Paul Price

Washington County Supervisor Blasts Obscene Pay Raises

"I don’t approve of percentage raises. The rich get richer, and the poor never catch up."

Washington County Supervisor Paul Price blasted this year's "percentage-based raises" for widening the income gap between county workers and executive paper pushers. In 2007 the already overpaid county executives got obscene pay raises. County Administrator Mark Reeter got a $20,000 raise last year and another $3200 this year while County Attorney Lucy Phillips got $13,000 and another $2800 this year. Working full-time employees got a whopping $8 an hour. Mr. Price calls this "disproportionate" and he is right.

He by the way supported the 2007 increases. Quoting Mr. Price in regards to people like Reeter, "I wouldn’t say that I wouldn’t want them to get a raise, but we've got to do something about the people who just aren't making ends meet. You've got county employees who work hard and show up, and they just keep getting farther and farther behind." Note that government workers in the region earn much more than private sector workers, so why doesn't this also apply to them? Mr. Price wants a more "fair" plan on pay raises for public workers; "I don’t approve of percentage raises. The rich get richer, and the poor never catch up." He wants a new plan in two years; good luck Mr. Price.

The situation is no diffrent in Bristol, Virignia. To quote the Bristol Herald Courier (June 11, 2008), "A third of Bristol's residents need affordable housing, said Mayor Jim Rector, and "public affordable housing is the way to go. In private housing programs, the only goal is profit, while public programs do what is best for residents." Why in the heck don't we ever get jobs that pay a living wage here so they won't need public housing Mr. Mayor? What's wrong with private affordable housing other than those that could affort it are not wanted in most parts of Bristol? Why did Bristol, Virginia vote to give a developer $2.5 million in corporate welfare that produced a single restaurant, but refused to allow another private developer to build affordable housing that demanded no subsidies? And this didn't stop Washington County Supervisors from spending $10 million in corporate welfare for a strip-mall development.

"Fishy Land Deal"

But that isn't all, Washington County, along with the Town of Abingdon, agreed to buy a ballpark, a ballpark that to quote the press, "was conceived as a 40-acre project at less than $25,000 an acre grew to 60 acres at $40,000 an acre..." The combined debt service of about $600,000 for ovet ten years plus an operational subsidy of tens of thousands (they don't really know) per year. Further; "I would just hope that this board never gets into a situation like this again because we certainly have the cart before the horse. We should’ve sat down to discuss these details...It was just a mistake, and I think everyone was just anxious to have a sports complex, and we failed to see out far enough in the future to know we need to work details out." Whines Washington County Supervisor Dulcie Mumpower. She oversaw the mass eviction of 50 poor residents from a trailer park to help make way for the same strip mall she voted to spend $10 million tax dollars on. To quote the press, "Supporters of this fishy land deal also built their argument last year around some bogus Little League rule. They suggested, wrongly, that Abingdon teams could not play at a complex outside the town’s Little League boundary."

Mr. Price also "conceded that the land developers – Clifton-Stewart – steamrolled the board last year (2007) by telling members to act quickly because a third party was willing to pay more." Estimated cost so far, $6-$8 million and to quote, "… As the county and town were preparing to leap eyes-wide-shut into this deal, we warned against it...We advised the leaders to slow down and count the costs. To no avail...The county and town rushed into a land purchase without time for debate or dissent, and the chickens are coming home to roost."

Mr. Price also said, "I think we need to settle the millions before we keep spending thousands. We kind of got hit with this a little bit blindsided - all of a sudden somebody’s offering $2,000 more an acre, and if we don’t get it now, we won’t get it...It moved a little too fast ... and I never did see it in writing...We’re a long ways from where I thought this was going when it got started." Supervisor Odell Owens (my supervisor) is equally confused: "We need to resolve that before things get even more confusing. If we don't resolve the ownership to both entities' satisfaction, then it’s not going to happen."

Note that in Washington County the public is barred from addressing the Board of Supervisors without advance permission from Mark Reeter and most business is conducted in back rooms. (So-called "closed session.") Ref. BHC May 23, 25, 2008 and July 12, 2008. Note that as of July Abingdon and Washington County are still bickering over who should control what in that "fishy land deal."

$10 million in corporate welfare could yield $25 million plus for developer

The controversial "Highlands" development in Bristol is up for sale, or at least 30 acres of it, about a year after it was completed in 2007. Originally mired in costly lawsuits over annexation between Bristol, Virginia and Washington County ($2 million), the scene (before relocated to its present relocation)of a mass eviction of poor people, and given $10 million in corporate welfare by Washington County, may net the developer $25.2 million.

One Washington County supervisor asked just what these jobs (an absurd claim of 2000) was supposed to pay. We never got an answer. This strip mall includes stores such as Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, Books-A-Million, Pet Smart, Ross and T.J. Maxx. (The Target store isn't included in the sale.) A nearly identical strip mall in Sullivan County, Tennessee (about 25 miles away) only spent $2.5 million in corporate welfare. I hope somebody buys a lot of cats at Pet Smart because the Washington County taxpayers really got "skinned" in this deal. More here.

