INSIDE Students share essays about freedom during American Legion Auxiliary meeting. > page 4
Volume 60, Number 16 • April 30, 2015
BOS approves annual budget, holds tax rate
Maidens gets a marker
By Roslyn Ryan Editor
A
fter months of difficult work, careful review and public discourse, Goochland County supervisors unanimously approved the county’s $46,442,404 FY2016 budget on April 20. Board members also voted unanimously to maintain the county property tax rate at 53 cents per $100 of assessed value and the Tuckahoe Creek Service District Ad Veloram rate at 32 cents per $100 of assessed value. In the end, no residents approached the podium to say anything about the proposed budget during the public comment period prior to its adoption, and board chair Susan Lascolette was the only official to offer her thoughts. “We have spent a considerable amount of time working on this budget, and we did that with the help of many, many people,” Lascolette said. “And we are so grateful for their help.” The board’s budget process included holding five public hearings and presenting the plan at the recent town hall meetings held by each supervisor. After hearing feedback from residents during all of those events, the budget was amended accordingly, Lascolette said. Amendments to the original draft of the plan included reductions in healthcare premiums for county employees ($32,000); raises of 1.5 percent for county departmental budgets ($153,000); and an increase in funding for the county school system ($160,000). The only county employes to speak, Goochland County Schools’ Finance Director Debbie White, told the board the schools were “thankful for anything you can give us.” “You are very welcome,” Lascolette said, “and thank you for all of your hard work.” Roslyn Ryan can be reached at rryan@goochlandgazette.com.
Photo by Wayne Dementi
Representatives from the Friends of Goochland Parks, the Goochland County Historical Society, the Goochland Parks and Recreation Department, and the Tucker family gathered together last Sunday to unveil the new Maidens historical marker. From the left are Derek Stamey, Chuck Peple, Billy Tucker, Troy Tucker, Allen Tucker, Scott Johnson, Phyllis Silber, Richard LeBlanc, Mark Williams and Steve Fleming.
Resident’s new book explores key role of Hubbardton battle Local historian points to British loss there as “beginning of the end” By Roslyn Ryan Editor
I
f you’ve found yourself interested in the last days of the American Revolution lately, you might have just finished reading Bruce Venter’s new book — or you might be keeping up with the somewhat less scholarly Revolutionary War cable drama “Turn,” which recently zeroed in on see Book > 4