County Proposes 9-Cent Real Estate Tax Hike

In the 2007-08 fiscal year Halifax County is facing a projected $6.67 million deficit, according to County Administrator Bryan Foster.
“If this deficit were to be eliminated solely by increasing the real estate tax,” Foster wrote supervisors, “the rate would need to be increased by 20.5 cents to a new rate of 61.5 cents per $100 of assessed value.
“This is a 50 percent increase in the tax rate,” Foster writes. “An increase that I do not believe would be supported by the Board.”
So, Foster is proposing a mixture of spending and tax changes to balance the county’s 2007-08 budget.
“In order to balance the budget,” Foster writes, “I am recommending the following: increase the real estate tax rate by nine cents; use $1.5 million of the unrestricted fund balance; use $650,000 of interest on the VPSA bonds towards the school debt service; no additional local dollars for school system operation and additional selective budget cuts to keep operating increases to a minimum.”
The nine-cent real estate tax increase would still keep Halifax in line with the tax rates in surrounding counties, according to Foster.
Halifax’s rate is currently 41 cents per $100 and would jump to 50 cents if the proposed nine-cent tax increase were enacted.
In surrounding counties, the real estate tax rates are 52 cents in Campbell County, 62 cents in Charlotte County and 48 cents in Pittsylvania County, according to Foster. Only Mecklenburg County is significantly lower at 39 cents.
According to Foster, there are several reasons why the county is facing such a large deficit this fiscal year.
He cites a $2 million increase in the school system’s debt service, a $1.2 million funding increase request from the school system for its operating budget, a $325,000 increase for the Halifax Regional Jail per diems and a $400,000 social services/CSA funding increase.
In addition to the increases there are several new expenses facing the county as well, Foster writes.
The county will have to budget $400,000 for tip fees at the new regional landfill and $250,000 for transportation costs to the landfill, find $178,000 to cover the Regional Jail’s 2007 deficit, provide $150,000 for a fueling project at William Tuck Airport and budget $639,700 for other capital projects, according to Foster.
Foster writes that the school system, at 59 percent, is the biggest piece of the county’s budget.
“FY 2008 is the first budget that will see the full effect of the school debt service on the budget - $5.1 million annually,” Foster writes, noting that the school system is seeking a 9.57 percent increase in local funding for operating costs.
Foster asks why with five elementary schools being folded into two there is no reduction in the school system’s staff.
“Considering the fact the system will operate three fewer elementary school facilities and the total number of students within the entire system is not increasing, it is not clear why there would not be a reduction in the number of school system personnel,” Foster writes.
The county is also facing several challenges on the revenue side of the budget, according to Foster.
The sales ratio for public service corporations in the county was calculated at 87.7 percent for 2007 by the state Department of Taxation, which is a decrease of .6 percent from last year, according to Foster.
That is expected to cost the county $576,754 in lost revenue, according to budget projections.
“The county must identify why the sales ratio calculation is so low and determine what measures are within its control that can be changed in order to achieve a higher sales ratio calculation,” Foster writes supervisors.
Also, the initial payments from the state for the modified, uniform telecommunications tax are 20 percent less than expected, according to Foster.
“Other localities are being similarly affected,” Foster writes. “This may be another revenue deficit area for which supplements will need to be made.”
Of the proposed real estate tax hike Foster writes, “Halifax County has historically had one of the lowest real estate tax rates in the Commonwealth.
“On one hand, this is a source of pride,” he said. “On the other, it is extremely limiting in our ability to do all the things we need to do and all the things the citizens want us to do.”
The Board is expected to set public hearing dates on the proposed 2007-08 budget during its monthly meeting tonight in Halifax.

