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Fire, Rescue Agencies Would Be Exempted
For the third time since an admissions tax to Rockbridge County attractions was first established four years ago, the Board of Supervisors is considering amending the rules of its application.
The latest proposal is to exempt fire departments and rescue squads from having to collect and pay the tax on events they hold on their own properties. An additional change would be to allow all nonprofit organizations to hold one annual fundraising event over a period of up to three days without having to collect or pay an admissions tax.
The proposal to amend the admissions tax ordinance was an agenda item Monday in response to concerns expressed by members of the county’s volunteer fire departments and rescue squads and by various nonprofit organizations on how the tax is being applied to their fundraising activities.
“I’d like to remind everybody that the taxes are paid by the people attending these events,” said Dan Lyons – not the fire departments or rescue squads themselves.
Collecting the tax, said David McDaniel, “is too much of a headache” for these volunteer organizations who are not really equipped to perform this function for the government.
Lyons said he agreed with that sentiment except for when the organizations use a third party to hold the events.
County Administrator Spencer Suter interjected that he isn’t aware of any events held by the fire departments or rescue squads in which they don’t use their own volunteer members to collect the admissions fees.
McDaniel said he was in favor of simply going ahead and exempting fire departments and rescue squads from the admissions tax and not just for events they hold on their own property. A draft of a proposed ordinance prepared by County Attorney John Dryden makes an exception to the exemption for events not held on the property owned or leased by the rescue squads or fire departments.
Bob Day and Jay Lewis said they were in agreement with the idea of exempting fire departments and rescue squads from the admissions tax.
Leslie Ayers said she thought it was “reasonable” to allow nonprofit organizations to be able to hold one annual fundraising event that isn’t subject to the admissions tax.
The consensus of the supervisors was to take the draft ordinance to a public hearing at their next regularly scheduled meeting on July 22. Dryden said the supervisors would have the option of making revisions to the ordinance prior to approving it.
Earlier this year, the supervisors lowered the admissions tax from 10 to 6 percent but did away with a cap of $3 on the tax. Those changes were adopted in March to put the tax in line with what other neighboring jurisdictions have. The 10 percent rate had only been in effect since Jan. 1.
In 2020, when the state gave counties the authority to impose an admissions tax, the supervisors initially imposed the maximum allowable of 10 percent. The tax was repealed that summer, then reinstituted at 3 percent in 2022 with staged increases to 6 percent in 2023 and 10 percent at the beginning of the current year.
County Code Amended
The supervisors on Monday amended the county code to be consistent with state law that is being amended July 1 to require farm use vehicles exempt from personal property taxes and state license tags to be registered with the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles and to display a DMV-issued permanent farm use placard.
The types of vehicles that are eligible for farm use tags have not changed. Pickups, panel trucks and sports utility vehicles weighing less than 7,500 pounds that are for farm use only continue to be eligible for farm use tags. The only change is that those vehicles must now be registered with the DMV and display the DMV-issued placard. The cost of the placard is $15 and it is valid for the lifetime of the vehicle.
