Minutes - City of Winchester, VA

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Page 6 April 13, 2010 WINCHESTER CITY CODE, FOR THE STRUCTURE(S) AND PROPERTY LOCATED AT 501-519 WEST JUBAL EARLY DRIVE SBA-10-02 No citizens came forward to address Council concerning this issue and the President declared the public hearing closed at 7:14 p.m. Mayor Minor moved to adopt the ordinance. The motion was seconded by Councilor Willingham and then adopted by the affirmative roll-call vote of a majority of all members of the Common Council, the ayes and nays being recorded as shown below: MEMBER Vice-Mayor Butler Councilor Clark Councilor Hill Vice-President Major Councilor McInturff Mayor Minor Councilor Veach Councilor Willingham President Buettner VOTE Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye O-2010-10: Second Reading - AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND AND RE-ADOPT SECTION 2-64 OF THE WINCHESTER CITY CODE PERTAINING TO READING OF ORDINANCES PRIOR TO ADOPTION TO FACILITATE THE USE OF A CONSENT AGENDA FOR FIRST READINGS No citizens came forward to address Council concerning this issue and the President declared the public hearing closed at 7:17 p.m. Councilor Willingham moved to adopt the ordinance. The motion was seconded by Councilor Clark and then adopted by the affirmative roll-call vote of a majority of all members of the Common Council, the ayes and nays being recorded as shown below: MEMBER Vice-Mayor Butler Councilor Clark Councilor Hill Vice-President Major Councilor McInturff Mayor Minor Councilor Veach Councilor Willingham President Buettner VOTE Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye
Page 7 April 13, 2010 O-2010-17: Second Reading – AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND AND RE-ADOPT SECTION 27-171 OF THE WINCHESTER CITY CODE REGARDING CIGARETTE TAXES Paul Whitmore owner of the Winchester News Stand located at 30 East Piccadilly Street stated he has been on that street for 6 years and has seen 6 businesses close down between Braddock and Loudoun Streets. There is a possibility that another 4 businesses will close with the economy and all of the work done on the street. Last year, he kept his business open out of his own pocket because of the economy. He had a losing year and cannot believe that anyone made money last year. Right now, there are at least 4 businesses that are hurting. All of the “mom and pop” stores in the Winchester area are hurting. If you raise the cigarette tax 15 cents a pack, it will help him to close his doors. Through the 4 years of owning the Winchester News Stand, he has raised close to $367,000 for the education through the Commonwealth of Virginia Lottery Fund. You are hurting the little person. The big guy can get in his car and drive to the county to buy that pack of cigarettes 25 cents cheaper. The little guy who depends on the traffic trolley to get around cannot afford to go to the county. With his retirement and social security, he can sustain all of what is happening. He has been able to keep his store open because his daughter is the manager, his son-in-law is the night man, and he works 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Mondays and Tuesdays. Any of the big stores such as Sheetz, 7-11, and Handimart are not hurting as bad as the little guys are going to be. There are about 12 different stores in the area that the 15 cents will hurt. He begged Council to please give it a lot of thought before approving something like this and to think of the little guys it will hurt. Bob Clator of HN Funkhouser stated they run the local Handimart stores. The last time Council raised the cigarette tax; it caused the revenue in their stores located in the city to go down 12% and increases their sales in the county by 8%. The other 4% probably went to the big box stores like Costco and Walmart. They not only lost cigarette sales but gasoline sales, deli sales and inside store sales because people were willing to make that second stop to buy their cigarettes. Smokers buy routinely and they are smart so they can understand when they save money. When business people want to raise revenues, they lower prices and run sales and specials that increase revenues. There is not a person in here that would say to increase revenues you would raise prices above the competition. He would ask that Council not raise the cigarette tax because it is simply raising the price making us non-competitive. It will force our customers to once again go to the county or to Costco and it will take away all of the revenue from in the city. David Cavallaro representative of the Winchester Business Association stated a lot of local business merchants have come to him with concerns about this proposed increase. This certainly could drive business away from Winchester so at the end of the day we will be losing not winning. No further citizens came forward to address Council concerning this issue and the President declared the public hearing closed at 7:23 p.m.
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Minutes - City of Winchester, VA

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