Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 27, 1995 TAG: 9504270042
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Town Council adopted a $19 million budget for 1995-96 Tuesday that sets the real estate tax rate at 20 cents per $100 of property value. While that is the same rate as last year, it will increase tax bills because Montgomery County's recent reassessment raised property values in the town by an average of 8.2 percent.
A resident with a home valued at $80,000 before the reassessment will pay $173.12 in town property taxes this year - up from $160 last year.
The budget, proposed by Town Manager Ron Secrist in March, proceeded through the discussion process over the past few weeks with little controversy, and passed unanimously Tuesday.
It calls for:
An increase in cigarette taxes from 5 cents to 10 cents a pack
A lodging-tax increase from 2 percent to 4 percent.
Money raised from both measures - expected to be $150,000 each year - is to go toward building a senior citizens center and funding the Clay Street extension over the next five years.
Keeping the town's real-estate tax rate at 20 cents per $100 of assessed value. By law the town had to lower its rate to 19.6 cents so it would not gain increased revenue merely because of the reassessment. The town's tax rate has been 20 cents since 1990.
Increasing residents' water and sewer bills by an average of 6.5 percent because of an increase in water rates. It is the third time in three years that water rates have escalated as the town fulfills a consultant's recommendation to raise rates over five years to make the services money gainers.
2 percent pay raises and pay-for-performance bonuses for town staff.
Page Sutherland, who said he represented Richmond cigarette-producer Philip Morris and the state's tobacco industry, asked council members to fully consider their decision to raise the cigarette tax.
Such a move, he said, could prompt smokers to buy their cigarettes in the county, and could hurt supermarket and convenience store sales within the town. He suggested that effectively raising the price of cigarettes could produce a "saturation point" where the higher tax rate would produce less actual revenue for the town.
Both Councilman Michael Chandler and Mayor Roger Hedgepeth thanked Sutherland for his comments, but said the town had considered such points and would continue to monitor the tax increase's impact on sales.
by CNB