Bristol, Virginia is broke, but is buying house near Sugar Hollow Park

The Bristol, Virginia City council voted on July 8 to spend $204,500 for a 2,800-square-foot home and 4.03 acres. This was due to a mold problem in their other office space. Nobody asked why the mold problem was allowed to get so bad. The press reports said the discussion lasted 45 minutes and the vote was unanimous. They didn't borrow any money this time to add to the $110 million in debt they already have. The property is in Washington County, Va. and the City plans to sell 2.6 acres for $45,000 back to the Country to be used for a high school parking lot. As noted, Bristol, Virginia and Washington County just a few years ago were in a bitter court dispute over annexation for a strip mall, costing taxpayers $2 million. At least they are talking again.

The Trainstation Again?

To quote one angry resdent:

Lets see now. We have a train station with a passenger ticket window, and no passenger trains and no reasonable expectation of ever getting passenger trains again. Got that. We seem to have a train station with no real business plan of any sort. And the taxpayers have been forced to pay how many millions of dollars? And for what? It looks like we the people who earn the money will continue to have our earnings taken from us by force or threat of force by our politicians to keep feeding the money sinkhole of a train station. STOP THE NON-ESSENTIAL SPENDING NOW! And no, the train station is not essential. Sell the train station to private business and either let it sink or swim on its' own with no more taxpayer subsidies!

July 2008: The Bristol, Virginia City council just released "the deed of trust for the former Union Depot to the Bristol Train station Foundation. The city held the deed because it was the governmental agency that helped the nonprofit foundation secure federal grant funding." They helped secure millions of pork dollars for the project that as of 2008 still has no economic value. They touted the pork-barrel project as "transportation enhancement" and "economic development." When I asked one official what exactly made this economic development, nobody has answered me to this day. The project has been the target of harsh criticism from residents sick of ever escalting taxes and utility rate hikes. The City utility also chipped in some freebies. This has cost taxpayers about $6 million and will produce nothing of economic value in my opinion, this failed before with the previous owner.

Quoting the press, "The action was necessary for the nonprofit foundation to complete a deal to bring outside investors into the project...It has been a struggle to close on the [historic] tax credits. We have two investors – state and federal – and the one investor is demanding a release of the lien or we cannot move forward..." Where the hell is the private investment? Guess nobody is that stupid.

With the tax credit scam "investors" (they hope) will plunk down $1 million to allow the train station foundation to pay off its debt. Then they will open the facility that's listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Ref. BHC July 9, 2008

What the hell???

"The Trainstation Foundation is working with a Chicago law firm to secure more than $1 million in state and federal historic tax credits for investors...an unnamed individual and a group – have agreed to buy the credits in exchange for a five-year ownership stake in the building...We didn’t give up, and we were able to find counsel in Chicago that does nothing but historic tax credits." claims Foundation officials.

Both the Bristol, Virginia and Regions Bank released liens on the property and the $1 million will go to payoff the bank, the foundation will become a general partner in some "new for-profit entity," and the investors will be limited partners...The reason for the for-profit is because only a for-profit entity can receive the tax credits. That seems to have been the whole idea was the tax credits. Their business plan if there really is one, is identical to that of that late Arthur Slaughter that failed. The new company will be a "subsidiary" of the Trainstation Foundation, which is still(?) a non-profit. After five years, "the foundation will purchase the facility back – for less than $100,000 – and then the foundation will own it." Where do they plan to get that $100,000 from?

The foundation claims to have "tentative leases for two of the four available office spaces and a ticket office is in place, should passenger rail service ever return to Bristol...The public space includes a catering kitchen, but preliminary plans to establish a restaurant in the basement didn’t materialize because of cost and issues with the historic tax credits...we would have had to put an addition onto the plaza area [along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard] and that would have complicated the historic tax credit piece." Again, this didn't work before, why now?

The Bristol VA/TN governments and this so-called Foundation paid $600,000 ($200,000 each) for this thing from the late Arthur Slaughter in 1999. The foundation has gotten $1.97 million in federal transportation enhancement pork and a nearly $1.2 million congressional earmark in 2006. According to VDOT spokeswoman Michelle Earl, "Programmed into our current six-year plan is $315,000 for 2009 and $76,000 for 2010." Virginia has a severe budget problem at VDOT and wastes our tax dollars on this?

VDOT also provided a 25 percent match for the 2006 pork/earmark, little has come from private funds to the best of my knowledge. The project qualifies for funding because "under VDOT guidelines because it is scheduled to be used to help promote tourism and because of the potential for passenger rail.' There are no plans for passenger rail in Bristol. This was all setup for no reason other than getting tax dollars for a project that's a proven economic failure. Ref BHC July 15, 2008

 

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