Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 15, 1990 TAG: 9006150488
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: DUBLIN LENGTH: Medium
One woman took the offensive, half-jokingly threatening to protest a proposed water-rate increase by not using her bathtub anymore.
"I'll not take a bath and I'll come sit right between you," Gladys Weaver warned Mayor Benny Keister and Town Council.
"We're having problems paying bills now, and I will fall in the category of the unpaying when you go up."
Weaver said many of Dublin's residents are widows on fixed incomes who cannot afford to pay more. "This is going to hurt bad," she said.
"I would vote against this budget," said Colbern Linkous, who will join the council in July.
Linkous characterized the new spending plan as "anti-business, anti-industry, as well as an extreme hardship to all others." He contended that tax and fee increases would scare away both present and prospective industries.
Both Weaver and the councilman-elect had the rest of the small audience on their side.
"I see no reason for all these increases," said Dreama Hagar, who suggested that council get tough on delinquent taxpayers who owe the town an estimated $80,000.
"It's just asking too much," said water customer E.W. Harless Jr., who lives just outside Dublin in Pulaski County. "I got a feeling that these rate increases to out-of-town customers is more of a boundary-change move," he said.
He suggested that the revised - and steeper - rate schedule for Dublin's outside utility customers would make them more willing to become part of the town.
"It could work, but it could backfire," he said.
During the public comments, council members and Town Administrator Gary Elander were uncharacteristically quiet, making few attempts to justify the budget, which projects a 27 percent increase over last year's spending.
While the budget holds the line on real-estate and personal-property tax rates, it calls for vehicle decal fees to double - to $20 - and for the meals tax to go from 2 percent to 4 percent. In addition, one employee would be laid off in the town's utility department.
"I imagine that man needs that job a lot worse than we need a lot of that stuff we talked about here tonight," said town resident Don McLeod.
Other speakers suggested that the town had too many police officers and too many police vehicles.
"I think we've looked at things real carefully to justify these increases," said Councilman David Stanley, a member of the Finance Committee, who also supported the new budget's $50,000 cash reserve to avoid having to borrow money.
Council will meet next Thursday to act on the budget, which takes effect July 1.
In other business, council voted unanimously to officially participate in the countywide recreation program on a one-year trial basis.
by CNB