What’s the status of Dillwyn’s boundary line change?

The Town of Dillwyn’s consideration of extending its corporate boundaries along U.S. Route 15 south to Sprouse’s Corner, the intersection of 15 and U.S. 60., is not actively being pursued.

“No, we’re not doing anything,” said Dillwyn Mayor Linda Venable Paige when asked if the town was actively pursuing the change. “It’s just like a dead issue. Nobody has mentioned it anymore.”

Discussion of potentially adjusting the boundary lines came up during the council’s April meeting.

“It just hasn’t come back up again,” Paige said.

In addition to the southern boundary adjustment, the council was also considering extending the town’s north boundary to Bell Road (State Route 650) and taking the limits to the end of Camden and LeSueur streets.

Along Route 15, the adjustments would have encompassed a quarter-mile on either side of the road, according to the proposal.

Currently, the town’s corporate limits begin on Route 15 just west of the southern entrance of Goldmine Street near the Dillwyn Post Office and end just north of Gilliam Motors headed north.

There are about 37 businesses between the current boundary line and Sprouse’s Corner intersection, which include restaurants, retail shops and professional businesses. In addition to more businesses, the proposed adjustments would have also take in more people, houses and land.

“I didn’t hear any negative comments about it but I understand some of the others did, some of the other council members. …,” Paige said.

“I have not had any correspondence from the Town of Dillwyn regarding this matter,” said County Administrator Rebecca S. Carter. “When I first read this topic in The Farmville Herald, the town clerk called me and said that they had planned on contacting me … She said the town would contact me if there was any further discussions. I have not heard anymore on this topic.”

“I haven’t heard anymore about it,” said Vice Mayor Sandra F. Moss. “I haven’t been approached by anybody about it recently. So, I think it’s just not on the table.”

“I was approached by a business owner here in the Town of Dillwyn,” Paige said in April, introducing the topic. “The person … inquired why we have not pursued a boundary adjustment. So, the floor is open for us to discuss. And the boundary adjustment that’s being spoken of, it would run to Sprouse’s Corner.”

“If you’re going to adjust the boundary, you need to have something to give these people that would want them to adjust the boundary,” the mayor said during the spring meeting. “The person [that suggested this] said we could give them sidewalks and lights … I don’t know if you really want sidewalks to go that far.”

“We [will be] researching also what would be the next step, what we would have to do to get the boundary adjustment,” Paige said.

Taxpayers and businesses within the proposed area that Dillwyn was considering adding to its corporate limits “would be hurt” if the boundary line adjustment proposal were adopted, Carter told county supervisors following the council meeting.

The county’s finances would also suffer, Carter told supervisors and in an email obtained by The Herald to town and county officials.

Citing that the county doesn’t have a business tax, Carter said in April that, “Any of those 37 businesses, or all of those 37 businesses, if this annexation or boundary line adjustment took place, all those businesses would then have to pay the Town of Dillwyn a business tax. The properties would be taxed with real estate or vehicles taxed as personal property to the Town of Dillwyn and to the county,” she said. “That’s the burden on the taxpayers and the businesses.”

According to a town application for business license, business license taxes are assessed based on gross receipts per calendar year. The tax rate for retail merchants and contractors is $.0008, wholesale merchants, $.0005 and $.0008 for professional businesses. For peddlers or itinerant merchants, there is a flat $500 fee. There is a minimum license tax of $30, according to the application.