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I was wondering when the first call about this would come in. And when it did happen, basically things were like I expected. Across the border in neighboring Prince Edward, as soon as tax bills started going out, people started calling our sister paper The Herald, wanting to know what was going on. And as regional editor for both, I fielded several of those calls. How could we let this happen, they asked. Why is it happening now? Why weren’t we stopping it from happening? My personal favorite was the last question. Why didn’t you tell us about this? And to that I replied each time that they were told.

Now I bring this up here in Lunenburg because I feel like the main point is also applicable here. In most cases after I pointed out our sister paper had reported on the tax bills, I got the same response. “Oh,” they said, “well, I don’t really pay attention to local politics anyway. Most of the time, it doesn’t matter.”

Most of the time, local government doesn’t matter? By the very nature of calls and emails I’ve received about taxes, they proved that argument to be inaccurate. Yes, they were impacted by the county’s decision to hold a revaluation this year, just as they were impacted by the increase in property values. That’s true for every county. Each and every resident here in Lunenburg, for example, is affected when the supervisors set the tax rate, as well as when they decide to do something like push for an extra cent on sales tax or vote to make other changes.

GET FOCUSED

Despite being in uproar over taxes next door, so many still don’t see how local government affects them. And that’s true here as well, with a few exceptions. They’ll talk all day and night about something on the national scene, but when it comes to a local vote, something that will change things in their town or county, you hear radio silence.

It’s not just in Prince Edward. From here in Lunenburg to Buckingham, Cumberland to Charlotte and all points in between, there is one clear point. The politicians with the most impact on your day to day lives don’t live in Washington or Richmond. They live right here. They make decisions each month on everything from tax relief to deciding if a concert venue will be moving next door to your house. They set tax rates, they approve solar permits, they decide if developers need some assistance or if the town or county needs some more restrictions for certain issues.

And yet, the number of people who show up at town or county meetings can often be counted on one hand. In some cases, you don’t need more than two or three fingers. The same goes for local elections. If the vote isn’t held the same year as a presidential or governor’s race, you’re lucky to pull 10% to 20% of residents to cast a ballot.

‘THAT’S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN’

Let me take a minute to also touch on what’s not going to happen. I raise this point because I have heard it several times. “Oh, well this won’t stand anyway. After the election, the president will make this go away.” Really? Name one time in all of our history where a president of the United States stepped into a situation like this and ordered a county to do what, exactly? To reject the results of the revaluation? The same standard practice that has been going on for decades? Nope, we all know that’s not going to happen, regardless of who wins the presidential or even congressional races. The General Assembly isn’t going to step in, either.

Why? Mainly because there’s no crime committed next door in Prince Edward. There’s nothing happening other than what’s taken place roughly twice a decade for years. It just becomes somewhat shocking now because rather than seeing property values decline, those numbers are starting to go back up. For people who want to sell or get excited to see their property increase in value, it’s a good thing. For everyone else, it’s just a higher bill. But at the end of the day, you can come up with all the arguments you want, and yet all that does is delay a plan to pay the increased taxes. And again, none of it would have been surprising if people had kept up with the decisions made by local government.

So yes, I urge everyone to take this as a cautionary tale. Unfortunately, I’m afraid not many will. What will happen, I’m afraid, is that when the next vote happens this month or next by Lunenburg supervisors or maybe a town council that caught you by surprise, I’ll get a call or email similar to those from Prince Edward, demanding to know how and why this is happening. I’ll say the same thing as I did there and get the same response. ‘Oh, well, I don’t pay attention to local politics anyway.’ Maybe everyone should.

Brian Carlton is the editor for The K-V Dispatch and Farmville Newsmedia LLC. He can be reached at Brian.Carlton@KVDispatch.com