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Pittsylvania County plans to pursue a 1-percent sales tax increase to help pay for the bond that will be used to renovate the county’s four high schools.
The Board of Supervisors agreed Monday night to request help from Danville to seek approval from the General Assembly. Chatham-Blairs Supervisor Hank Davis proposed the idea as a way to help cover the $70 million high school bond passed by county voters in November.
“We’re hoping if Danville will ask for the same 1 percent, we’ll get it,” Davis said Wednesday.
He said the increase would not target particular residents, but would affect everyone equally with visitors spending money in the county and helping to foot the bill. The proposal would require state approval. Virginia’s sales tax rate is 5 percent.
Lyle Lacy, interim city manager for Danville, said the county has not contacted him on the issue and declined to comment further.
Delegate Danny Marshall, R-Danville, said he would support the idea but a countywide vote would have to be a condition. The state would need to approve the county putting the question before voters. Marshall also said dropping the tax increase after the bond is paid off would be a good idea.
Coy Harville, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, said he supports the tax increase, but said the General Assembly would not support it. Rising costs and the $700 billion Wall Street bailout make this a bad moment for a sales tax hike, he said.
“I don’t think the General Assembly will go with a tax increase,” Harville said. “Nobody wants to hear about a tax increase at this time.”
Harville, however, said he wasn’t sure whether the county would ask Danville to raise its rate, but said the county will seek the city’s support for the idea.
The county included a 3-cent rate increase on its real-estate tax — from 50 cents of $100 in assessed value to 53 cents — in its 2008-09 budget to go toward the high school bond, and officials expect another 18-cent increase for the 2009-2010 fiscal year.
County officials expect construction on the four high schools to begin in December. The renovations at Tunstall, Chatham, Gretna and Dan River high schools will take place in several phases over about two years.
Contact John R. Crane at or (434) 791-7987.
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Reader Reactions
I did not vote in favor of the bond because I could not find ANYONE in the County who could tell me how the bond debt would be satisfied, nor could ANYONE tell me what renovations/changes would be made on the four county high schools. Well, now we know!! Evidently, the majority of the county was aware of more than I was since the bond passed overwhelmingly. I also question where the increase in the food/beverage tax will be allocated. Maybe it will pay the $30,000.00 for the new Pittsylvania County economic development consultant!! Perhaps we should have added the responsibility of economic development to the job description of the County Administrator!! I don’t know what is in the water the Board of Supervisors are drinking in Chatham, but it must have come from Congress!! Within the next year, the tax rate will increase by 3 cents per hundred of assessed value and in the following year 18 cents per hundred of assessed value. That is a 33% increase in ONE year!! Of course, Pittsylvania County is due for a property assessment and we all know proprty values will only increase!! So, is this hard for you to swallow as it is for me?? Then go to the next Board of Supervisors meeting and voice your opinion before we NEED a bailout!!
I hope the numbers in last two paragraphs in this article are incorrect. Will the people of Pittsylvania County be faced with a real estate tax icrease rate of 18 cent next year? What about all the money the meals tax was going to generate? What about the financial crisis in America? What about the unemployment rate in the county? What about the county spending $4 million on an industrial site? What about the 1 percent tax increase proposed? The taxpayers of Pittsylvania County need to be “bailed out” of the financial mess made by Harville & CO.
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