Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 28, 1995 TAG: 9504280061
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT LENGTH: Medium
The board, which met to approve the 1995-96 county budget and corresponding tax rates, set the real estate tax at 55 cents per $100 of assessed value. The real estate rate was the only county tax changed from the 1994-95 level.
The vote was 5-2. Blackwater District Supervisor Wayne Angell and Blue Ridge District Supervisor Hubert Quinn voted no.
Both said the $51.8 million budget - approved 7-0 - could have been balanced using a 54- or possibly even a 53-cent real estate tax rate.
As the result of a recent county reassessment, property values increased by an average 20.5 percent. Using that figure, county officials calculated that the real estate tax rate should be reduced from 60 cents this year to 49.5 cents in order to generate the same amount of revenue.
The board then set the rate at 55 cents. A resident's tax burden will depend on the results of the reassessment. For example:
A $50,000 home that increased in value 25 percent would be worth $62,500 now. At the 55-cent rate, the owner will pay $343.75 in taxes. At the old rate of 60 cents - and the old $50,000 assessment - the owner paid $300.
The majority of the adjustment - about $700,000 - is being set aside by line item to pay the debt service on capital-improvement projects tied to a multimillion-dollar bond issue voters approved in November. Angell said the remainder of the 5.5-cent change also is being designated for bond debt but it's not tied to a line item, meaning the money is lumped in the general-fund portion of the budget.
Theoretically, he said, the money could be used for another purpose sometime down the road.
But other supervisors believe the money will give the county some cushion in the next few years as the debt service on the bonds grows.
However, Angell offered a motion near the end of Thursday's meeting that transfers an additional $100,000 from the county's personnel contingency account to a specific line item for bond debt.
The $100,000 is money the county believed would be needed to absorb an anticipated increase in health insurance premiums, but the actual increase was less than expected.
"We may not survive the battle if we don't put some armor on," Angell told the board.
The $51.8 million budget approved by the board is a $6.8 million increase from 1994-95.
It includes more than $500,000 in new local funding for the county school system.
In other matters Thursday, the board appropriated funds for the joint purchase of two pieces of property with the town of Rocky Mount.
The supervisors approved $36,500 for the proposed YMCA site in the Community Campus Park on North Main Street in the town. The price tag on the 5-acre site is $73,000.
Also, the board authorized the appropriation of $51,500 for a 1-acre site off Floyd Avenue in downtown Rocky Mount for a community square. The total cost of that project is $103,000.
Supervisor Charles Ellis said plans for the site include a farmers' market.
And, in a third related item, the board took out a $73,000 option on a 5-acre tract in the Community Campus Park for a proposed county Health and Human Service building.
Memo: NOTE: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.