Minutes 12/17/1968 - Laserfiche WebLink

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28; 68-441 - The following letter from the Lord Mayer of Portsmouth, England was read: "I was very pleased to receive your letter refezrimg to the receipt of the copies of our early Charters, sent to you by my predecessor Councillor Major D. D. Conners. We are always delighted to hear n~s of our nmmesa¢~ in the United States, and particular~ of the City of Portsmouth,Virginia, which has such a close association wi~h our ewl~ C~ty. I am sending under separate cover some books concerning Portsmouth ~o tbmt your citizens may learn some- thing of our life here in England. With every good wish to you and your collegues, and to the c~tizens- of Portsmouth." Motion of Mr. King that the letter be acknowledged and that the Mayor forward books which would be of interest, containing history of Portsmouth, Virginia, was adopted,wl'tBoutf~dlssentlng vote. 68-~42 - The following letter from Dr. Carlton A. Sears was read: "I am ~riting to request that a short Period - about 15 minutes - be allotted to the Churchland Area Civic League ~o present a statement to the ~ouncil at your meeting scheduled for December 17. The statement will be presented by me and Dr~ John ~. ~tollowell. ~.~e have been asked byour g~oup to appear before you to outline briefly our actions as a citric group and our desire to work constructively for the development of the city of Portsmouth. Dr. Hollowell's statement will relate to conclusion reached by his task force relative to a study of recent tax assessments, lye believe t~at these statements will be useful to the Council and will provide a continuing basis to draw the newly annexed area more constructively into the activities of the city of Portsmouth. Your co-operation in this matter will be very much appreciated." On motion of Mr. Holley, rules were su~pended to hear interested persons. Dr. Sears and Dr. Hollowell spoke and presented the following: "The members of the Churchland kTea Civic League representing citizens of the newly annexed area of Portsmouth appear before the City Council of Portsmouth to make a special appeal. Our group .%%ppears before you, our elected representativgs, as a group of civic minded citizens whose primary concern is the orderly growth and improvement of our city. Many of us worked actively toward having our area annexed by the City of Portsmouth. We are proud of this city's historic past; we are excited about its recent program of improvement; we are concerned abOut certain threats to its continued progress. We appear not only to register a protest but to offer constructive criticism of recent changes in the real estate tax structure of this city. ~e are keenly aware that Portsmouth has become a large city heavily weighted with indigent pOpulatiOn and with an ever increaslng burden of financial obligations. We share with you deep concern over the relative lack of an industrial tax base. We share with you the full realization that a relatively high tax ratio of 75%, coupled with a tax rate of $2.25 per hundred dollars of assessed value, places us in the unenviable pOSition of being among the thre~ areas of highest taxation in the state. These are facts we must all accept. Not acceptable to citizens of the newly annexed area is the recent real estate appraisal in our area of ~he ci-~at t~e ~ighest possible inflated ?.ate o~ftoday's market, while other areas of the city ar~ appraised y a substantially lower standard. A recent study by a ta~ committee of our civic league has made careful comparison of property Spain the newly annexed area with comparable properties in 'other areas of the city and startling inequities have been uncovered. In its most recent (1967) report the State Department of Taxation reported that Portsmouth property sold in the previous year was assessed at only 66.1% of market value This figure is based ~on actual sales as reported to the state by the city. It is assumed ~hat the majority of these property sales were---~6-~areas of high property turnover. In other more sta~le areas of the city where relatively little property has been placed on the market our committee has found a much greater discrepancy between assessment and apparent marke~ value. We protest vigorously the imposition of a grea~er tax burden on any one group of citizens in the city. Our committee is armed with a portfolio of individual case~illustra- ting tax inequities, but we prefer offering this information in private session, if the Council desires. The Equalization Board has been appointed by law to evaluate specific individual inequity claims. We are confident that the Equalization Board is ~erforming in an unbiased and objective manner in its attempt' to, deal fairly with the deluge of complaints it r~cently has receivid. There are many citizens, however, who will not submit their case to the Board for a number reasons. Among these reasons is a natural reluctance-of some citizens to appear in any "court-like" atmosphere. There is in some cases a lack of understanding of the mechanism and procedure of appeal, or,' as has been expressed to us so many times, "it is futile to attempt to resist an established system".These citizens ~itl live with their doubts, however, and a dissatisfied unpro- ductive group of basically competent people resMlts. ~e fear that many of these people who would otherwise a contribution to make to our city will be forced out of Portsmouth ~y unfair and inequitable taxation. We invite your attention to this matter and request thatan adjustment be made to bring about a more equi- table tax distribution to all areas of the city. Another major concern of our group lies in the terrifying dilemma that has suddenly been thrust ugon the farmers of the Churehland area. Portsmouth is primarily an urban city singularly fortunate in having ~ wealth of hundreds of acreas of "undeveloped" farm land. This land--generations has been in active farm use, and until this day it is still being farmed. The;recent capricious evaluation of this vast area as "residential land" has imposed a tax h~_.~den which will make the continued usage Of this land for farming purposes ecunomicall unfeasible. As recently assessed, these extensive areas can no longer be retained by owners and economic necessity will force the landholders to place tbs properties on open market. The inevitable.result of this "flooding of the---~ket" will be the disorderly develooment of so-called "low cost" housing with consequential increased dem~uds ~ t~e city for educational and other municipal services. This kind of low cost and tran- sient housing provides a poor future tax base. tt will be property that will not "Day its own way". U~timatel this property will deteriorate into the blight and squalor that we are striving so ~esperately to overcome teds The Churchland Area Civic League has been incommunication with the Virginia FarmBureau Federation. This