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09-04-1986 Continued MeetingPage 70 CONTINUED MEETING OF THE ISLE OF WIGHT COUNTY BQARD ~F SUPERVISORS HELD THE FOURTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER IN THE YEAR NINETEEN HUNDRED EIGHTY SlX PRESENT: Richard L. Turner, Chairman C. Fred Bailey Henry H. Bradby Joel C. Bradshaw, Jr. Thomas L. Ross, Viee .Chairman Also attending: H, Woodrow Crook, Jr,, County Attorney W. B. Owen, County Administrator Terry D. Lewis, Planning Director. Juanita L. Byrum, Assistant County Administrator Betty Scott, Secretary Chairman. Turner called the meeting to order at 7:35 P,M, and called far a public hearing on the. proposed super speedway to be located in Isle of Wight Gounty. The Chairman called on Ron Pack., .Chairman. of the Hampton Roads Sports Authority, ,rho gave a video tape presentation relative o the proposed race track in the County. Mr. Pack stated several hearings have been held nn the speedway and T have been privileged to serve as your representative on the Hampton Roads Sports Authority. It has been a hard job. I feel like we have made a'good deal, l think we are bringing a facility to this com- munity that wi11 be beneficial, 1 think the public hearing tonight is not whether we are for the. race track, but the public hearing is to determine whether we want to guarantee a portion of the bonds.. Mx. Pack continued stating he is personally in favor of the project and am here tonight as your representative to ask for the concept, this County to guarantee these bonds subject to reviewing the lease agreement. Mr. Pack then presented. Mr. Brad Face, Executive Director and Project Coordinator of the Sports Authority. Mr. Face stated he was present to answer any questions, specifically about the lease agreement and stated it is important for everyone to keep in perspective how this ar.xangement stacks up against an.y other sports development in th.e country. He .continued stating I don't think you can find a more favorable agreement in the public or private sector for. any such development. lt.'s somewhat unusual that the public sector is worried about how to split up the profits from a sports facility because usually there is no profit. Mr. Face stated he agrees with Ron - thinks the Commissioners did an excellent job of negotiating the lease and thinks it will give the Sawyers a goad chance to do very well with the track. Chairman Turner stated this is a public hearing tonight and we will have public comments. Rob James, Virginia Beach., stated he works in Suffolk and is General 0 September 4, 1986, continued meeting Page 71 Manager for the Coca-Cola Plant, and represents Coca-Colla throughout Tidewater, Mr. James stated he came here tonight to be on record saying we have been doing business in the County and it will be.a plus for us, as well as the grocery stores, hotels and all the related items. He stated it looks like we will do a lot of business i£ the track is located in the County and asked the Board to vote for it. James Joyner, Watlers, asked f_there would he any sales tax collected off the sales inside of the campground,. Chairman. Turner replied, yes sir, r1r, Joyner continued stating he had made. a statement to the paper, but it didn't get in there in time, No doubt .you people will approve this l~ ends up to two million dollar bond,. county will have to back the taxes, ~dhen we started this thing we were told the money was available privately. What has happended to that fund? I've asked for it. This time we will not-even get a chance, as the public, to vote on these bonds because last year if you re- member the Supervisors went to the people begging for this authority to be returned to you to head off future annexation procedure, It warn'"t to he used to build a race track with and I am told that within this provision that the people. in the County can have a right to vote on those bonds and I don't be- lieve the Sawyers is in such. a push .that the people in this County shouldn't be given the right to vote on it because tonight I feel the majority of the people in the county are opposed to it because very little is going to be in this county for us. We are going to be in fo,r the nusiance of traffic not one or two weekends out of the year, but several weekends out of the year, The roads are already overloaded, The government te1]_s you there snit money to build roads with and building a four lane 460 is not going to help the problems at all, Besides it is going to reduce the price or value of our property in this area as far as residences are concerned because nobody is going to want a home where they can't get out on the-road. bn weekends with= out the fear of getting run over, like the suicide strip on 58 from Courtland to Emporia, I'm here speaking in opposition for it. If we have got_to put up two million dollars, if the Board feels this thing is worth two million, lets put up the l5 million and get the. other localities out of this thing. I've already seen. Norfolk get. our water, I lived that day - I'm suffering with an 80% loss in one eye from a claim that they never paid, They never settled because of the government backing it to start with. The same is going to happen to this, If a default goes on the bond we are