VIRGINIA BEACH
The smallest pay raises in 15 years, no increase in the real estate tax rate and the revival of the boat tax highlight the city budget proposed Tuesday.
While the two-year budget - covering fiscal years 2009 and 2010 - would keep the real-estate tax rate at 89 cents per $100 of assessed value, it would increase nearly 50 fees on city services.
If the City Council leaves the rate at 89 cents, the owner of a home assessed at the city average of $323,000 would pay $2,875 in real estate taxes, the same as this year.
That average, however, should increase slightly next week, when Virginia Beach's new assessments are made public. Home values are expected to increase in the "2.5 percent range," said Catheryn Whitesell, the city's budget officer.
Whitesell said the spending plan uses higher fees to put the burden of services on users.
The proposed 2009 budget for the city and its schools is $1.76 billion, 2.1 percent more than the current year budget. "This is the lowest budget growth we've seen since 1992," she said.
Fee increases - not counting $1.7 million in storm water fees dedicated to drainage and related capital projects - will raise about $3.6 million, said David Bradley, the city's assistant budget director. If council members want to trim City Manager Jim Spore's proposed budget when they adopt it in May, they'll have to talk about service cuts or tax increases, Whitesell said.
"I'm starting to feel like the proverbial turnip," she said. "It's hard to squeeze one more drop of blood out of it."
Highlights of the proposed budget include:
- Another attempt to raise the personal boat tax from its negligible rate now to $1 per $100 of assessed value. The tax on commercial boats would be reduced from $1.50 to $1 to make all boat taxes equal. Spore tried to get the levy passed last year, but council balked. The tax would raise about $900,000.
- The elimination of merit pay raises. Instead, workers will get a 1.5 percent general increase and their bosses will spread out $1.9 million in bonuses for "exceptional performance" or hard-to-fill jobs.
School workers are budgeted to receive a 3.5 percent raise. The city's pay increas es are the lowest since fiscal 1992, when workers got two extra days off in lieu of raises, White-sell said.
Most public safety workers won't get a raise in the first year of the budget, a trade-off for a pension increase the city gave them last year. They would get raises the next year.
- Increasing the tax on cigarettes by 11 cents a pack and raising the tax on machinery and tools, generating a combined $3.5 million. The money would pay for work in so-called "strategic growth areas."
- A capital building plan that includes $3.15 million to build a walkway over Virginia Beach Boulevard from Town Center to Pembroke Mall.
- $1 million to staff, run and expand the red-light camera program, which photographs drivers running red lights.
- Cutting $131,000 for the courtesy patrol at the Oceanfront, eliminating the $200,000 budget for the Virginia Beach Patriotic Festival and closing the city's Consumer Affairs Program to save $339,000.
- Eliminates 25 net positions, including chief operating officer.
- An estimated loss of $56 million in state funding for roads.
Whitesell said the city is dealing with a slowing economy the same as taxpayers are.
"We'll make do in other areas," she said. "Just as families do."
Richard Quinn, (757) 222-5119, richard.quinn@pilotonline.com
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Where are our Priorities??? Shared Pain?
The police department’s request for more officers to fight street gangs, the EMS department request to staff four more ambulances and the fire department’s Fire Education programs all go unfunded yet the dome site, new convention center hotel and many town center projects are funded or “to be funded outside of the budget”? Where are the priorities? The schools will not have the replacement high schools built and in the end, will be forced to cut teacher pay raises. There are no mergers of career fire-ems to save millions nor billing for ems transports recommended by the Blue Ribbon Task Force…
The employees saved over 100 million in future retirement cost and had 17 million in surplus health insurance this year. VRS cost are down also saving the taxpayers even more! Where are our Priorities???
EDucation
The federal government has no business in funding education. That is solely a state function.
As for real estate assessments, I expect mine to increase again regardless of whether the market is down. Nothing in this city works in the homeowners favor.
Will council members,city
Will council members,city manager and directors give up their $1000 a month tax free car allowance? In the early 90s, the city employees got no pay increases during an actual recession yet the City Manager got his pay increases retroactively. Where is the leadership of this city?
