Members of the Finance Committee of the Halifax County Board of Supervisors have delayed making a recommendation on whether to include the $30.1 million elementary school facilities bond referendum on November's ballot.
The Monday night committee meeting was attended by a well-known bond expert from Richmond who provided insight into the funding process. However, no recommendations are expected until another meeting of the Finance Committee prior to the regular monthly meeting of the board on August 3, county officials said.
Alan Gravitt, Chairman of the Halifax County School Board, attended Monday night's meeting of the committee, which was also attended by Tina K. Neal, a senior vice president of Ferris, Baker Watts, Inc., an Richmond investment firm.
The public school system is seeking the inclusion of a $30.1 million general obligation bond for the November 3 ballot. If approved, the funds would be used to renovate and consolidate the 15 elementary schools within the county's public school system.
In order for bond issue to be put on the ballot, approval must be given by the board of supervisors, which then has to have a circuit court judge give the final order.
The school board earlier proposed a total package of $35,935,099 for the project, but pared that down to $30,133,923 in later sessions. Of that amount, $1,144,000 is earmarked for creating a dual transportation system which would end the practice of having high school and middle school students riding on the same buses with elementary school students.
Gravitt reminded the board of supervisors during an earlier meeting that most of the schools in the county are from 30 to 80 years old. He also presented projections that the effort would save the county $200,000 the first year of implementation; $100,000 the second year; and $500,000 a year for the remaining 18 years of the bond.
School officials hope the bonds will be backed by $20 million from the state's Literary Fund at a three percent rate and a $10 million loan from the Virginia Public School Authority at a two percent rate.
However, as the overall financial issues are being more closely scrutinized, the viability of the project, as well as its backers' projections are coming into question.
One looming issue that is quickly coming on the horizon can be summed up in one word: ODEC.
In a complicated formula that the Commonwealth of Virginia uses to determine the amount of local funding that a county must provide its public school system, ODEC's assessed value will play a major role in the fiscal year 2001-02, according to Halifax County Administrator Dan M. Sleeper.
For the past several years, the $1.2 billion assessed value of the power plant in Clover has not been included in the county's total assessed value. Excluding the power plant, the remainder of the county's assessed property value is approximately $1.4 billion.
Haifax County was essentially given a five-year "bye" on adding ODEC's assessment to the formula, which has kept the county's local funding requirements to a level of 23.4 percent of the school board's budget, Sleeper explained.
If the ODEC assessment was included now, the county's local spending for the school system would be set at a rate of almost 31 percent, Sleeper said.
"Basically, what all this means is that in the year 2001-02, the taxpayers of the county are going to have to pay an additional $2 million a year than the amount they're paying now for the school system," Sleeper said. "That's not counting any other bond issues that may pass, or any additional needs of the school system."
In the fiscal school year 1997-98, local funding of $9,723,126 was spent on the $38,127,845 school budget. In the fiscal year 1998-99, that figure is $9,820,357 of the school system's budget of $39,863,070.
Currently, the county is paying total annual debt service of $719,820. Meanwhile, the school system is paying a current annual debt service of $582,847, officials said.
If the $30.1 million bond issue passes, the county will be paying an additional annual debt service of $2 million, or a total of about $2.7 million, Sleeper estimated.
Two factors may increase that figure further, he pointed out. "Ms. Neal, who is one of the top bond experts on the East Coast, estimates that the real estate tax rate will need to be increased to 20 cents per $100, rather than the 16 cents estimated by school officials," Sleeper said.
The other factor is the $1.75 million bond issue for the Continuing Education Center expansion which has already been approved to go before the voters on November's ballot. If passed, the CEC project will cause the real estate tax rate to increase by three cents per $100 of assessed value, Sleeper estimated.
Mandated and other inevitable expenses will face the county in the future, which also have to be considered, Sleeper added.
They include funding for capital improvements that will be needed for new industrial parks, county buildings, renovations at the airport and the landfill, he explained.
Future revenue problems also factor into the overall equation. "Over the next 20 years, who knows what kind of revenue the county will receive from tobacco?" Sleeper said. The county has also lost $600,000 per year in sales taxes to South Boston which occurred after the recent boundary adjustment, he added.
"I think the Finance Committee and the board or supervisors are doing the right thing in studying this issue in such depth," Sleeper reflected. "There are many sides to this request and it will certainly have long range implications for us all."
