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I was wondering when the first call about this would come in. And when it did happen, basically things were like I expected. The floodgates opened and people from all over Prince Edward had a handful of questions. How could we let this happen? Why is it happening now? Why weren’t we stopping it from happening? My personal favorite was the last question. Why didn’t you tell us about this? And to that I replied each time that we did.

Of course, I’m referring to the tax bills, which in many cases look dramatically different this year. Yes, those numbers did go up, because of the real estate revaluation that we started putting out articles and posts about last year, before Prince Edward County even officially hired the firm that did the work. But this next part is the reason I bring this up. In most cases after I pointed out we had reported on it, I got the same response. “Oh,” they said, “well, I don’t really pay attention to local politics anyway. Most of the time, it doesn’t matter.”

Most of the time, local government doesn’t matter? By the very nature of calls and emails I’ve received about taxes, you’re proving that argument to be inaccurate. Yes, you were impacted by the county’s decision to hold a revaluation this year, just as you were impacted by the increase in property values. Each and every resident of Prince Edward is affected when the supervisors set the tax rate each year, as well as when they decide to do something like push for an extra cent on sales tax, as a way of helping to pay for the renovated elementary school.

GET FOCUSED

Despite being in uproar over taxes, so many still don’t see how local government affects them. They’ll talk all day and night about something on the national scene, but when it comes to a local vote, something that will change things in their town or county, you hear radio silence.

It’s not just in Prince Edward. From Buckingham to Cumberland, Charlotte to Lunenburg and all points in between, there is one clear point. The politicians with the most impact on your day to day lives don’t live in Washington or Richmond. They live right here. They make decisions each month on everything from tax relief to deciding if a concert venue will be moving next door to your house. They set tax rates, they approve solar permits, they decide if developers need some assistance or if the town or county needs some more restrictions for certain issues.

And yet, the number of people who show up at town or county meetings can often be counted on one hand. In some cases, you don’t need more than two or three fingers. The same goes for local elections. If the vote isn’t held the same year as a presidential or governor’s race, you’re lucky to pull 10% to 20% of residents to cast a ballot.

Let’s reflect for a minute. In the last couple months alone, local councils and boards of supervisors have debated restricting everything from the size of a fence to what materials will be allowed to be used in the creation of one. They’ve implemented land banks, signed off on solar projects and, in the case of Cumberland, ended up getting sued.

‘THAT’S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN’

Let me take a minute to also touch on what’s not going to happen. I raise this point because I have heard it several times. “Oh, well this won’t stand anyway. After the election, the president will make this go away.” Really? Name one time in all of our history where a president of the United States stepped into a situation like this and ordered a county to do what, exactly? To reject the results of the revaluation? The same standard practice that has been going on for decades? Nope, we all know that’s not going to happen, regardless of who wins the presidential or even congressional races. The General Assembly isn’t going to step in, either.

Why? Mainly because there’s no crime committed here. There’s nothing happening other than what’s taken place roughly twice a decade for years. It just becomes somewhat shocking now because rather than seeing property values decline, those numbers are starting to go back up. For people who want to sell or get excited to see their property increase in value, it’s a good thing. For everyone else, it’s just a higher bill. But at the end of the day, you can come up with all the arguments you want, and yet all that does is delay a plan to pay the increased taxes. And again, none of it would have been surprising if you had kept up with the decisions made by local government.

I don’t expect things to change. What will happen is in two to three months, when the first dilapidated house is acquired by the Farmville land bank or the first visitors can arrive at Buckingham’s ‘Shireton’, I’ll get a call or email, demanding to know how and why this is happening. I’ll say the same thing as I did here and get the same response. ‘Oh, well, I don’t pay attention to local politics anyway.’ Maybe everyone should.

BRIAN CARLTON is the editor for The Farmville Herald and Farmville Newsmedia, LLC. He can be reached at Brian.Carlton@FarmvilleHerald.com.