going to be stucked with a monstrosity in our county and these other localities are going. o September 4, 1986, continued meeting Page 72 have control over and we won't have that because we will have one vote and that's it. Fellow Supervisors I beg of you. tonight to think of your neighbours and your citizens and think whether you would want this right up at your back door or not where you couldn't even get out on a Sunday morning to go to church. Fred Thompson, resident living one mile north of Windsor on Highway 258, said that while Tidewater cities may benefit from the tract, the county would get only a little tax revenue and a few part-time jobs. We may be getting a monster in our awn backyard... Elsey Harris, Isle. of Wight County citizen living in Smithfield, stated he did not think area governing bodies should be asked to guarantee the fin- ancing of the track. If the track is to be so lucrative, why-can't the pro- moters find private financing. Mr. Harris expressed concern about the pro- vision that would prohibit the county from ever imposing an amusement tax on tickets because Isle of Wight has few motel rooms or restaurants that would generate additional local revenue. David Joyner, Zuni resident, asked the Board to take a hard long look back to the very beginning, important things that the opposition tried to tell you, the taxpayers will end up paying far this race track, Mr. Joyner. suggested using the money to give to county farmers who need the 1,2 million dollars to help defray their costs due to the drought situation. Mr. Joyner expressed concern the county citizens fear all will pay for the race .track and he begged the Board members to-think about the citizens' urge to dis- approve. the bonds when they vote-tonight, Pat Carr, from the Carrsville District, stated she was bitterly opposed to the race track and bond. issue. She expressed concern regarding the traffic and stated she cannot see any way taxpayers can benefit from the race track. J, Z. Coleman, resident an Route 6Q6 in Isle of Wight County, spoke in favor of the track. He stated a four year trade school will be built in the county and the track will help to promote the school. He asked the Board's favorable consideration, H, L. Thacker, county resident, spoke in favor of an amusement tax. A. D. Doggett, Jr., Isle of Wight citizen, .asked the Board to listen to the public opinion and add to their thoughts and make a decision for the best of the county. Mr. Doggett expressed concern regarding traffic, noise, police protection, etc,. September 4, 1986, continued meeting Page 73 Tommy Robinson., Windsor, spoke in favor of the race track. Mr. Robin- son stated all the traffic that comes from the south and west is going to come through Isle. of Wight County.. We will get the traffic no matter where the track is located. Mr. Robinson continued stating we are a little guy and won against the big boys. There are a lot of things that will benefft the county. We are being asked to back the bonds, not pay them. NASCAR has proved to be a.money making project. Any business is a risk and we need to decide whether we want to take the risk to prove it can work. Mr. Robin- son asked the Board to vote favorably on .the bond issue. Merritt George, Smithfield, stated he goes to the races every year'in Charlotte and spends at least $300.00 excluding cost of the tickets. His money is spent in grocery stores, convenience stores, etc. He feels the county businesses will also benefit from the race track and asked for the Board's favorable vote. James W. Holland, Windsor, stated he is not deadly opposed to the race track if it does not bother people and we have the facilities to handle it. Mr. Holland asked who has made a study to determine Isle of Wight County will profit from the track, what is it going to cost Isle of Wight County. That gives the .profit or loss, stated Mr. Holland. Mr. Holland stated he fells the land is being given away with no control, Tommy Darden, Route 644 resident, stated he agrees with everybody that has talked for .and against the race track. However, he hopes the county will realize something from the proposed race track. Ellen Holland, Windsor, stated she was opposed to the race track, opposed to the county backing the bonds with the taxpayers' money. Joey Mitchell, Carrollton, spoke in favor of the bond issue, stating it is nothing different than a second mortgage.. on your home. The speedway stands for itself, stated Mr. Mitchell. Alan Nogiec, resident of Windsor and speaking as a county resident, spoke in favor of the bond issue. Mr. Nogiec stated he had heard tonight and people in the past talk about what are the benefits going to be to the county. It seems like the only thing that anybody can really relate to is the dollar sign. Well, if dollar signs are the only thing that makes sense, then what we need to consider is if this facility, if this 1200 plus or minus acres, is going to generate approximately $100,000 to the county for the real estate value that this might be, that's approximately 24 times what I I J September 4, 1986, continued meeting Page 74 the county is receiving off the property now. Under land use, the county receives somewhere in the neighborhood of $2,164.57. Looking at it being taxed not under