The $30.1 million school facilities bond issue is so complicated that the Finance Committee of the Halifax County Board of Supervisors brought in expert advice from the Richmond investment banking firm of Ferris, Baker, Watts, Inc. during their Monday night meeting.
Meanwhile, the property-owning citizen - who will bear the brunt of the project's cost - has also expressed concern about the financial complications and impact the bond would have on them, individually.
Using $100,000 in assessed values, the following changes would be facing the land owner if the facilities bond passed:
Landowners will have a real estate tax increase rate of about 52 percent if they live in the county and about 31 percent if they live within the Town of South Boston over the first two years of the bond.
(This doesn't include an estimated three cents per $100 of assessed value if an earlier referendum for the CEC expansion project passes in November.)
For the first two years of the 20-year life of the school facilities bond, the real estate tax rate in Halifax County would have to be increased from 31 cents per $100 of assessed value to 47 cents per $100.
Residents of South Boston would have their real estate tax rate increased from 52 cents per $100 of assessed value to 68 cents per $100.
For a county landowner with property assessed at $100,000, he or she is currently paying $310 a year in real estate taxes. If the bond passes, the owner would pay $470.
A property owner with $100,000 in assessed value in the town limits of South Boston is currently paying $520 per year in real estate tax. That tax bill would increase to $680.
A person with a $200,000 home or farm in the county would be facing a real estate tax bill of $940; while a person with a $200,000 home in the Town of South Boston would be facing a tax bill of $1,360.
According to estimates from Tina K. Neal, a senior vice-president of Ferris, Baker Watts, the needed real estate tax rate increase would lower from 16 cents per $100 in the second year to 12 cents per $100 in the third year.
As the principal of the loan would be cut into as the bond ages, the increase rates would drop to 11 cents in the fourth year; nine cents in the fifth year; and down a penny or two a year until it is one cent per year in the 19th year and zero in the final year, according to her projections.
However, County Administrator Dan Sleeper expressed concern about projected lowered rates. "When in the past have you seen rates go down, rather than operational expenses going up?" Sleeper point out.
"It's very difficult to say, now in 1998, that this issue will save the school system $500,000 a year in say, the year 2016," Sleeper added. "There's just to many other factors involved that ultimately have to be considered."
South Boston Police are continuing their investigation of a pair of traffic accidents that occurred early Monday afternoon on Route 501 in Centerville, one of which claimed the life of an elderly South Boston resident.
Eighty-five-year-old Lightfoot Boyd Fourqurean of 2909 North Main Street, South Boston, died after being struck by a van while viewing damage her auto sustained as the result of a mishap that she had been involved in moments earlier.
Fourqurean's death was the second traffic fatality of the year in South Boston. A 25-year-old South Boston resident, Timothy Leroy Miles, died at Duke University Medical Center on May 1 from injuries he sustained in a motorcycle crash that occurred April 29 in the 2100 block of College Street.
South Boston Police Chief Jim Hall said yesterday that prior to Miles' death this spring, the Town of South Boston had gone more than 20 years without a highway traffic fatality.
South Boston Police reported that in the first of the two Monday accidents, Fourqurean, driving a 1984 model car, had exited from the south entrance to the Halifax Square Shopping Center and was attempting to make a left turn to head north on Halifax Road. Her vehicle was clipped in the rear by a 1991 model Blazer driven by 54-year-old Christine Chaney Fensterer of Halifax.
Minor damage was done to both vehicles as a result of that mishap. Fourqurean stopped in the right lane of the two lanes heading north on Halifax Road and, according to reports, got out of her car to view the damage from the mishap.
The second accident occurred when a 1993 model van driven by Christal Lee Woicikowfski, 34, of Halifax struck Fourqurean's car and Mrs. Fourqurean who was near the rear of the vehicle.
Mrs. Fourqurean died at the scene of the accident.
South Boston Police Officer Todd Gordon, the investigating officer, has not filed any charges in connection with the accident.
The van driven by Woicikowfski, which received damage to the front and passenger side of the vehicle, sustained an estimated $3,500 damage.
An estimated $3,000 damage was done to the Fourqurean auto which received damage to the rear, quarterpanel, and rear driver's side door.
The mishaps created a lengthy traffic jam along the Route 501 corridor in Centerville. Chief Jim Hall and Lt. H.B. Rice routed northbound Route 501 traffic into one of the two southbound Route 501 lanes for about an hour and a half while police officers conducted their investigation of the accident and wreckers removed the vehicles.
