Supervisors take action on farmland protection, broadband internet service, property tax reassessments
At a busy Board of Supervisors meeting this week, Rappahannock County supervisors approved a land development-rights purchase, moved a step closer to bringing high-speed internet connections to more county homes and businesses, and considered a new way to do periodic reassessments of county property values for tax purchases.
At their monthly meeting Monday, the supervisors took these actions:
Development Rights Purchase: Supervisors voted 5-0 to purchase development rights on three parcels of land owned by Manfred Call of Amissville. Under the plan, the county will pay $200,000 to purchase four development rights and to merge three parcels of 88, 10, and 5 acres into one parcel that could not be subdivided, and no more dwellings could be built thereon.
The purchase is being made under the county’s Farmland Preservation Program, which is funded with revenue from county rollback taxes, private contributions, and state matching funds. County Administrator John McCarthy said the $200,000 to be used in this case consists of about $100,000 in state matching money, $60,000 from rollback taxes paid by landowners who remove their land from the Land Use program, and about $40,000 in accumulated donations from the Rappahannock County Conservation Alliance.
Wireless Broadband Internet service: Supervisors authorized McCarthy and Commonwealth’s Attorney Peter Luke to negotiate an agreement with Virginia Broadband (VABB), a wireless provider that proposes to build seven transmitters in Rappahannock County to bring high-speed internet service to county homes and businesses. VABB is willing to build the system if the county will subsidize the initial capital outlay and if at least 200 customers will sign up for the service.
Under the tentative plan, the county would lend VABB up to $450,000 from its General Fund surplus on an interest-free basis for up to five years to finance the system. VABB would repay the loan from revenues collected over that time from paying subscribers to its service, which would cover much but not all of the county. McCarthy said VABB had already signed up more than 125 prospective suscribers and expects to find the 200 needed to make the deal viable.
Once a deal is negotiated, the system could be built out in three to six months, McCarthy said. He hopes to bring a proposed agreement with VABB to the supervisors for their consideration at their June 2 meeting.
Regional reassessment of property values: Five counties, including Rappahannock, are considering a new approach to accomplishing periodic reassessments of real estate values for tax purposes. Rather than each hiring separate firms to reassess properties, the five counties would hire one firm to reassess properties in all five counties, on a rotating basis.
By hiring an established firm to set up a regional reassessment office for Page, Warren, Shenandoah, Clarke and Rappahannock counties, the counties hope to achieve some efficiencies of scale and more consistency and expertise in reassessments. Supervisors authorized McCarthy to pursue this approach with the other counties and a selected assessing firm, with an eye toward the next Rappahannock property reassessment in 2010.
-- James P. GannonComments
Comment from wonka13
Time: May 9, 2008, 8:53 pm
Broadband services in the County: Living close on the border here in Fauquier County we often get impacted by what goes on across the line in Rappahannock county. Rappahannock already has a working broadband system that is serving the county. I subscribe to the a broadband wireless internet service provided by eOffice systems and based in Rappahannock County. Competition is always looked on as a good thing….but in situations where infrastructure costs are high and radio bandwidth is limited it might make sense to look at existing providers and assist with getting their network available to the largest numbers of county residents at the best price. My system works fine and is better and less expensive than my last expensive with Wildblue. My concern is that additional radio bands in this northern Fauquier / Rappahannock area will interfere and reduce the speed of the existing service.
Perhaps the Supervisors need to learn more about a 7 transmitter system that is already up and running in this region and serving residents with a good reliable broadband internet service.
(BTW I’m not connected with eOffice other than being a subcriber…but I am a discouraged customer of Directway / Hughes, Wildblue and dialup)
Bill Earle
Comment from Louise van Dort
Time: May 14, 2008, 9:23 pm
My comment is primarily directed at the above statement regarding broadband submitted by Bill Earle.
However I would like to start by applauding our Board of Supervisors for acting
so promptly and decisively with regards to the plans for providing Broadband
to the predominance of Rappahannock citizens at long last.
Mr. Earle, our Board of Supervisors did appoint a Broadband task force to research and assess every possible option open to us here in Rappahannock and that included, among others:eOffice as well as Sprint, VABB and Verizon. Both Rappvoice and the Rappahannock News have reported on this issue as well as on the recommendations of this task force. A report of their findings and suggestions was issued and I believe it still available to the public through Mr. John McCarthy’s office. in other words due diligence with regard to future Broad Band service for the county was certainly done.
BTW I too have no connection with any Broadband provider, though sorely tempted, I will refrain from offering an opinion on my current service, Direcway/Hughes, as I am on my good behavior. I have however a pressing personal as well as business interest in getting Broadband to Rappahannock and have thus pursued the Broadband issue relentlessly.
Comment from Bill Freitag
Time: May 15, 2008, 7:46 am
The e-Office broad band service should work well, but Mr. Tom Gordon seems uninterested in providing the service to the many people who have paid in advance and can’t even get a return to a phone call. The Rappahannock news has a telling story in this weeks issue about this exact topic. Even a court decree to refund the money is ignored by the good Mr. Gordon.
I’d say the Supervisors need to learn more about this system, but only to protect the citizenry from charlatans.
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