By Debbie Hall
Supervisors were evenly split on the proposal to raise the tax rate on real estate, with Jane Fulk of the Dan River District, likely to cast the swing vote.
“I haven’t decided yet” whether to back the proposal to increase the real estate tax, said Fulk, who is in her first term on the board.
During her campaign, she said that she would not support a tax increase. “I’m not too happy about having to do it and I haven’t decided to support it,” Fulk said of the real estate tax hike of not more than .11 cents that was proposed by the budget committee at the March 11 meeting of the Patrick County Board of Supervisors.
A consultant hired to help county officials with the budget initially proposed a more than .20 cents real estate tax increase.
While crafting the $55 million spending plan for fiscal 2020, the budget committee held the line on expenses, trimmed nearly $400,000 of expenses in county departments and proposed an across the board 10 percent cut in funds to outside agencies.
County Administrator Tom Rose at the meeting said the budget was tight and could not identify any areas that could be cut, but he said he did make “unsavory recommendations” of potential cuts to the budget committee.
Later, he said he was referring to “certain cuts to contributions and services, things that we really have grown accustomed to and they have value to us. We can always cut those can cut, but it will not be pleasant,” Rose said of potential cuts to the Patrick County Branch of the Blue Ridge Library and funding to various volunteer rescue squads and fire departments.
“We have a huge outlay in that every year,” Rose said.
Along with the proposed tax levy, the board also is considering refinancing certain debts as a cost savings measure and seeking a second Revenue Anticipation Note (RAN) for the upcoming budget cycle to make up a $3.15 million shortfall.
If approved, the real estate tax could rise from the current .57 cents per $100 of assessed value to .68 cents per $100 of assessed value.
“A real estate tax is not fair,” Karl Weiss, of the Blue Ridge District, said. “I’m tired of raising real estate taxes to cure all the problems.”
Weiss said he will not support the proposal to increase real estate taxes because it unfairly taxes one segment of the population.
“If you don’t own real estate, you’re just not paying your share” of taxes, Weiss said. Rather, “you’re taxing the people who have worked all their lives to have something.”
Although he has 12 rental properties and “can raise the rent on my rentals,” Weiss noted that renters do not otherwise pay real estate taxes. Additionally, “there are a lot of people in Patrick County that are on a fixed income” and cannot easily afford an increase.
As it currently stands, localities in Virginia are subject to the Dillon Rule, which in part limits a locality’s ability to increase revenue. Approval by state lawmakers is required before a locality can implement a different tax.
But Weiss said that needs to change because the county needs “more authority to tax different things … on things that people want that they don’t have to have,” such as the sales tax, the so called ‘sin tax’ (charged on tobacco products, liquor sales and the like), a fuel tax and the ability to pass a meals tax without the consent of voters.
Patrick officials have tried on multiple occasions to increase revenues through a meals tax, but each time the proposal was put on the ballot in a referendum, voters have declined to pass it.
Weiss said county officials have lobbied state legislators to allow the Board of Supervisors to vote on the proposal and bypass the referendum method, but that approval has not been forthcoming.
“Those are just some ideas and I know this won’t fly with many people, but I know the other won’t fly with people when they have to pay higher real estate taxes either. I just think that we need to look for more ways to increase the revenue end of it through other taxes so you don’t tax just tax one segment,” he said.
Crystal Harris, of the Smith River District, said that while “I don’t like increasing taxes, it’s necessary” and fiscally prudent. “I have to support it, it’s my fiduciary duty. If we don’t, the state may come in and take it over, what’s the lesser of the two evils,” she asked, rhetorically.
State officials currently are working to determine whether or not Patrick County is in fiscal distress, but that process is ongoing. (See related story)
Regardless, Weiss said “the state is not going to step in and take over.” If he believed otherwise, he said he would support a real estate tax increase. “But I don’t think it would ever get to that point,” Weiss added.
Lock Boyce, of the Mayo River District, said also will not support the proposed real estate tax increase, but may support a “reasonable” 3-percent tax hike.
“There is something really wrong with the whole budget process,” Boyce said, adding that he believes the budget committee did not understand the budget process, the fact that some expenses are mandated while others are not, or that some departments can make cuts while others currently operate on a shoestring budget.
Boyce said he disagrees with the statement that there was “gross mismanagement” in the county over the last five years. “We haven’t been operating at a deficit” because “rollover funds” were used to balance the budget, he said.
“A whole lot of people don’t understand the county budget, and I didn’t get any answers” at the meeting,” Boyce said, adding that he believes the supervisors should go through the budget line by line, if needed, because he is convinced there are expenses in the county budget that can be trimmed.
The board must ask “is the county going to fall apart if we don’t fund this,” Boyce said. “If the answer is ‘no,’ cut it,” he said.
