Be An Informed Voter

Culpeper Star Exponent

Business Monday

Jim Charapich

April 7, 2014

In the beginning of the book Animal Farm by George Orwell, the Animals managing the farm posted a sign at the community center reading (paraphrased) “All people are considered equal.” After some time the hard work of those in the community became overlooked and those overseeing the community gained a sense of entitlement. Later in the story the sign was changed to read (paraphrased) “All people are considered equal, some people are more equal than others.”

In speaking to Councilman Ben Philips last week, I suggested that we need a Town Council that would address the unfair BPOL Tax - Business Professional and Occupancy License Tax. His response - “good luck with that”. This despite the commitment by the Town Council to seek ways to phase out and or eliminate the unfair tax during the Boundary Line Adjustment (BLA) agreement negotiations and reconfirmed by Mayor Coleman at the Town Council meeting in February 2013.  Mr. Phillips went on to suggest that the Town must wait for the General Assembly to change the law regarding the BPOL Tax. We have been waiting for the General Assembly to provide alternatives to the tax, and again this session they did not offer solutions to this method of unfair taxation.

Why should we bare the burden of inaction by the Town Council and the General Assembly which requires business to pay BPOL taxes on gross receipts whether they are profitable or not. The Town does have the authority to reduce or eliminate the tax which produces a mere $1,000,000 in the Town budget. It is time for the Town to feel the burden of figuring this out. To quote Mother Abigail in Stephen King's The Stand, "The trees are bending with the fruit of unrest, It is time".

In presenting the case for the Town Council to phase out the unfair BPOL tax at the Town Finance Committee budget review last Tuesday, I made the following points: 1) The Town Council made a commitment to find ways to phase out BPOL during the BLA negotiations. 2) The Town Mayor implied that the Town would consider lowering the BPOL for FY15 if the Boundary Line Adjustment Area (BLA) produced more than the budgeted $500,000 in additional revenues. 3) The BLA is projected to produce over $900,000 in FY14. 4) The Town had a surplus of over $800,000 in 2013 and over $320,000 in 2012. 5) The local economy faces challenges such as the negative ripple effect of reduction in forces and a $2,000,000 budget loss at the largest private employer in the Town due to lost Medicaid revenues to the Culpeper Regional Health System. 6) All of this added up begs the question - when will we say enough? The only response from Finance Committee Chairman - Councilman Billy Yowell was “so noted”.

We want our Town to be financially sound. We are proud that the Town finances appear to be in good shape. After my comments, I remained to listen to the councilman and department heads review the budget. When it was all said and done - the committee had found over $1,000,000 in savings. However, there was no evidence that this Town Council would reduce BPOL. Will this Town Council continue to impose an unfair tax, especially given the surpluses and savings? Have we allowed a culture of entitlement? When I see Town employees with special parking passes taking prime visitor parking spaces all day downtown, I wonder.

We cannot afford to choke the vitality of our business community with passive deference to the Town Budget and tax policy. Contact our Councilmen to phase out the unfair BPOL tax in this budget by a minimum of 20% - $200,000 and allow the businesses to keep their money to reinvest in their business. Register for the Candidates Forum Breakfast on April 9 at www.CulpeperChamber.com to hear about the issues from the candidates in order to be an informed voter. Most importantly, encourage your business friends and associates to vote on May 6th.