land use, we are looking at approximately $4,205.53e One hundred thousand dollars is somewhere in the neighborhood of 24 times that. So if we are looking at this from a dollar standpoint, i.f dollars are the only thing that we can understand, this is a good business deal. If you can do this several times over and that will take care of the problems that we are having with annexation, with the rising cost of services and this type of .thing. Mr. Nogec continued stating I think the benefits that will come to the county have got to go beyond that. Everybody says we don't have motels and restaurants. We do have motels and restaurants. Maybe we don't have as many as they. have in Virginia Beach, but we have a couple of motels and we have several restaurants. This will be beneifical. I think it is a good possibility that if this track is built. and if it is as successful as every- body thinks,. and I think it will be,-and. I've been involved to the point where I've had enough information where I think. I can safely say that in my mind if I had $20,000 I would like to invest in something like that. If it's successful- then I think Isle of Wight will benefit from some of the options, maybe there will be a motel built, who knows, if that's not a pro- bability then why has property along 258 and 460 has been for sale for years and years, once they indicated the race track would be in Isle. of .Wight County, the property value there doubled or at least the, asking price doubled. I-guess that would have some indication as to what it might do to property values, T think that Isle. of Wight County has set a precedent and you folks had better press it as far as the direction you think is goad for the county. Obviously, there has been a considerable amount of residential growth, particularly in the Windsor area and other parts of the county and I think that you realize with some of .the things that-you have done that residential growth is not a good planning approach to providing financial stability through a local government and. regardless of what anybody .thinks, local government is - whether you have got a l3 million dollar budget nr $300,000,000 budget - it's big business, Whatever locality you are in you have to look at it that way. Some of the things you have done, you have developed the Economic Development Committee, whose goal is to put this county in a position where we can apply to,fhe State fog certifcation and there is a number of benefits, as I understand'it, in relation to what might be available. to the county in soliciting for different industries. It might come once we meet E~ September 4, 1986, continued meeting Page 75 the requirements for the certification. The Industrial Development Authority has been in existence for a number of years and their goal is to provide industrial development bonds to businesses to come into the county to develop and to generate a nucelus for industry to come into the county, You have authorized and supported .the motor sports complex committee whose goal was to put Isle of Wight County in a position where we would be the chosen locat- ion for the facility and obviously this has happened,- Isle of Wight County needs industries, Isle of Wight County has potential to draw industry. If you look around at what`s happening to other localities, obviously Suffolk and their surprising campaign which. has cost them thousands and thousands of dollars, feels the days of just the locality being there,. that being located by-the railroad, being there with a reasonable tax rate are over with. If you are going to solicit for industry you are going to have to work at it and have to spend a little money and have to do something to approach. the locality. Portsmouth has put together TV ads to be aired on cable TV pro- moting Portsmouth and their downtown. Norfolk has had an active campaign going to develop downtown and the City of Portsmouth. It has boomed ever since Waterside has been developed. Nationwide you ride down the roads whether you are in Ohio, Kentucky or Connecticut or wherever you might be and you see billboards that are soliciting people to come to different localities. Isle of Wight has developed a brochure that is to promote Isle of Wight County to draw industry here to offset the cost of some of the re- sidential cost, the cost of service which is increasing, increasing all the time. National exposure from this type of facility should be worth money. It 'should be worth thousands and thousands of dollars, maybe even millions of dollars. National TV advertisement is extremely expensive. Every time someone mentions the speedway, whether it be in an ad or whether it be by word of mouth, whether it be on a TV ad or whether it be on a brochure pro- moting the facility the date line in this thing is going to be Isle of Wight County or Windsor or something promoting Isle of Wight County. It's not going to be located in Hampton Roads, even though it is owned by the Hampton Roads Sports Authority, it`s going to be located in Isle of Wight County. Rockingham Speedway is not, it`s not named Rockingham Speedway- it's North Carolina Motor Speedway - but everybody when they talk about it they talk about Rockingham. They have a tendency to pick up an identity. I think that would benefit