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Goshen seeks half of county admissions tax for nearby train events; supervisors agree to negotiate
Summary
The town of Goshen asked Rockbridge County to share admissions tax revenues from a fall steam‑engine event; county supervisors instructed staff to meet with Goshen and discuss percentage splits and expense sharing before approving a formal agreement.
Town of Goshen officials requested that Rockbridge County share admissions tax revenue generated by a multi‑week steam‑engine excursion that will use a ticketing point just outside Goshen, and the Board of Supervisors agreed July 28 to initiate negotiations. Goshen asked for a 50‑50 split of county admissions tax revenues from the event; staff estimated total county admissions tax receipts could approach $100,000 depending on ridership.
Brent Souter, county administrator, told the board the Buckingham Branch will operate a 611 steam locomotive between Goshen and Stanton for five weekends beginning Sept. 26 and that the county's admissions tax (6%) applied to ticket sales near the town could generate up to about $100,000 for the county. Goshen officials asked the county to split the admissions tax revenues 50/50 and said the funds would be used for water‑system improvements and other town projects.
Supervisors discussed whether Glasgow (a neighboring town) should be included in any revenue‑sharing agreement and whether shared expenses (fencing, collection site improvements, public safety costs) should be split along with revenues. Several supervisors said they were open to sharing but wanted negotiations to cover expense sharing and final percentages. "If we're going to share revenues, we should share expenses or we should come to an agreement on the percentage," one supervisor said.
The board gave staff authority to set up meetings with Goshen, to include one finance committee member and Supervisor Lewis (whose district surrounds Goshen), and to negotiate terms to return a draft agreement to the board. Staff said it could aim to bring a proposed agreement back for board action at an upcoming meeting (the board discussed August 11 as the next regular meeting). No agreement was approved at the July 28 meeting.
Ending: County staff will organize meetings with Goshen representatives and board members to negotiate a revenue‑sharing agreement and return a draft for the board's consideration; no formal revenue transfer was approved at the meeting.
