Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 27, 1990 TAG: 9004270238
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER SOUTHWEST BUREAU
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE LENGTH: Medium
The authority voted Thursday to recommend that the Wythe County Board of Supervisors join the Mount Rogers Development Partnership, but pay 50 cents per capita toward its share of supporting it rather than the $1 being assessed other localities.
The other participants would be Smyth, Carroll, Grayson, Bland and Washington counties and the cities of Galax and Bristol. Wythe has been hesitant about participating because it has hired its own industrial marketing director.
Wythe County Administrator Billy Branson, who met March 30 with representatives of the other localities, suggested that the authority recommend the lower assessment and also a rule change that would allow local industrial development authorities to name one representative to the partnership.
The rules now have one representative named by the local governing body, another by the chamber of commerce and a third at large. Branson thought the third should be named by local authorities.
Sam Ashworth, a Wythe resident who has been working with the partnership, said there should be no problem in allowing Wythe at least to have its authority name that third representative. But he did have concerns about the funding.
He said partnership organizers had worked out a three-year budget allowing for the hiring of a director, and that any cuts would come out of marketing activities. If Wythe were allowed to join for 50 cents, he said, the same assessment would have to be made of other participants, which would reduce the budget by $90,000 a year.
"It's of concern to me that we have an organization charged to market the region, but we don't give them the tools to work with," Ashworth said. "I believe the partnership needs Wythe County. But I also believe Wythe County needs the partnership."
Wytheville Town Manager Wayne Sutherland said that if he represented a locality paying $1 per capita, "I would be upset that somebody got in at 50 cents." Town Councilman Hayden Austin said he felt Wythe should pay the full $1.
So did Pete Miller, one member of the authority. "We're being asked to jump on the bandwagon or the streetcar, and the fare is $1," he said. He felt an offer of 50 cents would be "insulting to the partnership. . . . We're in as good a shape as anybody else."
Pete I. Viars, another member, disagreed. He said the county is having to raise taxes and he doubted that the supervisors would accept a recommendation to fund the partnership at $1 per capita.
The authority members all voted to recommend 50 cents except for Miller, who abstained. The Wythe County Board of Supervisors meets May 8 and will probably decide the matter then.
by CNB