May-June, 2020: FOIA Requests and Follow ups to get withheld information
Follow up on my request.
County Administrators response
My Response to the County Administrator
FOIA response for the amount of legal fees incurred through the end of May for the Meals Tax Issue against Dreaming Tree Farms, LLC
King William County Legal Fees through May, 2020 for the Meals Tax Issue Against Dreaming Tree Farms, LLC
My email sent to my Board of Supervisor representative. Clearly frustrated that my, and my fellow taxpayers have been forced to foot this bill.
June, 2020
More Tax Dollars Wasted. Now $31,000 and counting
KING WILLIAM COUNTY, VA. There went another $5,000 of your tax payer dollars in June used to fight a small farm with a modern business idea. This now brings the total to over $31,000.
When will King William County realize that supporting small business is more beneficial in the long term than harassing them in the short term? It's as if they lack the understanding of basic business incubation and growth. Companies like Microsoft and Apple were both started in a garage.
King William officials choose to waste away tax dollars now going after a meals tax they want to charge my King William customers that to date would generate about $20 in revenue over the last 2 years.
Over time far more legitimate tax revenue can be generated through investments I'll make to support growth (e.g. Greenhouses, vehicles, food tax). Maybe I should just reincorporate in a different county and let that county benefit from this?
All I've ever asked for is justification why I should tax my KW customers. Maybe they thought they could strong arm a farmer into doing whatever they said? Maybe big words on fancy letterhead was a successful tactic they've used in the past?
What I've received is a failure to address any of the valid points I have raised, insulting and illegal settlement offers, and the Commissioner's subjective "opinion" as justification. That doesn't cut it for this modern day farmer.
When I filed an appeal to the State Tax Commissioner, King William County and their army of lawyers opened up the code and found a technicality that doesn't allow the State Tax Commissioner to rule on a Food & Beverage Tax appeal. I already knew that technicality was there, but I was hoping to save the expense (both mine and OURS) of a court case.
As a result of their letter the appeal was dismissed and the State Tax Commissioner encouraged me to pursue my appeal in court. That won't be cheap for King William County.
So while King William is probably thinking they won for now, how much more has this decision actually costed the County taxpayer? The only one to win in this latest decision was the County Attorney and his law firm. They still get paid regardless of the outcome - the longer this goes on the more they make.
So much more to come, sadly at the cost of our tax dollars leaving the county to pay city lawyers and at the cost of King William County's reputation as a county that would rather harass than support small business development.
July, 2020: More Wasteful Spending!
Another $7,637 in July - this is getting ridiculous! Such as waste over something that may have been settled in an hour or two sit down over a year ago!
August, 2020: Visit by State Delegate Scott Wyatt
Read for yourself. It took little time for Del. Wyatt and his Legislative Director to determine the Salad is "multi-serving", and that I am a "Food Manufacturer".
We are now up to almost $40,000! This farm would have to sell over 77,000 salads in King William to break even! Wasteful spend with no justification!
August- September, 2020: Request for Clarification
Ask for Clarification if King William recognizes the authority of the Virginia Department of Health or Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. These state agencies have regulating authority for Food Safety in Virginia.
If the Farm-To-Salad is a single serving salad, and we're not using FDA serving sizes as the quantifiable metric, then what is a multi-serving salad? Is a 5 gallon bucket of salad still a single serving?
Commissioner just recuses herself from answering any questions she doesn't have an answer for. And the Board lets her get away with it!
My response. Very concerning that King William County will not answer simple questions from its citizens.
September, 2020: Sally fabricates a new story!
Sally has completely fabricated a new story! King William now says I planned to be wholesaler and sell at Farmers Markets. Then my Business Model changed. This is simply not true! See below for proof. My business model has always been predicated on "Personally Delivered"
How about a comparison to the Salad kit in the grocery store? That's always missing from Sally's justification because it doesn't fit into her narrative!
See Page 1 for the County Attorney's legal opinion and how that transpired. That opinion didn't even address single serving, and failed to include the Food Manufacturing Exclusion. Hence it was incomplete!
Now Sally says I have a classificatio
Proof Sally is just fabricating a story in her mind. My business model was defined just as it is operating today. This is evident on my VDACS application submitted 2 business days after Sally's office granted me a business license. Nothing has changed, this is the business model envisioned in 2017 and is still in place in 2021.