South Boston Police Officer Todd Gordon was the investigating officer. Officers Stuart Comer and Craig Spencer along with Halifax County Sheriff Jeff Oakes and Sheriff's Department Investigator J.R. Hicks assisted during the investigation.
The South Boston Flue-Cured Tobacco Market will open Tuesday with 8 a.m. ceremonies at Planters Warehouse on Wilborn Avenue.
Veteran broadcaster Ray Wilkinson will be the featured speaker.
The 1998 marketing season will officially begin with first sales starting after opening ceremonies.
A past president of the National Association of Farm Broadcasters, Wilkinson is a member of the United States Chamber of Commerce Food and Agriculture Committee and was a United States delegate to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Conference in Rome.
He has produced movies, radio and television programs from the former Soviet Union, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia.
His radio programs on agriculture are heard daily in six southeastern states and his television programs are aired daily in Raleigh and on special occasions in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.
Wilkinson was inducted into the National Association of Farm Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 1996 , was inducted into the North Carolina Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 1990 and was named Agricultural Communicator of the Year from the National AgriMarketing Association in 1991.
Wilkinson is Vice President Emeritus of Capitol Broadcasting Company in Raleigh where his programs aired on WRAL-TV, the North Carolina News Network and various agricultural commodity networks.
He and his wife, Emmy Lou, have three sons, four grandsons and one granddaughter.
By TODD LEWAN
AP National Writer
NEW YORK (AP) - Legal officials from nine states resumed talks with major cigarette makers Monday in a bid to reach a national settlement that would have Big Tobacco cover the costs of treating sick smokers in return for an end to state lawsuits.
Details of the discussions were being kept confidential, but sources close to the talks say public health concerns and curbs on teen smoking are the primary focus of the negotiations - and the biggest hurdle to an agreement.
''Money is not the issue ... the sticky issue is marketing restrictions,'' said Gary Black of the investment firm Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., who disclosed several weeks ago that direct negotiations for a national settlement would be renewed.
The industry appears willing to commit to bans on billboard advertising, sponsorships, branded merchandise, transit signs and tobacco ad placements in movies. The states want more, including strict controls on tobacco marketing in convenience stores, bans on ads in magazines with high youth readership and special gift premiums to smokers who stick with the same cigarette brand.
Black believes the industry will eventually ''give in to many of the attorneys general's marketing demands'' to get a deal and that a final agreement is only two to three weeks away.
Scott Williams, an industry spokesman in Washington, declined to comment.
Negotiators gathered at a Manhattan law firm Monday to restart the talks, according to Amy Green, a spokeswoman for North Carolina Attorney General Mike Easley, who is attending the meeting.
North Carolina, the nation's biggest tobacco producer, is not one of the 37 states with outstanding claims against the tobacco companies. But the state is participating in the negotiations because it will benefit from any universal settlement.
In a late afternoon conference call with reporters, Easley said the first eight hours of negotiations had produced ''no finality on any issues. But we are making progress, and I think the day so far has been good.''
He declined to give any specifics, saying only that Monday's session dealt with ''non-economic'' matters. ''I think it's going to be a long time before we get to money issues,'' he added.
Other states involved the talks are California, Washington, New York, Massachusetts, Colorado, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Oklahoma. Mississippi, Minnesota, Texas and Florida have already settled their lawsuits for $36.8 billion.
Last summer, cigarette makers, states and anti-tobacco activists negotiated a deal requiring congressional approval in which the companies would have paid $368.5 billion over 25 years. In that deal, the states would have received $196.5 billion in return for dropping their lawsuits.
The money, raised in part by adding $1.10 to each pack of cigarettes over five years, would have reimbursed states for smoking-related health care costs, financed an anti-smoking ad campaign, fined the industry if the teenage smoking rates did not fall, and allowed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to regulate nicotine.
That settlement fell apart in the Senate last month when the price tag grew to $516 billion.
This time around, the industry is seeking a scaled-down version of that settlement, offering an estimated $200 billion to $240 billion to be split among the 37 states with litigation pending against the industry and the nine states that have not yet filed lawsuits.
Money for this settlement would come from a 35 cents-a-pack increase in cigarette prices. One proposal has the industry paying the first $15 to $20 billion to the states over a period of five years.
The status quo was apparently maintained Monday night when developer Worth H. Carter Jr. again appealed to the town for a permit that would let him begin development of an upscale residential subdivision in Waddell Woods.
Carter and his associates, George Shields and attorney Robert T. Vaughan Jr., were invited into an executive session with the Town Council Current Issues Committee but apparently could find no common ground.
