Local budget season has come early this season, in case you haven’t noticed. Thanks to a change in the law, the city and county officials have had to scratch together a proposal much earlier than they did last year. So here at C-VILLE, we’ve cast a dutiful eye to the budget situation.
The city budget looks like it will go up 5.7 percent to $151.7 million and the county budget is recommended to increase 8.5 percent to $331.4 million. Like last year, the topic is more contentious on the county side, with the Board of Supervisors considering whether to raise the tax rate to pay for schools and other services.
You’ll get your fill of local budget talk before it’s all over in mid-April, but before we throw you into the minutiae: questions anyone?
I thought I wasn’t supposed to care about the budget until April.
That’s not a question, but I’ll answer: Those suits in the General Assembly changed the law. Now, localities have to advertise a tax rate 30 days in advance of a public hearing, which gives us Joe Citizens enough time to pore over the figures and decide whether it’s worth it to whine and complain.
There is an exception to this new law—localities only have to give seven days notice if the average assessment increased less than 1 percent—and Albemarle County fits the bill. However, the Board of Supervisors is still trying to stick to the schedule and will try to set a high bar for the tax rate at its March 5 meeting. The trick with setting that rate is that it can go down but not up.
I own a house. Are my taxes going up?
Depends on where you live. Remember that your taxes depend on two numbers: your house’s assessment, which depends on factors like neighborhood housing sales and the location of your house, and the tax rate, which local government sets every year. Multiply your assessment by the tax rate and you’ve got the amount you have to pay in taxes. For example:
Assessment of house: $300,000
Assessment increase: 5%
Tax rate: 68 cents per $100 of assessed value
300,000 * 1.05 / 100 * 0.68 = $2,142
If one of those numbers goes up, even if the other one doesn’t change, then your taxes will go up. Here’s how much the same taxpayer’s bill would go up if the Board returns to the 74 cent tax rate:
300,000 * 1.05 / 100 * 0.74 = $2,331, an increase of $189
Quit giving me math lessons. Will my taxes go up?
O.K., O.K. Your taxes will almost definitely go up if you live in city working class neighborhoods like Belmont or Ridge Street, where assessments went up 8 to 14 percent. Chances are that if you live in already gentrified city neighborhoods, your taxes are going to stay about the same. Regardless, there’s little you can do about it: City Council hasn’t shown any signs that it will lower the tax rate.
But that’s not true of county residents. The Board of Supervisors is having serious discussions about possibly raising the tax rate. Right now, it’s 68 cents, which was lowered from 74 cents last year because assessments went up 30 percent over two years. But since assessments didn’t go up this year, the county might raise the rate a couple of pennies, primarily to pay for schools. The big hearings are March 5 and April 2, with plenty of work sessions in between on March 10, 12, 17 and 19.
I don’t own a house. Why should I care?
I could come up with a bunch of reasons, explaining how local funding affects quality of life stuff like parks and police forces, but I’ll assume you care only about your wallet. All right then. If you’re paying rent, the taxes that your landlord pays probably affect how much rent he or she charges you. Perhaps more directly, when government doesn’t get enough money from property taxes, it often comes up with other ways to make ends meet. As an example, last year, the Board opted to raise personal property taxes (a.k.a. the car tax), which affects just about everybody in the county, in order to help offset the decrease in the real estate tax.
Where does all my money go anyway?
In the city, 31 percent of the general fund goes to the school system, while 44 percent of it does in the county. The rest pays for stuff like police, fire fighters, social services, parks, libraries and debt. Theoretically, the state is paying for most of road maintenance and construction costs, but many local leaders have found that funding woefully inadequate. For the full listing of expenditures, visit the budget websites for the city and for the county.
I need a pet issue to work myself into a frothy frenzy about. Where’s the fat?
So far, no big rallying points like the $1 million ambulance in the city last year. As a category, city infrastructure and transportation spending is increasing $1 million, or 7.8 percent. Public safety spending in the county is recommended to rise $1.3 million, or 4.7 percent over last year. Budget hawks haven’t settled on an issue to serve as the scapegoat of bloated bureaucracy, but look to the new county fire station at Hollymead as a possible candidate.
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