http://www.patriotswashcova.org/

There’s a whole new game in town:

The Patriots of Washington County VA

can take credit for a brainstorm that can be repeated in other districts, and throughout the country…it’s Downsize DC meets Grassfire, custom-crafted for Washington County.

The  kick-off event was held at the December 8th meeting of the Southwest VA Tea Party Abingdon/Bristol/Washington County. For months, this local group of entrepreneurs headed up by Hammond Hunt and Abram McConnell has been devising  a strategy to amplify both community outreach on important issues along with acknowledgement by local government—not exactly a primrose path.

Cybertechnology has provided a solution. WWW.patriotsofwashcova.org will feature local, state and national issues as action items that citizens can take part in through a vetted petition process; creating a member account allows GIS-validated Washington County VA residential addresses along with verified email accounts to join the group.

The first hot-ticket item allows members to voice their objection to the County’s controversial purchase of the Alpha Natural Resources Building (see below). Members can volunteer to manage gathering a hard-copy list of signatures that will ultimately be compiled and submitted to our local government. The goal? Proving that the will of the people must not be ignored.

Why Should I Sign the Petition?

http://www.patriotswashcova.org/

✯ Expenses will increase from $1.00 per year rent on the current office building to a cost of $550,000 per year.

✯ The county incurred added debt of $16 million (about $8 million purchase price plus another $8 million in interest).

✯ The county increased long-term financial obligations by approximately 30%, including interest, in one single   transaction.

✯ The Alpha building assessment nearly doubled unexplainably just months before the county purchase, from approximately $4.4 million to $7.9 million.

✯ Additionally, the county has now committed nearly $1 million more for building renovations, scheduled for completion mid-summer 2012.

✯ The purchase was discussed and decided upon by the Board in closed-door sessions, only giving citizens the minimum comment period required by law.

This reckless spending by our Board of Supervisors can only lead to higher taxes for citizens of Washington County; and their complete lack of transparency erodes our trust in them to honor their oath of office.
Please support our efforts to remove this burden from us and future generations by signing our petition to dispose of the new county government building.

Let your voice be heard!

Here are some facts to consider related to the purchase of the Alpha Building:

On Tuesday, February 23, 2010, Washington County Supervisors voted 6-1 to approve documents related to the $7,750,000 million purchase of Alpha Natural Resources Corporate Headquarters Building in Abingdon for future use as the new County Administrative Building.

In 2009, the Alpha building appraised at $4.3 million. 

Supervisor Nicole Price cast the sole vote against the project on the seven-member board. As reported February 24 on TriCities.com, the decision to buy the building was kept behind closed doors until a January 19 joint meeting with the Industrial Development Authority.

Debt Service Allocations prepared by Davenport and Company LLC and presented to a joint meeting of the Washington County Supervisors and the IDA projected the county’s total cost for the Alpha building at $8,600,000 for 30 years at an interest rate of 4.76%.

Newly revised figures have the amount to be financed at $8,480,000.00 with the accompanying interest at $8,355,065.22 for a total of $16,835,065, an amount that varies from $552,000 to $555,000 per year, at an average of $45,000 monthly for 30 years.

Not included in these figures are costs associated with remodeling the facility and relocating county offices.

Prior to the expected approval of the purchase at the joint meeting, two IDA board members, Jack Hagy and Gene Baker resigned.

The purchase price of the 46,000 square-foot Alpha Building is approximately $ 166.00 sf.

Then, there is this:

Board votes to spend nearly $1 million on renovations

ABINGDON, Va. — The Washington County Board of Supervisors has approved a bid for just under $1 million for county office space renovations.

In a 6-1 vote with Supervisor Nicole Price opposed, the board voted to spend $976,400 to renovate the former Alpha Natural Resources building in Abingdon, which is now the Washington County Government Center.

Alpha, a local company that has used the building since 2005, just opened its new headquarters in Bristol, Va. Since the county bought the building last year, Alpha has been paying rent; the amount the county has received in rent will more than cover the planned renovations.