Parks and Recreations Sports Grants

On Tuesday, March 8 the Purcellville Parks and Recreation Advisory Board (PRAB) presented to the Town Council recommendations for youth sports grants awards that were budgeted for in fiscal year 2016. In the FY 2016 budget session the Town Council voted to allocate $5200 to the Parks and Recreation budget for sports grants once again to what can be assumed to be non-profit organizations that support the youth of Purcellville.  Those funds were awarded during this Town Council meeting.

HISTORY
The youth sports grants were initiated after resident Bill Druhan (former mayor) read a letter into the record from the head of the Upper Loudoun Youth Football League (ULYFL) at the March 13, 2007 Town Council meeting. “Although the league is in good financial condition, undertaking more importantly operating such a huge project would require more revenue sources. While you undertake your FY 08 budget deliberation the Upper Loudoun Football League requests that you consider making an annual contribution to this worthwhile program.” Since fiscal year 2008 (July 1, 2007 – June 30, 2008) the Town Council has allocated funds to support these youth programs, in addition to many community events held in the town that benefit all of the residents. Nine years of donating funds which are now allocated from the Parks and Recreation Fund, the same fund that the town deposits additional assessments created by the Fireman’s Field Tax District for a project the town could not afford (renovation to Bush Tabernacle).

THE PROCESS
The town announces the grant availability through a press release each year. Once applications are collected by the town, the requests are sent via email to the PRAB for review. PRAB members gather at the receipt of the requests to review the applications for what would be assumed a set criteria and overall guideline established by the board, department, town manager or council for award process. The selected recipients and designated amounts by PRAB are presented at the next Town Council meeting.

THE FACTS
This year the town announced the grant availability on January 6. Another announcement was released on January 28, extending the application date until February 1. “The Town of Purcellville is accepting applications from local organizations for the Annual Sports League Funding. Applicant organizations must serve the Town of Purcellville area and have citizens of the Town of Purcellville as players. Priority consideration will be given to sports teams from Purcellville that have an open participation policy where all players are allowed to play regardless of skill level.” At the February 16, 2016 PRAB meeting, members sat in a deafening silence and shuffled through the pages of nine applications without direction or purpose and surely without guidelines. Their review was based on feelings and thoughts and those they knew.  One member stated, “Yea, Anthony is a good friend of mine.”

How is the PRAB validating the information in the applications? The application asked if they were a “charitable organization” which can be confusing, instead of asking if the organization had a 501(c)3 status. The application asked the organization to provide a copy of proof and only two of the organizations did, even though some may still be “not for profit” organizations.  Whose job was it to follow-up with the organization to secure the proof? Were only some organizations required to provide proof? How were they justifying the amount for the award?  How was the PRAB concurring with the grant requested was indeed the amount they needed?  You can listen to the entire PRAB meeting here. There are no written meeting minutes only audio. I guess they don’t plan on including those that are hearing impaired.

Over the last several years the town awarded to repeat applicants and increased award monies to what sounds a lot of the organization would “fold” if not for the funding by the taxpayers of Purcellville.  Are other municipalities giving to these organization, or only Purcellville?  How is it that one letter read into the record in 2007 can generate the over $45,000 in donations to organizations that provide team sports where Purcellville members make up less than half of their organization? But the town cannot provide the citizens the transparency for $5000, they’ve asked for when it comes to the financial dealings in the town?

Although the data presented to council by the PRAB was from data since 2009, these funds still total over $40,000 not including 2008.

THIS YEAR
Number of Applicants – 9
Total Funding Requested - $9,200
Total Number of Participants - 1305
Total Number of Purcellville Participants - 601
Total Funding Recommended to Council - $4,600
Total Funding Approved by Council - $5,200

A motion made by Councilman Patrick McConville pushed the amount recommended by PRAB from $4,600 to $5,200 because he wanted to donate money to Woodgrove High School and Loudoun Valley High School’s upcoming volleyball event.

Councilwoman Lehr even questioned the reasoning behind the award amounts, but still voted for the funding. She also stated that would be one less child on the street if they play sports.  Sports has not prevented the bigger problems with our youth that this community has witnessed in the last few years.

Of course this council decision went viral with the former mayor Bob Lazaro  blasting Mayor Fraser and Councilwoman Jimmerson for their “no” vote.  Saying that they were voting against the children of Purcellville. “Interesting to read about Town politicians talk about their concerns for youth, but when they have a chance to support our kids they vote against their interests.  Several years ago we put small amount ($5) in Town budget to support youth athletic organizations. No doubt of the importance youth sports has in keeping our children out of harms way.  Last night the Council voted 5-2 to support the effort. Thank you Council Members Joan Lehr, Patrick McConville II, Fuller and Nave for supporting this effort. Actions speak louder than words.” 