Isle•of Wight County. There will be a consider- able amount of opportunity with providing this exposure to the people across i September 4, 1986, continued meeting Page 76 the country to promote Isle of Wight County. I think this will also put us in the position where the corporate heads that will be coming to the facility, the people. that sponsor the race cars that provides sponsorship at these facilities, spend .big dollars, These are people that are in a position to spend big dollars.. These are corporate executives, these are people that make decisions whether they want to move out of a particular city and move out into the country to provide an economical .growth and a more sophisticated approach and provide. their employees maybe with a little better lifestyle than what they might have up north. Isle of Wight County is located in the sun belt. The sun belt is the prime location for. industry to relocate. This should put Isle of Wight County and the people in the position to solicit this type of industry to be maybe a little more selective, maybe we will not be in the position where Isle of Wight County will be crisis. oriented and have to take anything that comes Tong so we can. generate the revenue to maintain the services that we have before we have to start cutting services. I have seen this happen. It happened because the residential growth in a rural county that wasn't ready for it overtook the county and it created a deficit. It's not unrealstic,_it can happen if you don't look at it from a business standpoint. It can very well happen. What I am saying to you is that I think this facility will have. a lot of options, a-lot of spinoffs, more than. what might be immediately re- cognized in dollars. T would urge your abilities for long range planning, your abilities to see what would happen further on down the road and I agree with some of these folks that there is additional room for negotiations and I think you have stated that, that further on down the road there will be additional negotiations as to what additional dollars might come to the county, but we have enough foresight, enough ability to look into. the future to see not only what might happen now, not only to visualize the numbers of cars on 258 when the people. leave the racetrack, but to see what might happen five or ten or fifteen years down the road and what this facility can do to enhance the lifestyle in Isle of Wight County. There has been discussion of providing recreational facilities. This is a prime opportunity.: There. has. been discussions of developing unity in the county. Isle of Wight County is long and is narrow and there is a lot of open space in the northern end and the middle and the southern end .and something needs to be done or a con- timing effort needs to go on to provide this unity. I think that possibly this facility might be an catalysis for something. like this. I think the :i 11 September 4, 1986,. continued meeting Page 77 windfall that would come to the county and to the businesses will not be automatic. I think if you have the .opportunity to provide the business.. people with an option or with an opportunity that if with a little in- genuity, a little creativity they can enhance their business or they can make the county a little bit better place, Junior Keen, resident of Smithfield, stated some twelve months ago you all (.the Board of Supervisors) gave the green light to pursue-this race track. We had a very active committee who dedicated itself to the very fortunate coming of the race track. We hope tonight you will continue to support it as you have in the past by your actions, There are several things I would like to-say.. Hampton Roads, by the Sports Authority being created, we feel will break down a lot of barriers in the. cities in the past. By breaking down the barrzers of those cities, then we get to be a part of Hampton Roads. This will help us, I think, not to become a bedroom com- munity. Some people here said .tonight farm operations are in trouble, farms every year are being sold and divided into subdivisions, We are fast be- coming a bedroom community, in my opinion, not a healthy one.. This gives us a chance to barter, I think. Every morning we get up, we .take a chance, Everytime you enlarge your business, you take a chance, go out and buy a bigger and better home, you take a chance. I think it is time for Isle. of Wight County to go forward and take a chance to become part of the Greater Hampton Roads, James Wesley Holland stated with the exception of one man, eueryone in favor has something to gain, It is a political obligation, why should we be obligated to Paul Sawyer - he is a sly fox and you are not going to catch. him, we will be the ones to get caught. Chairman Turner stated the bands we are talking ab-.out is considering whether the bonds can be .floated by the Parks and Recreation Authority and be supported by banks and/or businesses. The Chairman continued stating the taxes proposed by Mr, Sawyers attorney is they would be taxed as if it is a privately owned business, The Sports Authority is a non-profit organization and cannot be taxed, the same tax (personal property and sales taxes) will be paid by P. W. B, Promotions, Inc. The taxes that will be revenue coming to