Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 29, 1992 TAG: 9201290317
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
TAX RATINGS
THE CITY of Roanoke has the lowest property taxes of 18 major Virginia localities, according to Money magazine. Its tax base is ranked the 24th best of 300 localities throughout the United States.None of the other Virginia cities is even close to Roanoke in the national ranking. Charlottesville is 89. Richmond, 93. Virginia Beach, 112. Fairfax, 198. Fairfax County, which has the highest property taxes in Virginia, is - hmmph! - ranked 249 out of 300.
Of course, with all these popular and proliferating places-rated rankings, you have to look closely at how the calculations were done. Money magazine, in this case, figured the property tax bill on a median-value house in the most affluent section of each of the 300 localities. Roanoke's was $620. Fairfax County's was $2,400.
A poll in Money's January issue found that many respondents had moved or were considering moving to get away from high-tax areas. By no means do we believe Roanoke's taxes should be lower still - not now, anyway. The needs of city residents and the quality of city services count for something too.
Even so, a low-tax status is a marketable asset. It's good of the magazine to bring this status to the attention of its readers. (Some ever-complaining Roanokers may also be surprised.)
This is more like it. Roanoke, no Podunkville, still smarts from Money's listing last August of Roanoke as 294th among 300 localities in terms of quality of life. Anyone who's ever been here knows that's a bogus rank.
Now, finally, Money concedes Roanoke has something going for it. On behalf of our fair city, we'll accept the magazine's 1,000 pardons.
***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on February 1, 1992.
Clarification
An editorial on Jan. 29, regarding Money magazine's ranking of property taxes in Roanoke, may have been unclear. The magazine based its ranking on a $620 property-tax bill for Roanoke. How does the article's author explain this figure? The survey, he says, assumes a "median-value house," as reported in the 1990 Census, in an area "where afluent homeowners like Money subscribers (median household income in 1991: $69,275) are most apt to live." We're not sure what he means, either.
Memo: CORRECTION