Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 8, 1994 TAG: 9404080059
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
No one has taken up their cause, partly because the economic and political landscape has changed.
Democrats Jimmy Harvey and Howard Musser have had a long and successful run as the architects of a steady reduction in Roanoke's tax rates.
For nearly two decades, the two City Council members have been in the forefront of frequent political fights over tax cuts.
They spearheaded a grass-roots movement triggered by dramatic increases in real estate assessments during the late 1970s. Property values increased by 10 percent to 15 percent a year.
At the height of the protest, more than 1,000 taxpayers attended meetings and demanded reductions in the real estate tax rate.
For the most part, Harvey and Musser have accomplished what they set out to do - in an acrimonious political environment where they sometimes butted heads with the city's business establishment.
Business leaders worried that the taxpayer protest would hamper the city's economic vitality and stymie growth because there would not be enough money to maintain quality schools and other services.
The politics of tax cuts in Roanoke has been the reverse of the national scene, where Republicans generally favor tax cuts and Democrats support more government programs and higher taxes.
In Roanoke, the Democrats have kept the pressure on for more cuts as property values have continued to climb. The increases in assessments have slowed in recent years, but values still are rising.
In every City Council election since 1978, either Harvey or Musser has been a candidate or a strategist for candidates who pushed for lower tax rates.
But that will end soon for the two veteran council members who are close friends and allies. Harvey was beaten in the Democratic primary; Musser decided not to seek re-election after suffering a stroke last year.
And taxes - which have been an issue in the past eight City Council elections - have seldom been mentioned during this year's campaign for four council seats.
Roanoke voters go to the polls May 3.
If almost no one is talking about reducing taxes, it's definitely the end of an era in council politics.
The Rev. Nelson Harris, a Democrat making his first try for elected office, said no voters have raised the tax issue with him.
"It just hasn't come up in my campaigning," Harris said.
Now that Roanoke's tax rates have been reduced to the levels of nearby localities, voters apparently are content, he said.
"I see no reason to raise taxes," Harris said. But he's not advocating a reduction, either.
Democrat Linda Wyatt, a teacher, said voters seem to be more concerned about the level of government services than about taxes.
"Voters want their streets to be kept safe, their children to be educated and their garbage to be picked up," Wyatt said.
"Our taxes are not out of line. They are not a major issue this year."
Republican John Voit, a businessman who owns property on the City Market, said he, too, has heard little about taxes in the campaign. He said some voters are afraid that taxes would have to be raised to pay for programs proposed by Wyatt and the other Democratic candidates.
"The Democratic agenda will be costly, and the money will have to come from somewhere," Voit said.
One of his GOP running mates, John Parrott, a construction engineer, said that's also the only thing he has heard about taxes.
"Some people think the Democrats might bring higher taxes," Parrott said.
But Wyatt and the Democrats brush aside Voit's remarks as political rhetoric. They said no tax increase will be needed.
Councilman John Edwards, a Democrat, said he has not detected unrest over taxes. "I just don't hear that much about them," he said.
Like most other candidates, Edwards, a lawyer, is not making taxes an issue in his campaign.
Councilman William White, an accountant, said taxes are not a front-burner issue, but that the city might be able to afford another cut in the real estate rate.
He's the only candidate who even hints that he might support a tax cut.
White, a Democrat, ran on a ticket with Harvey and Musser when he was elected in 1990. But he had not been closely identified with the taxpayer protest.
"From the numbers I have looked at, it might be possible to cut it again," White said. "I might have something to say about that later."
Republican Barbara Duerk, a homemaker and community activist, said she's not sure whether the city can afford to cut the real estate tax rate without hurting services.
"If we need more money, I would prefer users' fees [for services] rather than higher taxes," she said.
During the past 16 years, Roanoke's real estate tax rate has been reduced gradually - by 2 or 3 cents a year.
The rate has been cut from $1.64 to $1.23 per $100 assessed valuation of property. For the owner of a $70,000 house, that has meant a saving of $287 a year.
Salem's real estate rate is $1.18 per $100 assessed valuation; Roanoke County's is $1.13.
"Without the cuts we have made, property owners would be up in arms," Harvey said.
Roanoke's personal property levy has been trimmed from $4.10 to $3.45. And the city's utility tax has been cut from 20 percent to 12 percent.
Despite the reduction in the real estate rate, tax bills for property have continued to climb. In the past nine years, the city's real estate tax levy has increased from $21 million to $35 million a year because of construction and higher assessments.
Harvey believes the city can afford another cut in the real estate rate. But he's not going to raise the issue himself during council's upcoming budget sessions.
"I'm going to leave it to others," said Harvey, noting that he will be leaving in June. "I predict it will be several years before there is another cut."
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB