Fralick, who represented the District 4 on the county’s planning commission for 10 years, said goodbye in what he termed a “soliloquy” at a farewell dinner held at Olde Liberty Station last week.

        Fralick’s time on the planning commission ended when his term expired in February and District 4 Supervisor John Sharp chose not to reappoint him.
        “I wish you the best,” he said to the gathering.

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  • Supervisors offer a little more money for fire apparatus

        A little more money may become available for fire apparatus this year. During a Monday evening budget work session, the supervisors agreed to transfer $300,000, out of $413,563 in undesignated capital improvement funds, to fire apparatus, bringing the total in that fund to $800,000.
        “The most pressing one is emergency apparatus,” said Board Chairman John Sharp as the supervisors discussed what capital needs the money should be designated for.

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  • Goodlatte, Hurt send letter to FERC about charges to Bedford

    Two area congressman have joined together to ask the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to look into what caused the town of Bedford’s energy costs to jump by $500,000 in January.
        In a letter to the FERC, Sixth District Congressman Bob Goodlatte and Fifth District Congressman Robert Hurt stated the town had raised concerns about the energy prices climbing in January because of congestion fees related to the transmission costs the town incurred. Typically the town would pay $60,000 a month for that but in January the cost was $560,000.

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  • Supervisors choose not to give school board direction within 60 days

        Bedford County’s supervisors decided, Monday night, to further postpone making a decision on what school construction option they will support in the Liberty attendance zone.
        The supervisors had been presented a series of school construction options at a joint meeting with the school board on Jan. 28. At that time, the supervisors asked for 60 days to make a decision. With the end of the 60 days approaching, Board Chairman John Sharp placed the issue to the supervisors for a decision.

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