the county by the Sawyers will be a direct tax to be paid as if privately owned.. In regard to the cost of fire, police and rescue protection, the- Sawyers will pay this, stated the Chairman. Regarding the trash situation, the Chairman stated the P. W. B. Promotions, Inc. will maintain the camp- } September 4, 1986, continued meeting Page 78 ground and all. related facilities, will supply own trash detail and will be treated like any other industry in the county relative to trash disposal. Supervisor Bradby stated he feels the proposed race. track will work to benefit the county citizens and hopes the Board will look favorably upon an agreement whereby we all will benefit financially. Supervisor Bailey stated he has many questions regarding the memorandum of agreement. He stated he is for the benefit of Isle of tiJight County, but does not see how he can support what is in the memorandum of agreement. Supervisor Bailey continued stating he thinks some terms should be changed, especially taxes. He has no objection to the race track perse. Supervisor Bradshaw expressed concern regarding the additional 30 acre parcel. Brad Face answered their intent with-that is to know whether it is in or out so they can design the speedway to accommodate whatever the situat- ion is. Mr. Face continued saying they think they can set the track in there, but either way they want to know which way it is. Supervisor Bradshaw stated this will hold it up. Mr. Frace replied well what they don't want to do is build a race track in one configuration and have it resolved later that the land is not theirs., they want to resolve it one way or the other before they begin, Supervisor Bradshaw also expressed concern regarding after the bonds including any taxable tax exempt be funded for the said bonds have been fully retired including new opposition - first, 12% of gross ticket sales after bonds is paid off. Mr. Face. replied yes. Supervisor Bradshaw stated I just don't like that - that 12% of gross sales and I believe you have got on TV 3% of the gross revenue. Chairman Turner asked Supervisor Bradshaw if he thought it should be more or less and he replied the Authority agrees to use its best efforts., but at no cost or expense to the Authority, (2) have introduced in the General Assembly a bill exempting the project, the im- position or .any admission tax. Supervisor Bradshaw said the reason I bring this up - you are asking us, with the other seven localities, to go to the General Assembly and exempt us from any amusement tax, which I said all along I aon't think you should put the amusement tax on right at first, but then we go back here where you've got this in there after the. bond pay back you've got.a 12% gross ticket sale which that will interfer from us -you're getting that much from 12% gross ticket sales after the bond pay back - what are we going to do with all of that money? I understand you are talking about a stadium and all that, but that could amount to a big..,,.. Mr. Face re- September 4, 1986, continued meeting Page 79 plied that question was raised last night in Suffolk, by being a non-com- missioner, I can't even .speak for the commission - that would be the vote of the commissioners, the commissioners. of the eight jurisdictions would decide what would be done with it. Supervisor Bradshaw stated what the people are concerned about now - what is coming to Isle of Wight County, in this 12% in the pay back it seems to me maybe we could generate a .little bit more money in Isle of Wight County some way or another it could be worked out. Mr. Face replied, yes, but of course, that's beyond my authority. I think the intent of the lease is to return almost nothing to the Authority for the first 15 years;. the only amount of money the Authority is taking out of the project during the first 15 years is enough to run the office, perhaps do a couple of studies because the Authority is realizing no profit out of it until the year 16 and at that point there's no debt service, stated Mr. Face.. Mr. Face continued saying .at that point and remainder of the lease, that is when the people who have backed the $15,ODO,000 in bonds. I don't think one should have the idea that all we are talking. about is a stadium,. we are talking about anything within the charter of the Authority, any recreation facility, softball fields, boat ramps, swimming pools, which can be constructed at that point, stated Mr. Face. Chairman Turner stated he thought some explanation needs to be made on this tax. When it was. first talked about and the affect it has in the State of .Virginia, it is a maximum of a 10% tax. The Chairman continued stating that when it became involved the concern of the participating jurisdictions was that they are going to take their taxpayers money we are talking about here for the backing of these bonds and if we imposed a 10% tax on the facility,. which if we used round figures of $10,000,000 income, we are talking about $1,000,000 income to Isle of Wight County 'and we are asking other areas to back the facility we are going to skim off $1,000,000 from the top to start out with just on the amusement part of it. That. was a concern of the jurisdiction representatives that such a tax may be to the point that it would injure or