Floyd County Political News

Two presentations to the Floyd County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday (11/18/08) brought disturbing news about state budget issues in regard to funds targeted for social services and transportation. Carl Ayers, director of the Floyd County Department of Social Services, said no more cuts are expected this year; however, a deeper (15%) cut will be made in 2009. Bob Beasley, VDOT residency administrator, reviewed "A Blueprint--VDOT Response to a Declining Economy."This document speaks to VDOT scaling back activities with safety as the first priority across the Commonwealth; however, services will be reduced and probability is that road conditions in the future will not be as good as they are today. Northern Virginia and Tidewater have the bulk of the traffic and much of the remaining monies will be focused on those areas. This is not good news for Southwest Virginia and, particularly Floyd County, where roads are substandard or below.

No action was taken by the Board to change what is currently in place in regard to the vehicle license/decal fee overlap. A discussion of the matter revealed it is almost impossible to do an abatement because of various contingencies. I asked that the fee for 2009 be reduced on a one time only basis. No action was taken on this suggestion.

A Memorandum of Understanding between the Floyd County Humane Society and the County of Floyd was reviewed. It seemed that the agreement needed minor tweaking and it is hoped that this issue can be resolved in December.