Founders College Purchases Berry Hill For $10.7 Million

Founders Land Company, LLC has purchased Berry Hill Plantation from Berry Hill Hotel Associates, LLC for $10,700,000, according to a deed filed at the Halifax County Courthouse Friday.
Another arm of the Founders College group, doing business as Founders College Development, LLC, also purchased property adjacent to Berry Hill, owned by Eva M. Harris, for $2,100,000, according to the deed.
A deed of trust was also filed at the courthouse for each property acquisition listing Founders Land SPE, LLC as the beneficiary for a principle amount of $21,400,000 for Berry Hill.
Eva Harris is listed as the grantor in the Harris property deed of trust for a principle amount of $1,365,000, according to court documents.
Founders College Development CEO Tamara Fuller said that Founders College is proceeding as scheduled.
“We’re right on course,” Fuller said Friday. “It will take a lot of work, but we will achieve our goal.”
Fuller said there were two points she wanted to stress as the project moves forward.
Firstly, that even though the college had purchased Berry Hill, the Inn would continue to function and be open to the public.
“We continue to welcome visitors from far and wide and want the people of Halifax County to continue to come and see us,” she said.
Secondly, she added, she wanted people to understand that this was a complex transaction and she was grateful for the public support shown for the college.
“The people of South Boston who supported us really stepped up in a way that is greatly appreciated,” Fuller said., “ and unforgettable.”
Fuller said she sees this as a time for celebration for Founders College, Berry Hill and the people of Halifax County.
“We’re going to be hiring and announcing our world-class faculty,” Fuller said is the college’s next step. “We’re also going to be greatly improving elements of the product and service at the Inn.
“We’ve already begun doing that,” Fuller explained, noting a new general manager and executive chef have been hired at the property.
“You can come and get a sense of the improvements,” Fuller said.

Obituaries

Myrtle Sanders Hope
Myrtle Sanders Hope, 83, of Chase City died May 3, 2007. She was a member of Friendship United Methodist Church where she had served on numerous committees.
Mrs. Hope was the widow of Russell Hope Sr. and is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Vickie and James Lawson; son and daughter-in-law, Russell and Jane Hope, all of Chase City; her sisters, Jenette Allgood of Baskerville, and Ruby Lenhart and husband, James, of Chase City; grandchildren, Susan Lellott and husband, Bill, of Chase City, Kimberly Scott and fiance’, Steve Conner Jr., of Lunenburg, Sherry Woods and husband, Brian, of Chase City, Kevin Carter and wife, Stephanie, of Chase City; and her great-grandchildren, Adam Huot, Kaitlyn Huot, Tyler Woods, Alexander Woods, and Samantha Carter.
Graveside services for Mrs. Hope were held at 2 p.m. May 5, at Woodland Cemetery with the Rev. Patricia Neilsen officiating.
Those wishing to give memorials are asked to consider Mecklenburg County Cancer Association, c/o Wendell Watterson, 3420 Scotts Crossroads, Chase City, 23924, or the American Cancer Society, 4240 Park Place Court, Glen Allen, 23060.
Condolences may be expressed to the family at www.woodfuneralservice.com
Sandra Johnson Rumbaugh
A funeral for Sandra Johnson Rumbaugh will be held today, May 7, at 2 p.m. at Powell Funeral Home Chapel, with the Rev. Maxine Crenshaw conducting the service.
Burial will follow in the Union United Methodist Church Cemetery.
Mrs. Rumbaugh, of Union Church Rd., died Thursday, May 3, at The Woodview.
She was born in Halifax County June 17, 1943, the daughter of the late Elijah Randolph “Pete” Johnson and Elizabeth Osborne Johnson, and was 63 years of age at the time of her death.
Mrs. Rumbaugh was retired as a registered nurse with Halifax Regional Hospital and was a member of Union United Methodist Church.
Mrs. Sandra Johnson Rumbaugh is survived by her mother, Elizabeth Osborne Johnson of South Boston; one son, Randy Allen Rumbaugh and wife, Jeanne of Halifax; one daughter, Elizabeth Rumbaugh Bennett and husband George of Suffolk; and two grandchildren, Elijah Allen Bennett of Suffolk and Abigail Grace Rumbaugh of Halifax.
The family will receive friends at the home, 4211 Union Church Rd., in South Boston.
Those wishing to give memorials are asked to consider the American Diabetes Association, 530 E. Main St., Suite 200, Richmond, Va., 23219, or the American Heart Association, 4217 Park Place Court, Glen Allen, Va., 23060.
William Thomas Rudd
A funeral for William Thomas Rudd will be held today, May 7, at 3 p.m. at First Baptist Church of Republican Grove, with the Rev. Shelton Miles conducting the service.
The family will receive friends in the church fellowship hall following the service.
Mr. Rudd, of Lauda Drive in Mt. Pleasant, S.C. and formerly of Nathalie, died Thursday at his home at the age of 30.
He was born in South Boston December 5, 1976, the son of the late John Clinton Rudd Sr. and Martha Rickman Rudd.
Mr. Rudd was of the Christian faith and was a property manager.
William Thomas Rudd is survived by one brother, John C. Rudd Jr. and wife Lisa of Blacksburg; two sisters, Deborah R. DeJarnette and husband LeRoy of Nathalie and Lisa R. Loudon and husband James of Verona, N.J.; six nieces and nephews, Michael DeJarnette, Shania DeJarnette, Jimmy Loudon, Jessica Loudon, Jacquelyn Loudon and Julia Loudon; two aunts, Joanne Rudd of Nathalie and Mary Virginia Wyatt of Gretna; and a special friend, Lindsay Laughnan of Clemson, S.C.
Memorials may be made to the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund, University Development (0336), Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va., 24061 or your local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