may even put a situation of the issue not succeeding. Chairman Turner continued stating a question has been raised to put a limit on such tax as l%, 2% or 5%; I think it is a situation that this Board can also consider for the other seven cities they have the .right to have tax and I think it is justifable and I would propose to go to Richmond and. have it made an exemption. I would propose. that it be dropped, no action, and at such time the facility is operating in a successful } September 4, 19$h~ continued meeting Page ~9 manner anal the l.iablites of the cities involved of backing the bonds would not be a danger I don't feel like the council members of the jurisdictions would care either. way if it Caere a small tax as a minimum basis and at such time in the future once the operation was in existence was running that a area of limit could be installed by which Isle of Wight County could benefit. Mx. Face commented the intent of the Authority was just to protect allowing this tax, Supervisor Bailey stated he thought the discussion of admission tax needs tc~ be talked about, even .the real estate tax, there's nothing to keep the Hampton Roads Sports Authority from agreeing to paying the tax and they get it from Sawyer ~ they will have the title to the land. Just because they were created by the legislature does'not say they are npt entitled to agree to pay the tax, I think they have assumed hat they are not going to collect the. tax they don't care whether we ,get the money or not. Ron-Pack stated Ism your representative-and I would .like to think that i I had something to do with the payment of taxes. As it was the Authority was going to build the project and produce no revenue for Isle of Wight County, maybe I wasn't the. only perspn involved, but I would like to,think I had a lot to da with making sure isle of Wight County got its fair share of taxes These people should pay the. same taxes that I pay or you pay or the Smithfield Times pay, Supervisor Bailey stated what I am saying is the admission tax is a fee that the Sawyers cannot collect period. You can't collect a fee. The admission tax would be an add on tax which is entitled to the locality and you are taking that authority away from the. county by saying you are going to get the tax exempt. Mr. Pack replied this particular item of the lease bothered the Sawyers the most. Their rationale was first day they pit out here like some of your towns, the guys on the block - we found a new pack, charge you guys 10% and that .was the number that was quoted. and everybody saw $300,000 to $500,00 a year. This is what they saw and they jumped back and said we just got here and all of a sudden they made up this tax. It was. kind of like we are willing to pay the tax if everybody, else will pay and top of that you are going to charge me additional tax for every dollar I take in. The purpose of the lease agreement to have this provision, because there is no law that says. that fives .years from now. you can't say the tax will be 10% t September 4, 1986, cantinued meeting gage 80 or whatever the maximum is. Mr. Pack continued saying whatever agreement you made today verbally or whatever good old fellows we are say that you are not going to do anything, not going to tax, there is not any light. They are businessmen trying to find out today what it will be, that"s not to say they won't pay a 1% tax. County Attorney expanded on the tax situation saying there seems to be some misunderstanding about the tax situation. Mr. Crook continued say- ing the Sawyers made a.proposal at the last. meeting to make a payment in lieu of real estate taxes and it was resolved that they would pay the taxes the same is privately owned and that was fine under the law. This was pursuant to the memorandum of agreement, the last provision which says execution of satisfactory agreement with Isle of :Wight County for payment in lieu of taxes. Now, since that time I have reviewed the Code and I have had certain provisions of the Code brought to my attention, he said. We have. two statues - one statute provides that real estate owned, the owner is exempt from taxation, the lessee of that real estate will pay the real estate taxes.- The other statute provides that the real estate taxes if the lease. is 50 years or more the tax is 100%, below 50 years it reduces 2% each year. The proposed lease agreement memorandum is for 40 years with options to re- new, so actually the lease agreement would give them a 10% tax break in the real estate taxes under those statutes. Their agreement to pay the taxes,... same as if privately owned, would be they would be paying 100% of the real estate taxes, but to say that they are. exempt from-real estate taxes is not accurate. Another thing we talked about the admissions tax. at 10% and say well we agree to 1% or 2% is illegal.. This Board cannatdetermine what the taxes will be in the future. This Board can say this year the tax will be 1%, the next Board-scan come in and say 2 and 3 and. on up, so there's no way this Board could agree to 2% admission tax or 3% admission tax even if it had the authority at this point to levy those taxes. Now the question you raised about do we agree with the Authority that they turn over to us 3% of the revenue that they