Bath Board Chair with monthly report

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The existing Bath County License Tax Ordinance adopted December 9, 1997 includes applying for and paying annual license taxes for doing business, performing a trade, profession, occupation, vocation, calling or activity in the County, including all phases of such conducted in the County. At the time this ordinance was adopted, the Board of Supervisors’ intent was to implement the tax when there was statistically justifiable and proven business and economic growth.

Now, more than 17 years later, in addressing codification of ordinances, the Board of Supervisors is proposing revisions to the annual license tax for businesses section to implement a $15.00 fee in lieu of a gross receipts tax, effective July 1, 2016. This proposed business license implementation and fee will enable the County to better know and identify businesses operating in the County. The benefit to business may be in developing ways to partner, share services, reduce costs and address economies of scale.

The proposed revisions to the ordinance require each person conducting or engaged in any business, trade or occupation to apply for a license and pay the fee. Application for a business license and fee would be due July 31 of each year, beginning July 2016. Failure to apply and pay the fee by July 31, 2016 would result in a penalty with interest accrued and added to an unpaid fee. The ordinance is to be enforced by the Commissioner of Revenue.

The proposed changes to the ordinance require the Board to hold a public hearing to receive input on the changes. The public hearing is scheduled for June 9, 2015. The public hearing notice and ordinance is available online at the County’s website. For more information and copies of the public hearing notice or ordinance, please contact the County Administrator’s office.

We encourage you to provide input and feedback on the proposed ordinance changes, before or during the June 9th meeting. Also, we are delighted to have people attending meetings. This has given us the opportunity to plan to hold meetings elsewhere in the Courthouse when attendance exceeds meeting room capacity. We thank you for attending meetings and bearing with us in addressing the many issues and needs of community.

Story By

Bonnie Ralston

Bonnie Ralston is the Assistant Station Coordinator at WVLS and a Highland County news reporter. She began volunteering at Allegheny Mountain Radio in the fall of 2005. In 2006 she became an AMR employee and worked in Bath County for eight years as the WCHG Station Coordinator and then as the news reporter there. She began working in radio while in college and has stayed connected to radio, in one way or another, for more than thirty years. She grew up in Staunton, Virginia, while spending a lot of time on her family’s farm in Deerfield, Virginia. She enjoys spending time outside, watching old TV shows and movies and tending to her chickens.

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