Valley Community Services Board Thanks Highland County For 10% Matching Local Fund

At the Tuesday, September 4, 2018 meeting of the Highland County Board of Supervisors, the Valley Community Services Board and personal property tax relief were the main topics of discussion.  Vice-Chairman Kevin Wagner was absent.

David Deering, the Executive Director of the Valley Community Services Board, provided an update on their services.  The mission of the Valley Community Services Board is to provide community based mental health, developmental disability, and substance abuse disorder services in the Counties of Highland and Augusta, and the cities of Staunton and Waynesboro.  The Board is funded by state general funds, federal block grants, some billable services, and matching local funds of a minimum of 10% of state and local matching funds combined.  Mr. Deering was appreciative of Highland County’s contribution last year, being the only of the four localities that paid that minimum 10% local match.  He said, “And I want to thank the folks here in Highland, because you are the only group that fully funded our request.”  For Fiscal Year 2018, which ended on June 30, 2018, that figure for Highland County was $10,771.

Community Services Boards, or CSB’s, are mandated to provide Emergency Services, including Preadmission Screening and Discharge Planning, and Case Management Services, depending on availability of funds.  For Fiscal Year 2018, Highland County residents received 42 services from the Valley Community Services Board.  That includes thirty-three mental health services, ten developmental services, and three substance abuse disorder services.

All services provided by CSB’s are operated under the auspices of a Performance Contract between individual CSB’s and the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services.  Mr. Deering presented the Fiscal Year 2019 and Fiscal Year 2020 Performance Contract, which will be in effect for a term of two years, ending on June 30, 2020.  He asked for the Supervisors’ acceptance of the contract, and they unanimously approved, contingent on reviewing some more data and numbers that were missing in the 140-page document that was on hand at the meeting.

In other news, the Highland County Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution to establish the Personal Property Tax Relief Act percentage for 2018.  The Commissioner of Revenue, Darlene Crummett, has considered the value of all the qualifying vehicles that are eligible for that relief and the amount of relief that the county will receive from the state.  This year, that number works out to a tax relief of 42.5%.

Moving on, the Board heard about the application of a credit balance to personal property tax relief.  Back in 2012, after all the adjustments were made and tax relief was distributed, the County Treasurer, Lois White, was left with a credit balance of $850.23.  She asked to apply that money to the $167,052 coming in for 2018 to provide further tax relief.  The Board approved to authorize the use of the money in this way.

Finally, the Board also approved a request by the Highland County Humane Society to hold a rabies vaccination clinic at the Highland County Volunteer Fire Department on Saturday, October 13, 2018 from 10 am to noon, where Dr. Joe Malcolm will be serving as Veterinarian.