After the executive session, South Boston Town Manager Ken McLawhon's pronouncement was that the town's attorney, Chandler A. Nelson, would continue to work with Carter's attorney, Vaughan, to try to work something out.
He cautioned that nothing was set.
Carter, Shields and Vaughan first met with Council on April 13, with Carter detailing his reasons for the position that the town should supply the development permit.
Carter, who also is president and chairman of Community National Bank, spoke at a Council open session at his request.
Council then went into executive session, after which it came back into public session to say the respective lawyers had been asked to prepare a report for presentation July 27.
If the report was on the table at the committee meeting, it was during the executive session.
Besides the Waddell Woods matter, there was little business for the two Council committees to occupy themselves with Monday night.
One item of interest for the Current Issues Committee was a proposed agreement with Main Street United Methodist Church on demolition of the former South Boston Historical Museum just up North Main from the church.
This was delayed, however, while a check on environmental concerns is performed.
The Finance Committee, with only two items on its agenda, sent both along to the full Council for consideration at its next meeting.
The committee will recommend refinancing the town's Virginia Retirement System Debt, and charging off uncollectible water and sewer bills.
In keeping with the newly adopted change in meeting dates, the next regular meeting of Town Council will take place on the second Monday night in August, August 10.
By Bruce Wilkins
Barely a block around the corner from where cheeseburgers and shakes were enjoyed in the fifties at the famed "Dairy Bar," the Sonic Drive-in rekindles images of those nostalgic years.
But with a twist: roller skates!
"People tell me I wasn't even born when they used to go to drive-ins like this," commented Marsha Pulliam, a skating "car hop" at the hot, new theme restaurant which opened on July 14.
"But I just love the skating!" she added with a big, All-American smile. "When we come up to a car with an order, little kids grin real big and older folks have this look like they've just gone back in time."
As if walking - or rather skating - straight from the set of American Graffiti - Pulliam and her co-workers are a major part of the Sonic Drive-in chain's growing success.
The local restaurant, on Rt. 129 near the intersection with U.S. 501, is owned by Ramona Hubbard and Mel Estep, two veterans of the food service industry who have found what they consider their dream occupations.
There are about 1,900 Sonic Drive-ins across the country, with that figure expected to reach 2,000 by the year 2000, Estep said. The local Sonic currently employs 42 people, he added.
"Sure, the goal is to make a profit, which is true in any business," reflected Estep. "But the biggest part of working at the Sonic is that we all love to have fun."
Hubbard agreed. "I've worked in other chain restaurants and simply put, there's nothing like working here," she said. "The nature of most of the employees constantly zooming around on skates, surrounded at night with a lot of neon lighting...it's just exciting!"
But aside of hamburgers which are made fresh to order and a refusal to use microwave ovens, the main allure of the Sonic Drive-in is its car hops.
"There was no trouble at all in finding people here for the car hop job," Hubbard pointed out. "It's something different and exciting and I think they get just as big a kick out of it as our customers do."
Being able to skate is a definite prerequisite of the job. "If someone comes in here wanting to be a car hop but can't skate, well, they don't get the job," Hubbard pointed out.
Most of the car hops are female, while there are a few male car hops. They can use their own skates, but most utilize special Sonic Drive-in skates provided by the store which cost about $110, Hubbard said.
Some local citizens who have visited Sonic Drive-ins in other towns and cities for years have noticed that some of the restaurants eliminated the skating car hop concept after a few months of operation.
That notion was addressed by the local store's two owners. "I can categorically state that if you come back here one year from now, they will still be on skates," Estep, who owns five other Sonic Drive-ins in Virginia, assured.
Hubbard was even more promising to the legion of devoted Sonic fans. "As long as I'll be here, they will be on skates and I plan to be here forever!" she commented.
The only time the car hops will not use skates is during periods of inclement weather such as ice or heavy rains, Hubbard added.
Marsha Pulliam explained that becoming a Sonic car hop is not comparable to working in any other fast food restaurant. She skated as a young girl, then quit skating when she was 13 years old. Ten years later, she began skating again on the first day of her new Sonic job.
"My legs were real sore and I had blisters on my feet the first week or so, but that quickly ends," she explained. "Now, it's just natural to come to work and have skates on for a six-hour shift."
The car hops even do their other chores, such as cleaning windows, while on skates.
"Actually, the skates make the job easier," pointed out Nessa Penick, another All-American Sonic car hop with a smile as pleasing as a cold soda on a scorching day. "If we had to walk the same distance instead of skate each shift, we would really be worn out. We cover a whole lot of ground."
