LOCAL GOVERNMENT NEWS
The Goochland County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 at their August 7, 2012 regular board meeting to resign from Virginia Association of Counties (VACo) and National Association of Counties (NACo) effective immediately.
The reasons they cited are:
- The legislative lobbying efforts of VACo do not match the Board’s objectives. A specific, current example is the eminent domain referendum that will be on the November ballot. VACo is actively lobbying against this constitutional amendment which passed twice in the General Assembly with bi-partisan support. The Board supports the amendment and private property rights.
- VACo dues are collected from each locality based on their population size. This puts smaller, rural counties at a disadvantage within the organization as legislative decisions are weighted toward larger counties that pay much higher dues.
- The county pays over $5,000 in annual dues to both organizations combined and, in the past, has paid thousands of dollars for supervisors to attend out-of-town meetings and conferences (Remember the VACo supervisor meeting in Hawaii a few years ago?). The Board does not feel that membership brings enough value to the county to warrant this expenditure of funds.
It is believed that Goochland County is the first county to resign from these organizations.
