Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 27, 1993 TAG: 9303270055
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The board will decide whether to go ahead with the tax increase or or cut its proposed 1993-94 budget to avoid all or part of the tax increase.
The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. in the supervisors' room on the third floor of the courthouse.
Most speakers at a public hearing on March 18 spoke in favor of the tax increase and the increased funding it would provide for county schools.
The current county real-estate tax rate is 70 cents for each $100 of assessed value.
The tax on a home valued at $50,000 is now $350. The 3-cent tax increase would add $15, bringing the total tax to $365. Similar ly, the current tax on a $100,000 home is $700 and the tax increase would mean the homeowner would pay $730 next year.
The county's proposed $66.9 million budget is 9 percent or $5.6 million higher than the current year's budget. But the county's share of the proposal is $26.8 million, or $1.4 million more than county taxpayers are providing this year. The rest is state and federal revenue and fees.
The supervisors have been divided over whether the board should increase taxes this year in light of the county's high unemployment rate and the possibility of residents having to face new federal taxes this year.
Half of the money raised by the proposed 3-cent tax increase - nearly $300,000 - would go to the school system. Each 1-cent increase in the tax rate brings in $190,000 in revenue for the county.
The supervisors proposed a school operating budget of $43.09 million, which is $1.8 million or 4 percent higher than this year's budget. But that's far less than the School Board wanted.
The School Board had asked for $48.3 million, a $7 million increase over the current year, which would have paid for several new educational programs.
The school operating budget proposed by the supervisors represents nearly two-thirds of the total county budget.
The county taxpayers' share of the proposed school budget would be slightly less than half the total. State and federal funds pay for the remainder.
The supervisors included money in the school budget to pay the county's share of raises for school employees. The General Assembly this year approved the state's share of what amounts to a 1.75-percent annual raise for teachers and a 1.17-percent raise for other school employees.
The supervisors decided to use money they expect to be left over from this year's school budget to pay for the county's share of the raises next year. The county will pay for roughly half of the $518,647 cost of the raises.
by CNB