Minutes 04/16/1941 - Laserfiche WebLink

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312 m~uy instances to ts~e a severe loss on merchandise which we have To sell at or below cost order to clear our stcck~ of unsaleable goods. Bet~ Mero~sing tod~y requires a far more intelligent knowledge of its business in ordure ~ to succeed~ ~hen in p~st years. They are faced with a constantly grog_nE out~ide co~petition from their sister 0ity of ~olk wries8 merchant,s in m~y ~cases ~ell more merchandise in Portsmouth t~m some ~ · ~ , paying any part of the cost of operation of our of our own merchants, and they do this without City GoVernment-During the past ~w~lve months~ the Retail ~erchanrs in order to giv~ the ole of porCsmout-h larger ~d better stores ~ith s~l~ stocks~ ~ve Luvested thousands of ~ar~ in e~!argi~ ~d implying their places of business. , Th~s has resulted in increased re~ estate values of ~oroximately one-naif - - ~- ~' was comolsted last milton dollars. In ad~_tion to this, much private construction of homes year, and already this year many more homes are being built. The iacreased income to the City~ based on a fair assessment valuation of thos~ o d income of the Oz~ many thouss~d of ~llars, improvements, ~,~111 ~_d. to ~e . "- Increase , Then also, rents Nave been greatly d in many cases as muck as 50% ~o 75% and this increase in rentals will br%ng ~o tke Oily a large increase in !ioense t~es ed on the old ~te. A n~ber of new stores ~ve oeen ooened this year whi~will also increase the ~ount to ~ the inc~ase of number of automobiles in the czty t~s year, prooaozy increased ~er=~vad from nicenses. Automobile ~icense receipts will also be very. ~reatl~ ing as much as $25,000-OO addition~. Our citizens are in better financial condition this year to~av~ their rea! estate rexes th~ they ~.ve been~w~fOrin~nYos, stYearS.years.The City wi!! receive f~m tP~s source this year many thoussmxd dollars more~=~u The travel over the ferries betwe~ N~zo=k ariS- Portsmouth has grotm tremen~ dously, end' it is estimated that the City will derive an increased income from this source close to seventy-five thousand dollars, this year. All of these various ~ounts am~ed toge he will a~regate one hundred and fi we believe to be fifty t~ousanm dollars or more than the total for last year. ~ese ~res conservative, ~d ~y be even larger. '~i%, as meteorite, are well aware of the need of ~he City for more revenue, and we are ready tc do ou~ part. The facts as shown ~bove clearly p~ve that the R e~il Merchants of Ports - mouth ar~.already contributing to their s~re of the' ~ount estimated to be required this year by the C_~y ~vernment. It may appear to t.he members of the City Council t~t a slight in - crease at t~s time in our license t~es, ~ould not be objected to by the merob~ts, ~t this increase is objected ~. Tk~s increase together with many other increased e~enses ~d incidentals a! - together make up a considerable sum, which added to our overhead operatio~ of our businesse's, makes the ~fference between p~o~t ~d loss. We believe that we have already shown you members of the Oity Council that we ~e more ~a~ justified in reque~sting ~s.t y~ rescind your action of last week, a~d restore the fo~er rate which has proven so satisfactory in the pas~ to al! parties concerned, end we are further convinced t~.t under the oresent p~sperous conO~tions will produce sufficient additional revenue v~thout placing a~ added burden on our Portsmouth meroh~ts. Recapitu!atipn Mor~ than one-half million dollars in improvements caused by new store buildines 3oroducing more real e state tax. money 50~ to ~5~increase in rents, producing more income from licenses New private buildings pro:ducing more real e state taxes Large increase in automobile licenses Large increase in payment this year of real estate taxes due to more prosperous financial conditions Very large increase in the income fr~m the ferries We trust ttmt you will grant our request to continue the former method of Respectfully .submitted John A. Morris~ Chairman., Retail Merchants ASsociation Committee." Mr. Wray Morse also supported 1,~r. Y~rris~ request. Motion of Mr. Grimes to place the following ordinance on its first reading: "AN ORDINANCE TO A~iEND AI~ RE-ORDA~IN-SECTION 56 OF AN oRDINanCE IMPOSING A LICENSE TAX FOR ~HE CITY OF PORTSMOUTH, VIRGINIA, FOR THE y~A~BEGINNINGNAY !st~ t9~I~" ~ and that a committee be appointed to co nfer~with a committee from the Retail Merchants Asso- ciation, in reference to same~ was adopted. On motion of Mr. Fox~ unanimous consent was granted to t~e up the License Tax on motion pictures. Privilege of the floor was granted Mr. Wilder, who asked tP~t the license tax-on motion pictures be m~de the same as last year~ Motion of Mr. Fox to place the following ordinance on its first reading: