“I think we need to prioritize what we’re asking for to make sure we’re asking for our highest priority items. Therefore, we have the greatest influence at the general assembly, ”said chairman April DeMotts, whose comment was confirmed by chairman of the board, Steve Fijalkowski.
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Supervisors Sara Bohn and Mary Biggs, vice chairman of the board of directors, expressed an interest in expanding wireless communications for law enforcement and fire departments in parts of the county with either poor or no cell phone coverage.
Another topic that has sparked some discussion is the longstanding debate over real estate taxes generated on real estate owned by the Virginia Tech Foundation, which is known for raising and managing private funds for the university.
The Tech Foundation is a not-for-profit and tax-exempt organization, a status that allows tenants of their properties to pay a reduced amount of local property taxes. How much tenants pay depends on the length of their leases, but purely academic or university residents do not pay local property taxes.
The subject of Tech Foundation property taxes has long been a hot topic among officials in Montgomery County and Blacksburg – home of the university’s main campus and where many of those foundation properties are located – who have raised concerns over the years about community service funding being provided by requires university growth and fairness to private commercial property owners who pay 100% of local property taxes.