Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 11, 1994 TAG: 9403120014
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
By a 3-2 vote, the board Wednesday decided to advertise a real-estate tax rate of 78 cents per $100 of assessed value and a personal property tax rate of $1.55. That's an 8-cent increase for real estate and a 25-cent jump for cars and other personal property.
The supervisors proposed increases of both rates after rejecting a 10-cent increase in the real estate rate alone as putting too much of a burden on landowners.
The board rejected a delay in the overall budget process, as urged Tuesday by Supervisor Joe Gorman, because it would put the treasurer's office and other departments responsible for tax billing in a time crunch.
Much of the proposed increase is driven by decisions already made, such as opening a new Blacksburg-area elementary school in September; or projects endorsed by the voters, such as the Blacksburg library expansion and new health building in Christiansburg.
Just paying for those factors, along with a proposed 3 percent salary increase for school employees, would require an 8-cent rate increase, noted board member Henry Jablonski.
But whether those tax increases will become reality by the time the board adopts the budget later this month is far from certain. The board has generally shied away from large jumps in the past. Moreover, two fiscally conservative members of the board - Joe Stewart and Nick Rush - missed the Wednesday night meeting, and could make up a majority with Ira Long and Jablonski, who voted against the advertised rates.
Overall, it would mean an 11 percent increase for taxpayers. Such a jump would make Montgomery's real-estate rate the second-highest in the New River Valley, and would bring the figure to the highest its been since 1990, the year before the county's last reassessment. Floyd County has the highest rate in the valley - 82 cents per $100 of assessed value.
Chairman Larry Linkous and Supervisors Jim Moore and Gorman voted for the advertised rate knowing that the board still has to cut $650,000 from the $71.6 million spending plan for those rates to work.
The board will resume work on the budget at 7 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, with an aim toward finding reductions in spending for general county programs and schools alike.
The public will get its chance to comment on the possible tax increase at a 7 p.m. March 21 hearing at Blacksburg High School.
Jablonski and other board members expect a large turnout. "The public will tell us what they want," he said.
Linkous encouraged public participation. "People need to come out and make their voices heard," he said.
Long said an 8-cent increase in the real-estate rate is too much. "I'd vote for a very small amount and I'd have to go through every part of this [budget] again," he said.
No supervisors will face the voters this fall. The terms of Gorman, Linkous, Long and Rush will be up next year. Voters re-elected Jablonski, Moore and Stewart last fall.
by CNB