Inside A5 C&F Bank holds peanut butter drive for Backpacks of Love
Powhatan, Virginia
B1 Gupton honored, Knights defeat Kavaliers
Vol. XXXI No. 44
May 9, 2018
Board mulls budget before May 14 vote By Laura McFarland News Editor
P
OWHATAN – County administrator Ted Voorhees recently updated the Powhatan County Board of Supervisors on the proposed fiscal year 2019 budget with adjustments made for the lower tax rate they voted to advertise. When Voorhees and county staff originally presented the fiscal year (FY) 2019 budget to the board on March 5, it was built based on keeping the tax rate the same at 88.5 cents. But after the board voted 3-2 in favor of advertising a lower tax rate of 88 cents at its meeting on April 9, county staff had to find $167,041 to cut from estimated
revenues to create a balanced budget based on that rate. Voorhees gave a budget update presentation at the board’s special meeting on Monday, April 30 before a public hearing was held to allow residents to give input on the budget. Most of the presentation covered ground Voorhees had already presented to the board previously about building the budget based on board policies and strategic priorities, proposed staffing changes, health insurance changes, and where the budget had seen increases and decreases in revenue and expenditure estimates. The total FY 2019 budget is now $82,117,580, which includes Powhatan County Public Schools’ budget but not the
PHOTO BY LAURA MCFARLAND
Mike Asip of Powhatan was the lone citizen to speak during the public hearing for the county’s FY 2019 operating budget. Asip said he was not in favor of the 88 cent tax rate.
transfers. Now, including schools, the county’s total budget has seen an increase of $1,604,657, or 2 percent, over the FY 2018 budget This budget total includes the $167,041 in revenue cuts staff is now recommending to the proposed budget after Larry Nordvig, who represents District 2, suggested a tax rate decrease be advertised and the motion was adopted. Since the county’s overall revenue will be reduced by the lower tax rate, Voorhees recommended proportionately decreasing the school transfer by $64,608 as part of the cut. To make up the difference on the rest of the cut, he suggested eliminating three positions that were proposed in the budget:
part-time receptionist position, $26,869; part-time sheriff’s office administrative position, $10,000, and a building inspection position, $65,564. The board of supervisors is scheduled to vote on the budget at its next meeting at 6 p.m. on Monday, May 14. During the public hearing held about the budget, Mike Asip of Powhatan was the only person to speak. He expressed concern about lowering the tax rate to 88 cent. He said that as a taxpayer, he views “taxes not as an evil but as a collective investment in the community.” He said he has been happy to see the county invested in quality schools, public safety, capital investments in facilities and see BUDGET, pg. 6
Input sought on road projects
BSH uses grant to educate on child abuse prevention
By Laura McFarland News Editor
By Laura McFarland News Editor
PHOTOS BY LAURA MCFARLAND
Children in Blessed Sacrament Huguenot Catholic School’s early childhood development program plant a pinwheel garden in honor of Child Abuse Prevention Month.
POWHATAN – Blessed Sacrament Huguenot Catholic School’s early childhood development program recently culminated three months of child abuse prevention programming by having their youngest students plant a pinwheel garden.
Prsrt. Standard U.S. POSTAGE PAID Powhatan, VA Permit No.19
see PREVENTION, pg. 6
POWHATAN – The Powhatan County Board of Supervisors wants to hold off on narrowing down what local road projects it will submit to possibly be selected for the SMART Scale program until it can have more input from Powhatan residents. During the board’s meeting on Monday, April 30, the supervisors discussed narrowing down eight possible road projects to the final four they would submit to try to vie for program funding.
see SMART, pg. 6
Second brother’s guilty verdict ends two year case By Laura McFarland News Editor
DELIVER TO: Postal Patron Powhatan, VA 23139
Virginia’s SMART Scale is about picking the right transportation projects for funding and ensuring the best use of limited tax dollars. Planned transportation projects are scored based on an objective, outcome-based process and prioritized, which gives the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) the best information possible to select the right projects for funding. Chair Carson Tucker, who represents District 5, pointed out that the board is up against a June 1 deadline to announce which projects it wants to
POWHATAN – An Amelia man was convicted of misdemeanor assault and battery last week in a trial that marked the final criminal proceeding regarding a 2016 fight that left a Powhatan man with a blade broken off in his brain. Jacob Moore, 23, of Amelia was convicted on Tuesday, May 1, in Powhatan County Circuit Court by a seven-person jury of the assault and battery of Norris Goode Jr., 23, of Powhatan. The jury, which had the option of sentencing Moore to up to 12 months in jail, a fine, or both, ultimately decided to sentence him to pay the maximum fine of $2,500 but serve no jail time. Jacob Moore and his brother, Jesse Moore of Jetersville,
PHOTO BY LAURA MCFARLAND
Norris Goode Jr., left, pictured with his parents, was jubilant when a jury returned a guilty verdict for Jacob Moore for misdemeanor assault and battery.
right of Goode and a friend to use a pond on Huguenot Springs Road to fish. Although at the time of the fight Goode only believed he had suffered a cut on his arm,
were originally charged with aggravated malicious wounding stemming from a fight that occurred between the three men on April 17, 2016, when the brothers challenged the
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when he was taken to the hospital an X-ray revealed that he had a 2.25-inch knife blade lodged in his head and needed emergency surgery to remove it. Authorities never recovered the handle of the knife. While the Powhatan County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office made Jesse Moore the major focus of criminal proceedings initially, he was found not guilty of felony aggravated malicious wounding during a bench trial held on March 15, 2017. During that case, Jacob Moore had cooperated with law enforcement and implicated his brother as the person who wielded the knife in the fight with Goode. In light of his cooperation, when special prosecutor Melissa Hoy, a Chesterfield County deputy commonwealth’s attorney, see GUILTY, pg. 5