If was quickly mimicked by want-to-be-on-council-so-our-projects-get-approved Sam Chapman. “Several years back our Council set aside a small amount of money ($4-5K) in the Town budget to support youth athletic organizations. I don't need to elaborate on the importance of youth sports. This is a no brainier, right? Last night I witnessed the Council vote 5-2 to support this effort. Yes, two Council members did not support this action. Today, we should all say thank you to Joan Lehr, Patrick McConville II, McCollum, Fuller and Nave for supporting this effort. Some of the best memories I have link back to Fireman's Field and Haske Field.”

Mayor Fraser stated, “My only comment before move to vote is that I love sports and tonight I will be against this because the process we have in place and to a degree I should have done more vetting when this was brought to us before, but clearly we might be taking taxpayers dollars and providing to private entities, and I am against that. In addition to that less than 50% of the participants are a resident of Purcellville, so as a taxpayer I do not want our money going to subsidize that. I might be a good and valid cause, right, but we need to have a process in place and make sure that the need is there and based on that need we provide taxpayers’ dollars if we all as a council agree on that. So for now, I’m against this.”

Correct me here if I am wrong, are these funds to help the children of Purcellville that cannot afford to play sports or the organizations? This year there was an extension to get more organizations to submit applications. Why is that, when the organization that initially asked for support in 2007, Upper Loudoun Youth Football, received ZERO dollars this year. I don’t know of any of these non-profit organization turn away a child that wants to play but parents can’t afford it. Here are the funds that have been dispursed since 2009. 

RECOMMENDATIONS
I have been involved in baseball for over 12 year years and they have NEVER turned away a participant because they could not afford to play. Maybe the PRAB could do a little work and revise the application to assure that the monies the town is spending does indeed go to children of Purcellville if that IS who they are benefiting. In the future if you want to do something for all the children of Purcellville, make it purposeful, include ALL children, not just those that are in athletics. Include the arts, community service.  Continue to have events that involve ALL children.  A simple proof of a “not for profit” status would be to ask applicants to provide a copy of their IRS 990 form. Not only will this provide the proof that they are indeed a non-profit, but indicate their financial need. Get the applications to the PRAB prior to the meeting so they can review and have a purposeful discussion.

CONCLUSION
Purcellville was small in 2000 and there were no sports awards and there were less children at risk. Why is that? Maybe this issue with the council members that voted for the approval of these grants is that they do not know the purpose of Parks and Recreation. Taken directly from the FY 2015/2016 Budget it is described in the following:

More Annexations: The Next Betrayal

What does annexation mean to you? Does it affect your well-being, your community, your children?

In a letter dated December 29, 1999, Grayson D. Hanes, representing Reed Smith Hazel & Thomas, LLP wrote to the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors to express his concern and displeasure at the Board's attempt to slow down the rate of growth in the Loudoun County.

THE HOUSING BOOM
An extensive pool of building permits for residential units were approved in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Tens of thousands of units were yet to be built. But the negative effects of sudden, rapid growth were already being felt.

Virginia severely restricts legislative initiatives by localities through the "Dillon Rule," so the options for the County to control growth were few. The state does not allow moratoriums of any kind on development. Proffers are strictly voluntary. Property owners can develop their land to its "highest and best use." This gave landowners who wanted to sell the family farm for a subdivision a legal whip over the Board. By the time Jim Burton (former Supervisor for the Mercer District, now the Blue Ridge District), gave his 2003 presentation "A Case Study in Unbridled Growth," 193 lawsuits over land projects had been filed.

THE COST TO EDUCATION
By this time Loudoun County had been absorbing an annual general population growth rate of 8-9% for a decade, and a student population rate of 10-12%. This is FIVE TIMES the sustainable rate. A dozen schools were in the planning or building stage. Another 32 were being built or were newly constructed. Classes were overflowing, teachers were being hired as rapidly as possible. Neighborhood boundary lines were being shifted around to accommodate the burgeoning student influx. Students were changing schools almost as quickly as they were changing grades! In just three years (2000-2003) the annual debt payment went from $35.2M to $84.3M. Taxes and debt were skyrocketing. Developers had the upper hand and they were wielding it. Since his first presentation, Burton has updated the information in the presentation twice, in 2009 and again in 2011. Very little has changed.

