PORTSMOUTH, Va. — The owners of a Portsmouth country club are pushing back on claims made in a new campaign ad in the city’s mayoral race.
The 30-second commercial, paid for and approved by Vice Mayor Lisa Lucas-Burke, pushes allegations of corruption by Mayor Shannon Glover and years of unpaid taxes by the Elizabeth Manor Golf & Country Club.
But the people who run the business claim they not only overpaid their taxes, but that the city paid them back.
The race for Portsmouth mayor features incumbent Glover, Lucas-Burke, and political newcomer Harold Carothers III.
The new campaign ad began airing on local tv stations in October. It references a lawsuit filed by ex-city assessor, Patrick Dorris, in April. The complaint alleges Dorris was fired because he refused to follow unlawful requests from Glover and Councilman Bill Moody.
"All of those allegations that have been levied are 100% false,” said Glover.
In March 2023, Portsmouth city council voted 5-1 to fire Dorris after residents complained of high real estate assessments.
In the lawsuit, Dorris alleges the mayor pushed for his ouster after he uncovered the golf club hadn’t paid real estate taxes since 2003.
Glover strongly denies the claims, particularly pointing out that Lucas-Burke seconded the motion to fire Dorris and voted for his termination.
Lucas-Burke said she did not know about the questions surrounding the Elizabeth Manor property at the time of the vote and made her decision based on other concerns.
“Five members of the council decided to let Mr. Dorris go, and if he’s only concerned about two, then that’s a concern,” Lucas-Burke told 13News Now Tuesday. “He’s not questioning my reasoning for letting him go."
Glover is not alone in pushing back on the allegations.
“We’ve paid every tax bill we’ve received, and we will continue to do so,” said Jack Stone, the general manager of Elizabeth Manor Golf & Country Club.
First, Stone said they did not purchase the property until January 2020, and he cannot speak for anything before then.
He also said the current city accessor, Steve Edwards, looked into the matter and made an interesting discovery.
“It was found by the city assessor that not only had we paid every tax bill, we had overpaid by almost $30,000,” said Stone.
According to a letter and two checks from the city treasurer’s office, Elizabeth Manor Golf Investors received two refunds totaling $29,897.91 on August 15.
Stone believes the campaign ad “defames” the business and the property’s owner, Dwight Schaubach, especially since the businessman sent a letter and email detailing the findings to all city council members on August 26 before the ad aired. Glover and Lucas-Burke confirmed they received the email.
Stone said Schaubach took over the property when it was near disrepair and invested millions to create a venue the community can be proud of.
“He’s out here to do a great thing to improve the area and the city and defaming his character in doing so with absolutely untruths, we weren’t going to stand for,” said Stone.
Lucas-Burke said she did not make any false claims, and she said she does not plan to stop running the campaign ad.
“I have not defamed anybody’s name. I have only relayed the information that the media presented to the public months ago,” she said.
City Treasurer Paige Cherry said the club owners have paid every tax bill sent to them since taking over the property four years ago. However, Cherry would not describe the situation as an “overpayment.”
Cherry said his office billed the property correctly according to the tax assessment at the time, but Edwards recently adjusted the assessment for two parcels of land that make up the Elizabeth Manor Golf & Country Club.
In an email to 13News Now, Edwards said his office processed an abatement on the property, which was sent to the City Treasurer’s Office.
During a City work session on October 8, Edwards said he was asked to review the situation and found an error. He, then, applied a correction.
This all stems from what’s called an “Open Space Agreement” that the club owners signed in 2020.
The state defines “open space” as land that is not developed for residential, commercial, or industrial uses. The program gives landowners a tax cut for certain properties. Golf and country clubs are examples provided by the state, and Elizabeth Manor Golf & Country Club is the only property in the City of Portsmouth currently participating in the Open Space policy, Edwards told city council members during the presentation.
Edwards said he had been asked to review the issue when he found the error. He said a certain rate was erroneously charged on the property for “two or three years” when it shouldn’t have been based on the Open Space policy.
The city treasurer said his office subsequently refunded the club owners.
The ad also alleges the owner of Elizabeth Manor “bankrolled” Glover’s political campaign.
A check of the Virginia Public Access Project shows the golf course’s owner Dwight Schaubach gave a total of $6,000 to Shannon Glover’s 2020 mayoral campaign, but he’s donated more than $200,000 over the last decade to a number of campaigns.
Glover says attorneys will move to dismiss the case at a hearing in November.