Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 13, 1993 TAG: 9308130294
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B4 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER SOUTHWEST BUREAU
DATELINE: RURAL RETREAT LENGTH: Medium
The boundary adjustment sought by the town would increase its population of about 1,000 by half and triple its area. The revenue loss to the county would be an estimated $22,000 annually.
Rural Retreat already serves 95 percent of the land it is seeking with water and about 75 percent with sewer service.
"The people I talk to know it's going to happen and think it should," Vice Mayor Richard Martin said.
Supervisors Andy Kegley, Jack Crosswell and John Davis, representing the seven-member board, did not rule out recommending an agreement.
Davis and Crosswell said improved services to the area and zoning protections were points in its favor. However, the county, faced with major expenses including the shipment of solid waste to a private outside landfill starting in October, can ill afford to lose even $22,000 a year.
Kegley is suggesting that both Rural Retreat and Wytheville consider giving up their utility taxes in return for not being charged a tonnage fee to dispose of solid waste at the county transfer station under construction.
Wythe would collect all utility taxes in the county and use them to pay for trash disposal. The Board of Supervisors is to discuss the idea at 7 p.m. Aug. 24.
Rural Retreat's proposed boundary adjustment will be discussed at a meeting of the board and two Town Councils at 7 p.m. Aug. 30.
The supervisors said the two ideas are linked because if Rural Retreat tripled its size, it would be collecting more solid waste and paying more for the county to dispose of it. It would still not be cheaper to give up the $45,000 it gets annually from a utility tax, but the figures would be closer.
"I don't think the Town of Rural Retreat is interested in fighting Wythe County for additional land," said Town Manager Raymond Matney. He said the town would proceed "only if we can come to a voluntary agreement. We don't want to go to a full-blown annexation proceeding."
Wythe County has no zoning ordinance, although it is working on one after narrowly avoiding the placement of a halfway house for felons in a residential area.
Matney said the town's zoning regulations could protect water sources and regulate development in the area involved, rather than risk the more haphazard development happening in eastern Wythe County.
"I think you'll realize it's something for your voters that's needed," he said.
The proposed area includes an industrial park to the east, the Murphysville area to the west, and a section past U.S. 11 to the Interstate 81 corridor to the north covering the Sunset and Briarwood subdivisions.
The town would provide police protection, street lights, snow removal and trash collection, the cost of which would be recouped over a long period from the additional tax revenue.
by CNB