In its Tuesday meeting, the Martinsville City Council will discuss what to include in the upcoming year’s legislative agenda.
The legislative workshop will be part of the city council’s 5 p.m. work session at Martinsville’s Municipal Building.
The annual workshop allows councilors to provide feedback to Martinsville’s statewide and national representatives on their legislative direction. This includes a wish list of topics and projects relating to things like education and economic development.
Some projects could be transferred from last year’s list of legislative goals. A number of goals are evergreen and transferable from year to year. In the area of economic development, last year’s list included a request to make available grants and resources to fiscally stressed localities.
Other goals on last year’s list included continued support for the Virginia Food Access Investment Fund, a grant program that provides up to $50,000 for the construction or rehabilitation of community food markets, funding the public defender’s office and requiring the commonwealth to cover 100% of the costs associated with housing state inmates in local jails.
Some of last year’s requests to congressional representatives are also transferable. Included was a request for representatives to vote against measures to impose additional taxation or regulation on coal or gas electrical generation.
Preservation of the Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit was also on last year’s list.
“DHR’s Tax Credit program provides state tax credits to property owners who undertake the rehabilitation of historic buildings,” reads a portion of DHR’s website. “Through the federal and state rehabilitation tax credit programs, property owners are given substantial incentives for private investment in preservation, resulting in enormous advantages to the public.”
Councilors also requested state and federal assistance for localities exceeding the average state unemployment rate. As of August, the state’s unemployment rate has risen slightly to 3.6%. According to the Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corporation, Martinsville’s August unemployment rate was 5.6%.
Extending broadband services throughout southern Virginia was another congressional request from last year’s list.