Recently Loudoun Now published an article about the cost of Kindergarten in Loudoun. The article details the costs absorbed by parents in Loudoun County ranging from $10,000 to $25,000 to have their children attend a full-day kindergarten. But but the County keeps allowing the growth without the foresight of providing full day kindergarten.

Here is the Loudoun County Public Schools Capital Improvement Plan for 2017-2022 - 138 pages of school enrollment statistics and improvements and new construction. This is just a sampling of what is to be expected in the coming years.

Despite the fact that Loudoun County is one of the richest counties in this country, it is one of only three school divisions in Virginia that does not offer all-day kindergarten to everyone. Loudoun Now's recent article, The Business of Kingergarten: Loudoun't $20 million-a-year industry, is an insightful read on just this subject,

KEEPING IT RURAL
As the new century advanced, talk of "smart growth" increased. The Board of Supervisors with some dissenters had expressed a consistent idea of keeping the western part of the county in more rural land use. In 2006 the Right Growth Policy Institute (RGPI) launched an assault on Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, the Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC), conservation easements, and the "rich, elite Hunt Country" horse farm owners. The argument pitted the so-called privileged few with their "land-use taxes" which significantly lowered their tax rates against the beleaguered suburbanites in the eastern part of the county. The RGPI argued that this tax benefit to the rich was so great it put burdens on the middle class homeowners in the east. The reason, they were saying, was that we needed MORE TAXES FROM THE OPEN SPACE CROWD BECAUSE THEY WEREN'T PAYING THEIR FAIR SHARE AND THAT WAS WHY THE TAXES WERE GOING UP ON THE BELEAGUERED HOMEOWNERS IN THE EAST. They attacked Kaine for not approving higher taxes on the rich and for encouraging land conservation because roads had to be built, and the rich people were keeping the necessary funds out of the government’s hands, and they needed to open up much more land for more houses, so that there were more taxes for more roads. It was a rehash of Hane's argument in an ad they ran in the Leesburg Today, July 28, 2006. Blame the rich with their incredibly low land-use taxes and all that open space. In other words, stop restricting growth,

Even Purcellville's Special Assistant to the Town Manager, Marty Kloeden, wrote a Letter to the Editor in the October 19, 2006 Washington Post, exclaiming his dissatisfaction with the growth and RGPI. Mr. Kloeden continues to write grants for the town. Some of these ads appeared in the Leesburg Today June 23, 2006, September 22, 2006, September 29, 2006 and October 13,2006. in addition to All Loudoun Fall 2006 and the Middleburg Eccentric October 26, 2006 and November 22, 2006 issues.

It is appealing to say you are trying to "spread the burden around" and that an increased tax base keeps taxes lower for everyone, which is what the Town of Purcellville keeps repeating. But here's the truth. Open space never cost the taxpayer a dime. It does not need roads, services, and above all, schools. Despite the lowered rate for land use taxes, horse and other livestock farmers, fruit and vegetable farmers all pay MORE in taxes than they demand in serves, whereas homeowners never pay sufficient taxes to cover expensive the costs of the services they demand. The greatest demands come from families. Children are expensive, and schools are a massive drain on the County budget.

When you turn a farm into a subdivision you can easily increase the need for services astronomically. It isn't only schools, its police, fire and rescue, roads, all of which require millions of dollars to build. The new firehouse in Purcellville cost the taxpayer $9M.

ADVANTAGES OF BEING A DEVELOPER
And this is where proffers, known formerly as impact fees are supposed to relieve the taxpayer and the county from the debt they incur when services needs have to be met. Loudoun County has gone to great lengths to attract the tech industry, the medical industry and the tourist industry. In the process it has been criminally irresponsible by not demanding adequate proffers from developers. When the former Purcellville Town Council passed the by-right ordinance for developers John Chapman and Mark Nelis' downtown Vineyard Square project, in the very last days of Bob Lazaro's role as mayor, it took away the developers' obligation to pay impact fees for their project, and the taxpayer paid for those improvement - the redesign of 21st Street, No one bothered to ask the taxpayers of they wanted to help finance Chapman's business venture, but that's what occurred.

Beyond negating proffers from this proposed development, the Purcellville Town Council creates an additional bonus for Chapman - a Tourism Zone for the project specific properties. Another way of deferring tax obligations from developers and passing along to the citizens.

