“Tomorrow, Tuesday the 27th of April will be the final vote on the County Budget.
There are Supervisors that will be standing firm on their belief and understanding that the County should continue to search for additional budget cuts verses raising your taxes.  Our representatives on the front line need our support and our presence tomorrow.  All the Supervisors need to see the whites of your eyes staring down upon them.  When we just sit at home and do nothing we send the signal that we are OK with whatever they decide to do.  Do you care?

Please do your best to be at the Greenfield Education Center at 2:00 PM .

Support the ones that are protecting your wallets from wasteful or unnecessary spending.

If you can make it (because the meeting is at 2PM,  it’s obvious they don’t want you there) please go and make a stand against raising taxes.

He spoke at our April 15 Tax Day Tea Party rally and explained – among other things – how the Council could find the money to make up the school funding shortfall without the “temporary” 2% restaurant tax increase set to go into effect in July. Mike went through the most recent Roanoke City budget and found more $20 million which could be used to fund the schools right now.

Powell’s belief is that the size of Roanoke City government can be drastically reduced, allowing the city to relieve the tax burdens on homeowners, small businesses and retail consumers. Roanoke has seen its population decrease while city spending has gone up – and middle class homeowners and businesses have left for Roanoke and Botetourt counties.

Click here to view the embedded video.

You can also watch this video on YouTube.

If you support what Mike Powell believes and what he will do for Roanoke City government, please visit his web site, where you can make a donation, volunteer to help, or contact him for more information. As you might expect, a small government candidate is not what the Roanoke power structure wants to see, so he really needs your help if he is to win this underdog campaign.

But oh… won’t it be sweet if he does!

Botetourt Residents…Don’t miss the Action Alert below:

We now have a formal address and phone number.

Roanoke Tea Party

PO Box 20285
Roanoke, VA 24018

540 491-0212

The phone number goes straight to a voice mail, but we will do our best to respond as quickly as possible.

• We are actively negotiating for a locale for our March meeting. We hope to have a bigger and better locale set up very soon.
• There is now a page to buy a one year membership. This costs only $25.00.
• We will have a downloadable membership form and a members only page set up shortly.
• We will have a tighter more action oriented agenda for our March meeting.

Good News! HB69 The Firearm Freedom Act was passed by committee and will be in front of the House of Delegates early next week. Thank Morgan Griffith for his support! More on HB69 here…. Contact your Delegate and ensure they vote yes on HB69 next week.

Action Alert:

From Danny Goad:

Stop Botetourt County Tax Increase Now!!! 

According to recent comments by Botetourt County Board of Supervisor Member, 

Terry Austin, he wants to put a new tax on Food & Beverage sales in Botetourt County.  

The article from the Fincastle Herald, January 13, 2010 says, 

 “Buchanan District Board of Supervisors member Terry Austin was at the meeting and noted 

that every area of county government will be affected‐‐‐from the Sheriff’s Department to the 

Treasurer’s Office.  He suggested the General Assembly give counties the same taxing authority as 

cities have.  Cities can levy taxes on cigarettes and higher meals and motel taxes.  “We have the 

same expenses as cities,” he said.” 

A bill passed in the State Senate, SB280, will allow the Botetourt County Board of Supervisors to

implement a Food & Beverage Tax with a simple majority vote.  Why does Terry Austin want this 

legislation to pass when the Board of Supervisors already can put this measure to a referendum 

and allow the citizens to vote on whether they want their taxes raised?  He wants this legislation for

 two reasons.  First, he knows that the citizens of Botetourt County do not want their taxes raised 

and would not grant the authority.  Secondly, he wants to blame the tax increase on the state

 legislature so he will not be held accountable.  SB280 has passed the State Senate and is awaiting

action in the House of Delegates.  Senator Smith voted against raising the taxes.  

Senator Edwards voted to raise the tax which will put businesses in Botetourt County at a 

competitive disadvantage with Roanoke. 

Is it likely that the Botetourt County Board of Supervisors will vote in favor of this tax increase?  

I think the answer is yes.  I say that because of the action the Board of Supervisors has taken 

since Terry Austin made these comments.  At the board meeting held January 26, Terry Austin 

was voted in as chairman.  Austin was nominated by newly appointed Fincastle Supervisor 

Donna Vaughn.  

What can be done to STOP this TAX?   

1.Contact all members of the House of Delegates that you know as well as Botetourt County 

Representatives  Del.William Cleaveland, (540‐591‐5959) and Del. Lacey Putney, (540‐586‐0090 ext. 1).  Tell them you are opposed to SB280.  

Tell them that you support legislation that makes it more difficult to raise taxes and not easier. 

2.Contact Members of the Botetourt County Board of Supervisors and tell them that you do not 

want increased taxes.  

Taxes depress the economy and with the current state of the economy we should do nothing to 

depress it further.  Botetourt County Government spending has increased to 148 percent what it 

was in 2006.  Decrease spending instead of raising taxes.  Contact Chairman Terry Austin (254‐1085), Vice‐Chairman Steve Clinton (992‐3066), Donna Vaughn (884‐2789), Don Assaid (992‐6445), and Billy Martin (977‐8085). 

3.Contact Danny H. Goad at (540)283‐9289 or dhgoadpe@msn.com if you would like to receive more information about this 

legislation or would like to help stop the onslaught of taxes.