In A Hole

By Joe Chandler
Sports Editor
Dreams that the Halifax County High School varsity baseball team may have had in landing the regular-season Western Valley District title and the district’s top seed for the Northwest Region Tournament are now pretty much just that.
The Comets’ hopes of taking the regular-season crown took a huge hit Friday night in a tough 3-2 loss to E.C. Glass in Lynchburg.
With the loss, the Comets dropped to 10-6 overall and 3-2 in district play and fell into a tie for second place with Franklin County, two games behind district leader GW.
“This definitely puts us in a hole in terms of the district race,” noted Comets head coach Kelvin Davis.
“If you look at both of the district losses that we have had, we’ve put ourselves in a bind here. That’s a hard pill to swallow because I think we should have won both games with GW and Glass and we didn’t do it. As I’ve said before, you’ve got to do it between the lines. We just didn’t do it tonight.”
The road for the Comets only gets tougher.
Halifax County will face arch-rival GW here Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at Comets Field in what will be the second meeting between the two teams. Not only will Tuesday’s game be the traditional big rivalry game, the Comets are facing a ‘must win” situation if they are going to have even the most slim of chances of staying in contention in the district title chase.
“If you look at the district race, it’s a must win for us,” Davis pointed out.
“We’ll sit down and talk about it (with the players) in detail at practice Monday. We’ve definitely got to have that game on Tuesday. Hopefully, we will get a good crowd out to support us and we can get the momentum going back our way.”
A couple of miscues here and there and an inability to come up with the clutch hits proved to be the undoing for the Comets in Friday night’s loss to the Hilltoppers.
The Comets opened the game with a leadoff double from Tony Barbour and a walk to Billy Joe Garrett but could scrape up only one run after its first two batters reached base.
E.C. Glass tied the game on a solo homer by Lucas Signor with one out in the bottom of the second inning only to have the Comets scratch up a run in the top of the third inning to take a 2-1 lead.
For the second time in three innings, the Comets got their two leadoff batters, Barbour and Garrett, on the base but could only plate one run.
Barbour walked to start the inning and moved to second base on a hit by Garrett. A double steal allowed both runners to move up into scoring position. Barbour scored on a sacrifice fly to right field by Justin Bagbey with Garrett moving to third base. For the second time, Garrett was stranded.
Two hits in the bottom of the fourth inning, the second a run-scoring single from pitcher Joe Dupree, allowed Glass to deadlock the game at 2-2.
Glass took the lead at 3-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning with a leadoff single from Billy Burnett who scored later on a one-out hit from Signor.
The Comets had the top of their batting order up in the top of the seventh inning. Barbour walked to start the inning and Garrett popped up to the shortstop for the first out. Glass erased Barbour when he was caught up in a base-running miscue and Bagbey was retired by the Hilltoppers to end the game.
In all, Halifax County had two runners on the sacks in each of the first five innings.
Davis said base-running miscues hurt.
“I thought a couple of decisions that we didn’t make as far as base running hurt us,” Davis said.
“We let a couple of cases get by in the first inning. We got the first two guys on (base) and only scored one run.”
The team’s inability to get the key hits at key times also hurt, Davis said.
“It was one of those games where we couldn’t get the key hits,” he noted.
“We had men on base a couple of times and had the right men out there to deliver it but just couldn’t get it done. On the flip side of that, E.C. Glass got men on and they delivered some big base hits in clutch situations.”
The Comets had five hits in the game, one each from Barbour, Garrett, Allen Stephens, Jacobs and Patrick Currie.
Jacobs, the Comets’ starting pitcher, struck out two batters, walked two batters and gave up seven hits in his five and a third innings of work.
Kyle Long came to the mound in relief of Jacobs after the Hilltoppers had tagged Jacobs for three hits and the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Long faced three batters, fanning one and yielding one walk.

