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March 04, 2010
Car decal coming back? Comments (0)
Vienna Officials May Follow Fairfax Toward Reimposing a Decal Fee
by Brian Trompeter
March 3, 2010
If Fairfax County officials move forward with plans to bring back the county’s vehicle-decal fee, Vienna residents could feel the pinch.
Vienna eliminated that fee several years ago, but the town is part of Fairfax County, which has the authority to impose its fee on town residents if the town government chooses not to.
The Vienna Town Council on March 1 authorized town officials to advertise a public hearing on a proposal to begin charging a $33-per-vehicle fee - the same rate Fairfax County is considering.
State law limits Northern Virginia localities to charging no more than $33, while most other Virginia jurisdictions are limited to $25. The fee is on top of the personal property tax for vehicles.
The hearing likely would be held in early April. Because Vienna officials adopt their annual budget after Fairfax County does, the town could rescind its reinstated vehicle tax if county officials abandon theirs.
Vienna Town Manager John Schoeberlein said he is preparing his fiscal year 2011 budget proposal without anticipating revenues from a vehicle tax, but said if residents were going to get stuck with the county’s tax anyway, the town should follow suit to keep the revenues in Vienna.
Schoeberlein said he did not know if the town could negate the county’s tax while charging Vienna residents a lesser amount. When Vienna last charged a vehicle tax, it brought in about $250,000 per year in revenue, he said.
For decades, Virginia localities required motorists to display a decal or metal plate on their vehicles, in order to prove that the personal property tax on the vehicle had been paid.
Fairfax County officials eliminated the decal fee - and the decal itself - in 2006, when the county government was flush with tax revenue. Under the new county proposal, the fee could come back while the decal probably would not.
Few people love the personal property tax on vehicles - the phrase “No Car Tax” swept Jim Gilmore to the governorship in 1997, even though the tax was not eliminated during his tenure or later. And there has always been a mixed reaction to the decal itself.
James Campbell, a Northern Virginia resident, thinks it’s stupid and annoying.
“I have lived in a number of states and other countries, and as far as I’ve been able to determine, none of them has a tax to prove you paid your taxes,” he said. “I don’t understand why we haven’t been required to buy a large, ugly sign we must nail on our houses, saying we paid our real estate taxes.”
But other localities have made the best of the situation. In Arlington, which has kept the decal (and the fee), there is an annual contest to choose the design, based on submissions by high school artists.
by Brian Trompeter March 3, 2010
If Fairfax County officials move forward with plans to bring back the county’s vehicle-decal fee, Vienna residents could feel the pinch.
Vienna eliminated that fee several years ago, but the town is part of Fairfax County, which has the authority to impose its fee on town residents if the town government chooses not to.
The Vienna Town Council on March 1 authorized town officials to advertise a public hearing on a proposal to begin charging a $33-per-vehicle fee - the same rate Fairfax County is considering.
State law limits Northern Virginia localities to charging no more than $33, while most other Virginia jurisdictions are limited to $25. The fee is on top of the personal property tax for vehicles.
The hearing likely would be held in early April. Because Vienna officials adopt their annual budget after Fairfax County does, the town could rescind its reinstated vehicle tax if county officials abandon theirs.
Vienna Town Manager John Schoeberlein said he is preparing his fiscal year 2011 budget proposal without anticipating revenues from a vehicle tax, but said if residents were going to get stuck with the county’s tax anyway, the town should follow suit to keep the revenues in Vienna.
Schoeberlein said he did not know if the town could negate the county’s tax while charging Vienna residents a lesser amount. When Vienna last charged a vehicle tax, it brought in about $250,000 per year in revenue, he said.
For decades, Virginia localities required motorists to display a decal or metal plate on their vehicles, in order to prove that the personal property tax on the vehicle had been paid.
Fairfax County officials eliminated the decal fee - and the decal itself - in 2006, when the county government was flush with tax revenue. Under the new county proposal, the fee could come back while the decal probably would not.
Few people love the personal property tax on vehicles - the phrase “No Car Tax” swept Jim Gilmore to the governorship in 1997, even though the tax was not eliminated during his tenure or later. And there has always been a mixed reaction to the decal itself.
James Campbell, a Northern Virginia resident, thinks it’s stupid and annoying.
“I have lived in a number of states and other countries, and as far as I’ve been able to determine, none of them has a tax to prove you paid your taxes,” he said. “I don’t understand why we haven’t been required to buy a large, ugly sign we must nail on our houses, saying we paid our real estate taxes.”
But other localities have made the best of the situation. In Arlington, which has kept the decal (and the fee), there is an annual contest to choose the design, based on submissions by high school artists.
December 17, 2008
Vienna Government: Dirt Under the Nails Comments (7)
The Town of Vienna pays their Town Clerk and assorted members of the Zoning Department for up to two days of their work week to transcribe Town meetings to an "edited" form (not verbatim). What does this mean? What is the point?
When the Town of Vienna has a meeting they make an audio tape of the meeting. At that point it would seem like the sensible thing to do would be to dump the tape to the internet so everyone can hear and simply make that tape the official minutes of the meeting. Does the Town do that? No. The Town, as mentioned, uses their staff time, spending thousands upon thousands of excess and wasteful dollars, to transcribe meeting tapes (town staff listening and typing) to an edited down form of what actually happened in the meeting. Make sense? Of course not. Why do they do this?
The Town refuses to make the verbatim minutes of their meetings the official minutes since this gives Maud and Jane an after the fact opportunity to "edit" what actually happened. They can sanitize away anything they don't like and create an artificial record. Is this dirty, unethical and corrupt? Yes. Is it the core of Seeman and Robinson's cookbook to hold onto power? You bet.
The Vienna Way
June 19, 2008
Another Hike in Residential Taxes? Comments (1)
Vienna's meals-and-lodging tax will revert from 4 percent to 3 percent starting July 1 much to Maud's chagrin. In her usual form, Maud gives us one of her famously archaic and not-so-subtle condescending idioms:
“I feel those who opposed it are being penny wise and pound foolish,” Robinson said.
