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By LOU HATTER
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
The Washington Town Council has announced that it plans to enact a four percent restaurant tax, and authorized the advertisement of a public hearing to take comments on the proposed ordinance. It will be held at January’s regular meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 14.
Councilman William Wickens, who drafted the ordinance, said that it was basically modeled on Charlottesville’s ordinance, with minor changes.
Three establishments in the town will be affected: The Black Kettle, Brambles Cafe and The Inn at Little Washington. Reinhardt Lynch, coowner of The Inn, attended the council’s meeting but declined to comment on the proposal. “My comments would be more appropriate during the public hearing,” he said, when asked by Mayor Dean Morehouse if he would care to respond.
The council also discussed the option of an across-the-board business tax, which was favored by Council member Evelyn Willis.
Mr. Wickens responded that he opposes that type of tax for two reasons:
• Businesses in town, such as antique and craft stores, would be hurt because people might prefer shopping at the stores in Sperryville, where the four percent tax would not add, in effect, a surcharge to prices, and
• “The authority is not clear for towns to enact a business tax. It’s a gray area.”
Cities are empowered by the Code of Virginia to enact such a tax, Mr. Wickens continued, but the law is less clear where towns are concerned. “The state code is very specific as to authority, as to the types of taxes allowed . . . We’d be asking for a lawsuit.”
In addition, Mr. Wickens maintained, a business tax is a regressive tax, which would hurt the people in the town more than would a restaurant tax, which would generate most of its revenue through visitors from outside the county who come to town to eat at The Inn.
William Strider, executive director of Planning District 9, attended the meeting and told the council that Culpeper’s recently enacted fomP percent restaurant tax had netted the town $480,000 since it was passed 10 months ago. He added that the town, with a population of 7,000, expects to take in about
95.3%