Petersburg council considers reducing amount of overdue taxes and bills

Written by Lucky Wilson | KGTO Writer on December 14, 2021

Petersburg council considers reducing amount of overdue taxes and bills – Correct Success

PETERSBURG – City Council will consider one motion that could affect the bottom-line for a number of residents in the city. Two other agenda items being considered have to do with bringing historic background and more arts to Downtown Petersburg.

The meeting will be held at 5 p.m. on Dec. 14 inside Petersburg Public Library.The meeting can be accessed digitally at this link.

Motion to have city manager “reduce” some overdue taxes and bills

Council members are set to consider a motion that would direct the city manager to crate an action plan with timelines by February 2022, related to reducing certain past-due taxes and bills. The agenda lists the following items to be considered:

To reduce past-due personal property taxes to as close to zero as is feasible.
To reduce past-due real estate taxes to as close to zero as is feasible.
To reduce past-due utility bills to as close to zero as is feasible.
To collect the deficiency owing the City after a sale is held to collect past-due real estate taxes.

Not much information is available outside of the listed items. The motion was filed into the agenda by Ward 4 council member Charlie Cuthbert.

Related to utility payments – Petersburg announced in October that city residents owed nearly $8 million in past-due payments. The city only has about $4.2 million in funding that could be used to relieve those overdue accounts – between $3.6 million in pandemic-related utility assistance funds from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, and around $560,000 that was allocated as “Community Recovery Funds” from the city’s first American Rescue Plan Act funding.

Local Art market seeking council support

The 7Moons Market is going to present to council in hopes of getting its support for the weekly arts market held on Old Street from April through October in 2022. Economic development nonprofit Main Street Petersburg Inc. has filed the request for support.

Agenda documents say the organization is seeking $30,000 over the course of seven months, plus support from city staff in closing off streets for the events. This support would make it possible to hold the event every Friday, versus every other Friday. Main Street Petersburg the added consistency of holding the event every week will increase awareness and create a more vibrant community.

Downtown historic postcard signs

Petersburg will decide whether or not to move forward with a signage campaign, placing historical imagery around the downtown area. Pictures from over 100 historical postcards have been designed to showcase Petersburg throughout the years. The initial proposal for this Phase One is offering 14 of the most recognizable locations from the downtown area.

There are varying sizes of postcard images that can be used and several options for how they can be displayed. Some might be an aluminum sign affixed to historic brick through an adhesive-like substance, others might be held in place with a signpost. Larger post card images can be installed in a mural design.

A QR code has been customized for each postcard so that onlookers can scan the historic postcards and find more information about that location and its history.

You can reach Sean Jones at s [email protected]. Follow him at @SeanJones_PI. Follow The Progress-Index on Twitter at @ProgressIndex.

— to www.progress-index.com

please Subscribe for further updates