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Powhatan County is among the fastest growing counties in
Virginia. County government in Powhatan must respond to this
growth in a business-like manner to avoid adverse consequences that
can and should be averted.
The County
government has failed to address the problems that often accompany
rapid growth. It has allowed most of the new residential
development during the last few years to occur beyond the urban
growth boundary established by the County’s Comprehensive Plan and
the Metropolitan Planning Organization. It has approved a
Capital Improvement Program without the review required by state law
to assure that its components are consistent with the County’s
Comprehensive Plan. It has negligently polluted streams and
otherwise failed to protect the County’s environment. It has
failed to develop an affordable and realistic Thoroughfare Plan.
It has increased taxation by at least 48% for the average citizen of
Powhatan over the last four years.
The Powhatan County Republicans in Mass Meeting
propose a dramatically different course for the County so that it
can once again function in a responsible, cost-effective and
business-like manner:
1. The Powhatan County Board of Supervisors must abandon
the current “target budgeting” approach, which has contributed to
excessive spending, in favor of “performance budgeting,” which ties
spending to measurable standards.
2. The Powhatan County Board of Supervisors must require
a fiscal impact statement for all proposed ordinances and ordinance
amendments.
3. The Powhatan County Board of Supervisors must provide
citizens with wider and more timely access to information about
County government’s activities.
4. The Powhatan County Board of Supervisors must adopt
ordinances to protect the County’s elderly residents from dramatic
increases in County taxes.
5. The Powhatan County Board of Supervisors must upgrade
the professional qualifications of the staff of the County
government.
6. The Powhatan County Board of Supervisors must adopt a
sensible economic development plan that will heighten the prospects
of expanding the County’s business tax revenue base, thereby
reducing the tax burden on homeowners without accelerating the rate
of growth in the County.
7. The Powhatan County Board of Supervisors must to the
extent practicable, implement a program that imposes the cost of new
development on those who benefit from it.
8. The Powhatan County Board of Supervisors must
modernize all County systems to reduce waste, improve performance
and enhance accountability.
9. The Powhatan County Board of Supervisors must adopt
and implement a Comprehensive Plan that accommodates the unavoidable
aspects of growth so that the County’s residents are burdened as
little as possible, the County’s environment will be protected and
the County’s decisions about locating and financing its
infrastructure will not contribute to future development patterns
that needlessly harm the County’s scenic beauty, its sense of
community and its long-term financial condition.
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2007
Republican Nominees for Supervisor