BRISTOL, Va. – The check is in the mail or soon will be.
City leaders gained ground Tuesday on balancing their fiscal 2010-11 budget when Bristol Virginia Utilities agreed to provide a previously requested $250,000 cash advance.
Meeting in called session, the BVU board of directors unanimously approved the funding, as payments in lieu of taxes covered under an agreement between the city and the new, independent BVU authority.
City leaders requested the money during the spring budget process – before the authority was formed July 1 – and built it into the spending plan. However, BVU notified the city in early July that the payment wouldn’t be coming until a legal challenge of the authority was resolved.
Last week, litigant Lonnie Whitley notified the city and BVU that he and his wife, Jeanette, planned to drop any attempt at an appeal. The couple previously filed a notice of appeal with the Supreme Court of Virginia in a suit that challenged the creation of the BVU authority.
“We are pleased that we can assist the city today with their requested advance on the BVU authority agreement. This money will greatly assist the city and we want to be good stewards of the agreement we made with them,” BVU board Chairman Paul Hurley said after the vote. “By approving this advance, BVU authority has shown we are part of this community and will continue to be so for many years.”
Under the transition agreement, BVU agreed to begin making new annual payments in lieu of taxes on its water and sewer infrastructure in the city. The payments – totaling $1 million for water and wastewater over the next decade – are in addition to BVU’s existing $350,000 annual in lieu of tax payments on electric system assets.
BVU also is scheduled to begin making similar payments on its OptiNet telecommunications assets in 2013.The $250,000 advance will be designated from the sewer assets, BVU Executive Director Wes Rosenbalm said.
“We’ve still got a $160,000 gap in our budget. We still don’t have a balanced budget, but it’s a start in the right direction,” Vice Mayor and BVU board member Ed Harlow said. “It’s one-time. We cannot depend on BVU to balance our budget and supply us with funds. We need to be able to operate on our own.”
BVU leaders had already agreed to make the first $100,000 payment before the litigation ended.
In other action, the BVU board signed a new 10-year agreement with Cumberland Plateau Co. to continue extending broadband Internet services into Buchanan, Dickenson, Russell and Tazewell counties.
The agreement extends an existing relationship with Cumberland to continue expanding its fiber-optic network, Rosenbalm said.
“Building broadband services throughout this region is vital to our economy. If you have high-speed Internet services available, you’re at least a player in the process of recruiting business,” Cumberland Executive Director Larry Carr said in a written statement.
Hurley said the partnership between the two entities is credited with helping attract industries like Northrop Grumman to the region.
dmcgee@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2532
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