receive we certainly could propose that and I don't see any legal barrier to that, I don't know if they would agree to it, but I don't see any legal barrier, said Mr. Crook. Chairman. Turner asked if the lessee or the Sawyers would be subject to tax in which Mr. Crook replied actually 90% of the real estate., normal real estate tax, but by agreeing to pay the full amount. they are paying 100%. Chairman Turner stated it is the duty of this Board as far as revenues i I~ J September 4, 1986, continued meeting Page 81 coming from the county the intent and in support of the rest of the agreement with. the. provisions, pointed out that are. going to come later if we have a change such as 2 or 3 percent. involved in, this area, it is appropriate that you do carry it back and the other areas will know where we axe coming from at which time this county will say heywe need a little bit more than what the average cut is across the board. Supervisor Bradshaw queried this is l2% plus 3%. Chairman Turner replied 12% of one type of revenue and Supervisor Bradshaw said 3% of the gross .revenue other than ticket sales, so you'll be getting 15%. Mr, Pace staged th.e tickets .should amount- to about 90% of the revenue of the track, so the tickets. you get 12% of approximately 90% of the. revenue and 3% of 10% or less,: That~s every other dollar that. flows into P. W. B. Promotions, except for the royalities that go directly to television which go directly to NASCAR and. the drivers. Chairman Turner stated one: of the problems is we are telling Mr. Sawyer to trust us because we are good people and we are not going to put a 1Q/ tax on them .and on the other hand we may be asking Mr, Sawyer the same and he may be asking us trust me and I'm going to look after you., but I think the best way to do it is to tie it down in a contract, We have al- ready pointed out from Mr, Crook's findings that there is a tax situation that he is going to pay the tax and if you want additional revenue if ,here is an avenue by which you. can legally set that revenue so it is not going to 'be detrimental to the success.of the project but will be instrumental to bring revenue to the county and have a legal way of doing that without causing an .unknown tax, such as a 10% that could -let's say this Board Mr. Sawyer trusted, but the next Board didn't exactly like him anal they put a 10% tax on: If we can tie it up in a. contract here where we will receive a part of the revenue from that facility as proposed in your agreement with Mr. Sawyer, I think that is the direction to go, Mr. Crook replied you cannot tie the hands of any future Board because you cannot tie the hands of any future Board, you cannot agree that there wil.1 be no admission tax. You can't agree to that. You cannot agree. that. it will be 10% of 2% or 10% because every .single Board that is elected has a right to assess taxes on every citizen in .the county including corporate citizens, so you are not. making an agreement that is in lieu of taxes. What Mr. Turner is suggesting is a pay back to the county of this percentage of what .the Authority is going to receive - it is not a tax.- it's a lease fee that they are getting and they would pay part of that back to the county } September 4, 1.9$6, continued meeting Page 82 because Mr, Turner suggested its saa..d Mr4 Crook: Yt's a..lright as a sug- gestion, but what happens if the. other-seven authorities want the same thing, then. it doesn't work anal that's what you are going to be confronted with, said Mr. Crook. Mr. Pack stated. my position is September 1.5th is he magic deadline for. us and other counties anal cities we have asked to support the concept of the lease to-back. the bonds, The provisions that go back I cant guarantee you will get. them al.l, but I've got to have some direction. Chairman Turner moved this Board endorse the concept of what has been presented here tonight as the county backing its portion of th.e Sports Authority or the race track being in Isle of Wight County' that also the proposal of taxes being paid to the county by-the l.eSsee agreed upon at the 1.00% level as we]_.l as the percent of gross revenue that would,be received by the Sports Authority once the bonds- are paid would be shared to the point of 3% of the 12% - 1% of the 3% would be paid to Isle of Wight County; the reason being that there are and have been many discussions made due to the fact that other localities would greatly benefit from this and Isle of Glight County won't get much out of it. We would like to see Hampton Roads put itself on the map.. Chairman Turner incorporated .that all of this. be subject to being legal; we have to research .and make sure it is correct in that manner, County Attorney Crook stated we have the resolution that is sur,posed to be adopted which. your mat.on h.as been to approve the concept and what you are looking at here is whether or not to approve this resolution and if so whether you want to attach any additional conditions, The resolution as it reads and sent to us by the attorney for the Authority reads: WHEREAS, the County of Isle of Wight has determined that it is necessary and proper in its best interest to guarantee up to our proportionate share of the guaranteed bonds subject to the conditions hereinafter set forth in this resolution. 