UNDERSTANDING ZONING & ANNEXING
The land outside the town is zoned A-3. The town would have to annex the property before the County could do anything other than the A-3 zoning. The County shows no interest in coming to Purcellville. The A-3 zoning is, in fact, a very effective constraint upon land uses. A-3 zoning would not put a significant burden on the taxpayer. Page 108 of the County's Revised 1993 Zoning Ordinance states this regarding A-3 zoning, "This district is established to provide for the continued practice of agriculture, farm operations, agriculturally related and home based businesses, low density residential developments, preferably in a hamlet subdivision pattern, and other uses in a predominantly rural environment. The district also permits direct marketing of farm products and services."

A second argument, that the town will have more control over land in the town is equally false. A small increase in the town's tax base is all it can hope to get by a simple annexation. Site plans for developing properties are submitted months, usually years, before they are ever approved. Purcellville knows exactly what the developer's expectations are long before the property is annexed, and the developers know exactly what ordinances for open space, landscaping and buffering the town demands. Only BEFORE an annexation does the town have any real control over changes in the site plan, including an outright denial of the plan. THE ANNEXATION PROCESS IS THE POINT AT WHICH THE TOWN ACCEPTS THE DESIGN, CHARACTER AND PURPOSE OF THE PLAN, AND ONCE IT IS ANNEXED THE TOWN HAS ALMOST NO CONTROL OVER THE DESIGN. ANY ATTEMPT BY THE TOWN TO MAKE CHANGES AT THAT POINT WILL BE MET BY A LAWSUIT WHICH THE DEVELOPER WILL WIN. Only by making a Boundary Line Adjustment can the town incorporate additional land into the town without the obligation of increasing the density on that land. But it wouldn't be smart, because the landowner could make demands on the town that it might feel pressured to fulfill.

The annexation of the Mayfair (formerly Autumn Hill) development will cause a flurry of annexation requests. The green buffer north of town was a perfect divide between town and open space areas but now the forested area will come down. The inadequate impact fees will cost residents more in taxes and the County more in debt.

For those who chant grow or die, the flip side is grow AND die. Slowly the quality of life declines and one day you wake up to schools that cheat on grades, classrooms that are overflowing, empty parking lots. canopy trees gone and little spindles in their place. Noise, air and light pollution, empty storefronts, crowded roadways, and rude neighbors all make you wonder where the town you fell in love with went.

Preserving America's Outdoor Heritage

by Congressman Bob Goodlatte, Virginia

For many families in the Sixth Congressional District, sitting down at the dinner table is welcome ground for an old tale of a past hunting or fishing trip. Whether it’s a love of the sport, or simply spending time in the great outdoors, hunting, fishing, and recreational shooting are traditions shared by the young and old. Ensuring that these activities are available to share with future generations is an important part of our heritage as Americans.

The Sportsmen's Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act, or SHARE Act, is a package of bills that revises several existing programs to expand access to hunting, fishing, and recreational shooting. The SHARE Act, which passed the House of Representatives with my support, also helps eliminate some of the federal red tape standing in the way of outdoor sporting activities.

The federal government currently owns 640 million acres of land, or roughly 30 percent of the United States. In Virginia, the federal government owns 2.5 million acres of land, including vast areas in the Sixth District. Oftentimes, federal agencies block access to hunting, fishing, or recreational shooting on these lands. One critical aspect of the SHARE Act is that it will require federal agencies, like the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, to open certain public lands for recreational sports. These are your American taxpayer funded lands – why shouldn’t you have access to them?

Our Second Amendment rights are safeguarded by the United States Constitution. This is a fundamental individual right that neither Congress nor the Administration may infringe upon. The SHARE Act includes a provision protecting law-abiding citizens’ right to carry a firearm on Army Corps of Engineer lands, like campgrounds. Read more about the SHARE Act in my weekly column.

Each year, $2.5 billion is spent in Virginia alone on fishing and hunting. Opening additional lands to these activities will only help to boost the economic benefits for our communities. I understand the importance of future generations of Virginians having access to the great outdoors, without roadblocks put in front of them by the federal government. Hunting, fishing, and recreation opportunities should be increased, not reduced, and the SHARE Act goes a long way toward strengthening the outdoor heritage shared by millions of Americans.

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Think of the land that Purcellville owns. More could be done with the over 1200 acres of land at the Purcellville watershed. It is a shame that the taxpayers do not have access to this land, yet the taxpayers have the burden.  Email the town council with your concerns.

For those on Facebook, follow Friends of the Purcellville Watershed