Girls Soccer Falls To Glass

By Doug Ford
G-V Staff Writer
The Comets varsity girls soccer team saw its chances for a first division finish in the Western Valley District take another blow with a 3-0 loss to E.C. Glass here Friday.
The third straight setback in district play dropped the Comets to 1-4 in the Western Valley District and 8-4 overall.
Glass scored at the 10:02 and 37:42 marks of the first half to take a 2-0 halftime lead, and the score remained that way until the Hilltoppers scored their final goal with little more than three minutes remaining.
Comets goalie Leah Yosich had to contend with 26 shots on goal by Glass, coming up with 12 saves in the first half and 11 more in the second.
Melissa Smith had two shots on goal, while Mary Beale and Krystal Hooker each had one in the first half for the Comets, who finished with six shots on goal.
Glass finished with 26 shots on goal, with four corner kicks, compared to one corner kick for Halifax.
Two of the last three district contests have followed a similar pattern, according to coach Sid Young, the Comets playing a more consistent game either the first or second half.
The first game at E.C. Glass saw the Comets trail only 1-0 at halftime, but give up two second half goals in a 3-0 loss.
Against Franklin County here last Tuesday, Halifax held a 1-0 halftime lead before giving up three second half goals in a 3-1 loss.
Although the results have been equally disappointing, the effort has been consistent, Young emphasized.
“We played harder and smarter the second half tonight against Glass, and we didn’t back off like we did up there,” said Young.
“We played pretty well up there, but we tended to back off in the second half.
“I can’t fault the girls for their effort here tonight, but I do think that first goal may have deflated them a little bit,” he added.
With only one goal in its last two district contests, Young is trying different combinations on offense to create more scoring opportunities.
“That’s definitely been a focus in practice, and we’re moving some people around to get some good combinations,” he explained.
“The big game is [tomorrow] at GW, but we’ll try and do something in the other district games we have remaining.”
The game at GW is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.

Lions Start Defense Of Baseball, Softball Crowns

By Doug Ford
G-V Staff Writer
The Halifax County Middle School baseball and softball teams both seek to keep long-running championship streaks alive here today in the first round of the Southside Middle School Tournament.
The Lions baseball team, number one seed in the East Division, takes on West second seed Central of Charlotte County at 5 p.m., while the Lions softball team, one seed in the East, takes on two seed Central of Charlotte County, also at 5 p.m.
Unbeaten Lunenburg is the one seeded baseball team in the West, while Powhatan is the top seeded softball team in that division.
Both the Lions baseball and softball teams will advance Wednesday to the championship game at the home of the West one seeded teams, if Lunenburg and Powhatan win their semifinal games.
The Lions baseball team, under first-year head coach Mike Priest and assistant Jody Nelson, has compiled a 14-1 record thus far this season, the only blemish a loss to Franklin County in the finals of the Halifax County Middle School Invitational Tournament in late March.
Since that 12-2 loss, the Lions have strung together 12 straight wins, entering the tournament on a high note after a 13-0 pasting of Park View.
Six pitchers have seen mound time at various points of the year for the Lions baseball team, including Tyler Long, Dylan Sons, Aron Puryear, Ryan Puryear, William Worley and Charles Beale.
Halifax has developed offensive and defensive depth throughout its lineup, along with a solid pitching rotation as the year has progressed, and will use that depth in a quest for a 11th straight tournament championship.
Lady Lions Look For Ninth Straight Title
The Halifax County Middle School softball team will take an 11-0 record and a 120-game winning streak into today’s game with Central.
Included in that win total was a 18-3 rout of Park View to end the regular season, and the Lady Lions, much like their baseball counterparts, have turned up the offense as the spring has warmed up.
Halifax, coached by James Smith and Bonnie Bowen, has relied on power and speed, in addition to a deep pitching rotation to reach this point, with Jennifer Lacks, Jill Trickey, Sam Gibson, Melissa Blanks, Kelsey White and Dalyn Hall seeing time on the mound this season.
A win in the semifinals here today will potentially result in a rematch of the Halifax County Middle School Invitational Tournament title game, where the Lions defeated Powhatan 10-1.