Technically, that would be concrete, rather than the usual asphalt seen at most fast food restaurants. "This surface is much smoother than asphalt and when they fall, they won't get scratched up like they would on asphalt," Hubbard explained.
(Hubbard, by the way, is tickled that she is is in management and doesn't have to skate. "I tried it one time and I broke an ankle!" she said.) "That's why we use concrete."
There is an element of danger to the job, though so far, no serious injuries have occurred. Pulliam did get knocked down by a van which was backing up from a space, just as she swooped by in its blind spot.
"I got hit on the hip and I went down hard," Pulliam said, noting that her pride was hurt more than anything else. Of course, the food on her tray went everywhere, but she quickly made the re-order.
The woman in the van rushed in to apologize, but Pulliam just shook it off as being part of the job.
"You really can't let something like that worry you," she explained. "If you did, you wouldn't be able to concentrate on your job, which is seeing that the customer has a great meal and a great time."
Pulliam did admit that the longer you are a car hop, the more you tend to watch vehicles' "back-up" lights.
Numerous collisions between car hops have occurred in the entrance/exit to the kitchen area which is used only by staff. "You can come around the corner straight towards the door, just as another car hop is coming out," Penick related. "Sometimes it's just hard to stop."
Another curious factor which is quickly learned by car hops is the reactions that some dogs have towards people on roller skates. "I guess they feel it's like people riding by their homes on bicycles," Pulliam reflected. "It throws some of the dogs off a bit and they will bark at you before there owners calm them down."
Other dogs however, seem to enjoy the Sonic as much as their masters. One such dog was seen Tuesday, sitting on his owner's lap, happily munching away on a corn dog.
Car hops have different styles in the way they skate. Pulliam tends to use the "stopper" more than the other car hops, according to Hubbard.
A stopper is a plastic cylinder connected to the front toe area of the skate, which allows sudden stops. "I wear out about one stopper a week," Pulliam admitted. "But I don't wear out as many wheels as the others car hops do."
Most car hops tend to twist the skates to the side, essentially using the wheels at a side angle as a means to stop.
The manner in which car hops hold food trays also is indicative of different styles and experience levels. While it is usually depends on the number of drinks or milk shakes that are being carried, one can often spot the more confident car hops by the angle in which they hold the trays.
"The newer ones will often be holding their trays out in front at waist level," Hubbard said. "But once in a while, you'll see some of the more experienced car hops holding the trays with one hand above the shoulder level."
Hubbard pointed out that the newness of the concept in South Boston will require a "little bit longer" before a large core of experienced car hops is achieved.
"I can promise that with each day, we'll be getting better and better at everything we're trying to accomplish here at the Sonic," Hubbard said. "I also promise you won't ever see me on those skates!"
Funeral services for William 'Bill' Johnson will be held Friday, July 31 at 10 a.m. at Calvary Episcopal Church in Washington, DC. Burial will take place in Quantico National Cemetery.
Viewing will be held all day today, July 29 at Community Funeral Home in Lynchburg and on Thursday, July 30 from 7 until 9 p.m. at Greene Funeral Home in Alexandria.
Condolences may be sent to William Johnson Jr., 1909 Early Street, Lynchburg, VA 24504, telephone 804-846-5889
Matthew McCargo Sr. of 615 Edmunds Street, South Boston died Sunday, July 26, 1998 at Halifax Regional Hospital at the age of 66.
Mr. McCargo was born in Halifax County on June 14, 1932 the son of Willie McCargo and Lillie Mitchell McCargo and was married to Thalia Womack McCargo. He was a member of Peaceful Tabernacle Baptist Church.
Survivors include his wife; three daughters, Minister Cathy D. McCargo, Gladys McCargo Townsend and Mamie A. McCargo, all of South Boston; five sons, Matthew McCargo Jr., Curtis R. McCargo and Alec K. McCargo, all of South Boston, Duane McCargo of Richmond and Mark A. McCargo of Chatham; nine grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; two sisters, Ella Crews of Clover and Viola Mercer of Tuckahoe, NY; two brothers, Moses McCargo Sr. of South Boston and James McCargo of Scottsburg.
Funeral services for Mr. McCargo will be held Thursday, July 30 at 2 p.m. at Peaceful Tabernacle Baptist Church with Rev. William Dixon presiding. Burial will follow in the church cemetery.
The family will receive friends at the home.