1. That it does agree to guarantee $ of the guaranteed bonds and. does hereby authorize the execution of the appropriate guarantee. agreement slxbject to the following specific conditions (a) the final point of guarantee shall have been approved by the County Attorney, Ch) the Board shall have received and approved a written lease agreement between the Authority and the lessee,' (c) other participating political subdivisions shall. have by adoption. of a resolution or ordinance substantially i September 4, 1986, continued meeting Page 83 similar to this resolution agreed to guarantee their respective portions. of the guaranteed bonds allocated to them as set forth in the above recital,. (d) the Authority shall have received from NASCAR written assurances accept- able to the Authority that the lessee has been granted the right to run at least two (2) NASCAR sanctioned races per year for each year the guarnateed f bonds are. outstanding and that in the event of a default by the lessee under the lease or in the event between the lessee and NASCAR is cancelled or otherwise terminated NASCAR or another operator chosen by NASCAR will be granted the right to run,as the case maybe two (2) NASCAR sanctioned races each year for the remaining period of the guaranteed bonds outstanding. Now those are the conditions that have been added to the resolution so far. You have suggested Mr. Chairman that we add the :conditions that the county receive 3% of the revenue received by the Authority; Mr. Bailey has suggested that we require the provision in the agreement that the Authority will use i.ts best effort to have introduced into the Virginia Assembly a bill exempting the project from .the imposition of admissions tax be deleted.. Really the proper way to do this, said Mr. Crook, would be to take this resolution and add the conditions that you want to it, such as what you have said and what Mr. Bailey has said and what any other member of the Board wants to propose to be added to it and then adopt that resolution. Chairman Turner rephased his motion to read instead that the resolution as presented by Mr. Crook with the addition that the county would receive at such tzme the Authority-receives the 12% we would receive 25% of the revenue. Mr. Pack asked what position does he take if the Authority does not agree? Chairman Turner replied the negotiating position is what you bring back to us - we either vote for it or we don't vote for it. County Attorney Crook stated to the Board members he (Mr. Crook) has no problem with the concept you promoted earlier about taking this out of the agreement., but what you are saying right now is lets put in the agreement that we will not have the admissions tax until the bonds are retired. Now that. is the same thing as saying we are not going to have admissions taxes for 15 years and-that's what I told you before is not legal - you cannot do that. Now if you want to take it out entirely, but don't try to put a time limit or rate limit on a future tax. Mr. Crook continued stating the 12% is the rent that is being paid and we are asking for. a cut of the rent - you are not asking for a tax, } September 4, 1986, continued meeting Page 84 Supervisor Bailey amended Chairman Turner's motion to take out the section on the lease on the part of the Authority to get the tax exempt status for this project. That would be deleted from the agreement, Chairman Turner stated that if we are going to look in that direction, I would certainly suggest the fact that they not take any action to do that, Chairman Turner stated he is proposing that as a change to the resolution - the Board would vote on that change, County Attorney Coook reiterated that the Board cannot agree not to have admissions tax, you could ask the General Assembly this year for the authority to impose admissions. tax and next year you could impose the admissions tax, If they go through with what they propose here, the Authority is going to ask the General Assembly to exempt that race track, Now, .what Mr. Bailey was suggesting was remove that from the agreement and Mr. Bradshaw is agreeable and Mr. Turner is saying lets ask for 3% of the l2% of the rent. Following discussion, County Attorney Crook stated for clarification of the Board that Mr. Bailey had amended the motion to add removal of para- graph l under the Authority cooperation portion of the lease at this point, so actually you would vote on that amendment. The amendment is to take out the provision that the Authority will. introduce a bill in the General Assembly to exempt the project from admissions tax. The vote in favor was unanimous. Chairman Turner stated now the original motion as amended will be voted on. The motion passed unanimously, County Attorney Crook stated the .motion was to adopt the resolution that I read with the provision that the .county receive 3% of the 12% (25% of fees collected by the Authority) when it is collected as rent and with the provision the .agreement to seek the bill in the General Assembly to exempt the project from admissions tax be deleted. At 11:00 P.M. Supervisor Bradshaw moved the meeting be adjourned which passed unanimously, _.. _ , ~~ < ~ C. ` ~° c3 Richar L, Turner, Chairman x, W. B. Owen, lerk }