Words from the Chamber

If at all possible, show up on Volunteer Day this Saturday at 9 a.m. at the Grant Headquarters pull off on Route 24 (located on the right just as you enter the National Historical Park area). Bring your own gloves and water and help pick up roadside trash. Trash bags, grabbers and safety vests will be provided

Kudos to Kathy Brandt (434-515-3825) for stepping up and organizing this event. Like many of you, I do not understand why people discard trash from their vehicles but it happens and community efforts to clean it up are important. Not only will cleaner roadsides improve the image of our community but one never knows when outsiders may be checking us out for a move here or the setting up of a business. Community involvement to accomplish such tasks is a positive element that can influence such evaluations.

Did you know that the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has a program to assist volunteers in keeping a segment of a roadside clean? You have probably seen Adopt-a-Highway signs along certain roads. AAH volunteers agree to pick up litter at least two times a year for three years over a two-mile stretch of highway. In return, the VDOT provides trash bags, vests, important safety information, and highway signs that recognize your group.

I learned of this from Tom Detrick of Edwards Jones, who performs this civic service for a stretch of roadway in the Pamplin area and I was considering organizing such an effort for Pumping Station Road when the pandemic struck. I hope to revisit this idea soon.

In last week’s column, I mentioned the meals tax as being one challenge in the consideration of merging town and county governments. What are the pros and cons of the meal tax?

Most of us have at one time or another been a bit astonished when we take a look at our restaurant bill and see 13.3 percent added after the cost of our food and beverage items. As restaurant patrons, few of us are pleased with the extra burden.

Restaurant owners have often expressed to me their dissatisfaction with the high tax. They feel unfairly singled out in a manner that probably reduces their ability to compete for consumer expenditures.

When asked what one would like to have added to Appomattox, residents often mention a chain restaurant (Applebee’s, Ruby Tuesday, etc.). The existence of such a high tax in a small town is likely the primary obstacle for such an investment by a large organization. For the local restaurant owner, is this barrier to increased competition from better known restaurants more or less beneficial than the burden placed by the high meals tax?

In order to provide public services, taxes have to come from somewhere. Efforts of the Appomattox Tourism Committee and its members have steadily increased these revenues over the past years and the town council is adding its support of the tourism effort to continue the increases. Any threat to eliminate or reduce this source of funds is unlikely to get very far.

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