THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Friday, May 26, 1995                   TAG: 9505260006
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A18  EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Editorial 
                                             LENGTH: Medium:   52 lines

NORFOLK RAISES ITS REALTY TAX RATE BOUND CITIES

Like the City Councils of Portsmouth and Virginia Beach before it, Norfolk City Council raised the municipal real-estate tax rate this season to provide public services and capital improvements. That the three cities' tax-rate increases drew scant opposition is remarkable, given taxpayers' unhappiness over the burden of supporting government.

But in Norfolk, as in Portsmouth and Virginia Beach, many taxpayers seemed to understand and approve what they will get in exchange for paying more for programs and projects.

In Portsmouth, the higher tax rate will strengthen policing. Virginia Beach taxpayers will be underwriting operating costs of their still-expanding school system and the first phase of an agricultural-reserve program designed to protect farmland and limit development in the southern half of the city - development that boosts municipal costs.

In Norfolk, revenue generated by the 2-cent tax increase will fund sports stadiums at Booker T. Washington and Lake Taylor High Schools, more police and expedited health-, safety- and property-code inspections to arrest deterioration of housing and other structures.

While Virginia Beach's realty tax rate, despite the 4.8-cent increase, remains low ($1.189 cent for each $100 of assessed value), the 2-cent increase in Norfolk (to $1.40 per $100 of assessed value), retains the city's unfortunate distinction of having the region's highest rate. Portsmouth, with a $1.36 rate, retains its standing as second.

Chesapeake, Suffolk and Virginia Beach - cities in which household median income exceeds that in Norfolk and Portsmouth by a country mile - have growth going for them. The old port cities are condemned ever to struggle to maintain a tax base sufficient to meet demands from the disproportionately large portion of the region's low-income residents within their borders.

They struggle all the harder because of state policies that tightly restrict localities' tax options and rule out regional sharing of social-welfare, education and public-safety burdens.

Leaving Virginia's central cities to fend for themselves with one hand tied behind them turns out to be bad not only for their economic health but also for the regions in which they sit. North Carolina's enlightened state policies spur prosperity in metropolitan areas while Virginia's policies retard it.

Virginia's business and political leaders have lately noticed. Reforms doubtless are a ways off. But recognizing the destructiveness of current policies stirs hope they will come. by CNB