Floyd Tea Party

The Tea Party Patriots is encouraging protests outside of IRS offices to demonstrate outrage at their targeting of Tea Party, Patriot and Christian groups.  There are 2 protests planned tomorrow, one in Bristol and one in Charlottesville.  Below is the full info.  We know this is short notice, but if you are able to attend, please do.

Bristol:

Time: May 21, 2013 from 12:30pm to 2:30pm

Location: IRS Office – 2426 Lee Hwy., Bristol VA 24202

Charlottesville:

Time:  May 21, 2013 from 12:30pm – 2:30pm

Location: The First Amendment Monument – 605 East Main Street Charlottesville, VA 22902

As our trusty roving government reporter has stated on our “Government Meeting Notes” page, those in Floyd County have squeaked by without tax increases in the FY2013-2014 budget.  We can only take a small breath of relief, however, because we are due for real estate reassessment sometime soon.  The county does assessments every four to six years and the last assessment was taken in 2010, so we could be reassessed as soon as next year.  Even though, I believe, it is safe to say that there are few people who could actually sell their property for the currently assessed price, we should expect our assessments to increase.  As this would result in an increase on your real estate taxes, this can be viewed as a tax increase.  However, this is one of those cases where most citizens blindly accept what a government official says, in the case the assessor, and grumble later when the bill arrives, everyone has the right to challenge their assessment.

UPDATE:  According to Supervisor Yoder, the letter that the Board sent to the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation was ONLY a letter asking for a year extension on the ordinance and NOT the letter stating why Floyd County needed the ordinance – GOOD NEWS, but we sill have a ways to go!

Earlier this month the Floyd County Board of Supervisors did something completely unexpected; they said “NO” to Richmond.  It seems that at the end of the 2013 General Assembly session, our state legislators passed a bill, HB 2190, that forces all localities in Virginia to vote on and pass a storm water management ordinance.  Now, as strange as that sounds, it is even stranger if you read the legislation.  It states that the localities must pass an ordinance that is “more stringent” than what they are currently required to by law AND they have to send a letter to the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (VDCR) stating their intent to pass this ordinance by July 1st, 2013.  The letter must tell the Department why these more stringent actions are necessary and must include “supporting materials”.  The state provided a model storm water ordinance which is a good read in itself. In addition to the long paragraph explaining Continue reading →

Governor McDonnell has been very busy signing bills.  Here are a few of interest:

• House Bill 1765 will help prevent felons from voting in Virginia by requiring the State Board of Elections to make additional checks for felony convictions on the Central Criminal Records Exchange (CCRE).
• House Bill 1764 will help prevent people from voting simultaneously in more than one state by requiring the State Board of Elections to compare voter rolls with other cooperating states to prevent duplicate registration.
• Senate Bill 1335 law-abiding Virginians will no longer risk having their private information disclosed simply because they choose to exercise their 2nd Amendment rights
• Senate Bill 1256 will require a photo ID at voting polls.  Photo IDs will be made available, free of charge, at all registrar offices.

And importantly, the Governor has not signed the Transportation Bill, House Bill 2313.  He has amended it and sent it back to the Continue reading →

I found this story from Watchdog.org in my e-mail, forwarded to me by another liberty leader in Southwest Virginia.  It talks about $8,000,000.00 in state assets that have been “lost” in the system.  Unfortunately anyone who has, or knows someone who has, worked in the public sector, is not surprised.  It seems that these government run institutions take advantage of, what they must see as, free money.  I myself have done many things with materials salvaged from our public school system-everything from making signs to watching movies on perfectly usable items that our money hungry schools throw out yearly for newer items.  Perhaps $8,000,000.00 doesn’t seem like a lot of money to those dealing with a statewide budget, but those of us who are arguing with local supervisors about budgets and constantly hearing about unfunded state mandates, $8,000,000.00 seems like something we can’t afford to throw away.