Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 7, 1994 TAG: 9410150017
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PEARISBURG LENGTH: Medium
The signing followed some 18 months of generally friendly negotiations between the county and the town of 2,064. The county's Board of Supervisors approved the agreement Tuesday. Town Council OK'd the pact Wednesday.
"It was a negotiation that was designed to keep this from starting a hostile negotiation," said Don Lacy, a Virginia Tech local government specialist who helped moderate the talks. Lacy said a hostile annexation would have cost each side on the order of $250,000.
The agreement must go to the Commission on Local Government in Richmond and the courts for final approval.
So-called phase one areas to be annexed under the agreement include neighborhoods mostly to the north and east of Pearisburg:
Bluff City, including the shopping center, along U.S. 460 business.
Ingram Village on Virginia 100.
Robin Hood and Mason Court along the town's eastern edge.
Virginia Heights across from Giles High School.
Phase one also could include Lillyfair, between the U.S. 460 bypass and the town's northern border, if a grant request for money to extend sewer service into the area comes through. Pearisburg Town Manager Ken Vittum said the town is next in line for funding. Lillyfair would swell the town's ranks by another 110 to 125 people.
Under the agreement, the town has an option to annex several other neighborhoods after January 1999, including Mason Farm, Hidden Meadows, Fairview Acres and - if it does not join now - Lillyfair.
Vittum and Giles County Administrator Janet Tuckwiller both said Thursday they were happy with the pact. Taxpayers in the annexed areas might not be as sanguine. Since town property owners pay both town and county personal property and real estate taxes, their tax bills will rise substantially, although water and sewer bills will drop significantly.
The new town residents will see their real estate tax rate jump by 40 cents to $1.08 per $100 valuation, while their personal property tax rate will skyrocket from $7 to $10.75 per $100 valuation.
In exchange for higher taxes, the town's new residents will get regular town police protection and patrols, town street and highway maintenance, street lights and, eventually, town curbside solid-waste pickup. Under the arrangement, the county will continue to collect trash in the annexed areas - at the county's higher rate - for another five years.
The agreement calls for the town to compensate the county for 50 percent of lost sales tax, vehicle decal and utility tax revenues.
Vittum also said Giles County does not offer a public library or a recreation program, which the town does, though both are available to county residents.
Word of the closed-door negotiations was "commonly known," Vittum said. He and Tuckwiller said they knew of few complaints so far. Public hearings on the plan probably won't be held until next spring.
Vittum said the two sides were making changes to the boundary map "up to the last minute." One point of contention was whether Giles High School would be incorporated into Pearisburg or remain in Giles County. "[Last] Thursday morning it was in [the town], Thursday night it was out," he said. Giles County Industrial Park and the River Bend section also stay in the county.
A "desperate need" for public sewer service helped propel the negotiations on the county's side, Vittum said, adding that the town would apply for grant funds to extend service to the new neighborhoods not already on town sewer service. The town has pledged to extend sewer service to the Bluff City commercial district by next August.
by CNB