A Clue to Those Who are Confused about 2.5%
Have home values actually gone up 2.5% this past year? No. But what I can tell you is that the state did not give a cost of living increase to teachers for FY08-09. So, the local teacher's union pushed VERY hard for the state to push through a 3% raise for the 08-09 year. The state did not allocate such funding. So, at the union's behest, the local government has given all teachers a 2.5-3% increase for the next year. But, at the same time, they also cut staff positions and have reduced teachers' hours where possible. Basically any teacher who teaches art, music, etc is more likely to face funding cuts, and are having to decide whether or not they can take two teaching jobs at two schools to get ONE full time position. Nonetheless, they have to fund other aspects of education...and guess who pays: homeowners.
So, if you don't like the increase in assessments, talk to your state representative, (better yet, demand more funding from the Federal government, which has continually CUT funding year after year since Bush's inception) and ask them to better fund education. VA Ranks 32nd in terms of proportional education funding when compared to total revenues in the state. Where do th
It ain't pretty.
"Home values are expected to increase in the 2.5 percent range, said Catheryn Whitesell, the city's budget officer". Earth to Catheryn.....earth to Catheryn....housing prices have DROPPED at least five percent, and will drop another five percent (if we're lucky) over the next year.
I'd like to know where she's getting her data from. It's absolutely silly to increase home valuations while they're tanking in the real world.
I hope every citizen with a higher valuation challenges it. I know I will. I know what houses are selling for in my neighborhood...and it ain't pretty.
Sounds funny
Home values down, but assessments up?? Sounds a little off. A raise wow, and for what? Have they done anything to deserve it? Save another 3 mil and don’t build that stupid bridge at Pembroke!!! Buy signs that read 15MPH from Independence to Hilton Hotel!!! Then have a police officer there, ready to hand out tickets for speeders!!!!! Oh, and look both ways before crossing!!! So I saved the city over three million with my ideas and brought in some funds-can I have a job-with a raise every YEAR!!! How do they get away with this??
Ploy!
You can bet this is a ploy to hide the fact that with the upcoming increased real estate assessments and the proposed fee increases, our taxes will rise substantially. You can take it to the bank!
Increasing the Boat Tax for Dredging
That's what was stated at council last night. Increasing the recreational boat tax from $0.01 per $100 to $1.00 per $100 will be to help pay for the Western Branch dredging of the Lynnhaven. And they still don't have an approved plan for how they are going to remove the dredge spoils.
An interesting note that while PA High School was eliminated as a spoils transfer site, it was mentioned that the replacement for the school was in the budget. So why was that site eliminated from consideration as the spoils transfer site?
There will be public comment sessions as follows:
17 April, 6 pm at Green Run High School
22 April, 6 pm at City Council
13 May, 6 pm at City Council - this is where they'll vote, so commenting then will be TOO LATE!
Taxes NOT RATES should be fixed
If we can get along without all these things to balance the budget, then why did we create them in the first place??? The answer is in the taxing method. Because property values doubled does not mean the costs to run the city doubled. Because property values doubled does not mean that the tax payers' income doubled. Taxes should be fixed, increasing only at the amount of the CPI. They can be allocated to the tax payers proportionately based on the value of the property, but increases and decreases in tax revenues should not follow the value of the property. Today, values go up, taxes go up, City Council wring their hands in glee as they look for ways to spend the revenues. Bad system. They should all be fired!!
Taxes should be based on the requirements to run the city. Changes in taxes should be from a change in the requirements.
So Much For Joining The Golf & Yacht Club...
Tax assessments increased at least 100% on "widely unrealized capital gains" from July 1, 2003 to July 1, 2007 across Virginia Beach. Does it cost twice as much now for a kid to go to school as it did in 2003? Did our fine police departments double since 2003? Did our fine fire protection double since 2003? Did the size of City Council and city government double since 2003? No. I have surely not heard any taxpayer conversation regarding the paying of these high taxes being a status symbol nor used as bragging rights. Obviously quite a few boats are about to be re-registered out of city/state and statused "transient" by their wealthier owners. Therefore the class without such options gets squeezed toward realized, depreciated, forced liquidation of their assets again.
Virginia Beach Assesments
If the City of Virginia Beach raises assessments on homes this year they need to fire the people in the Assessors office, the values of our homes had dropped last year when we received our valuation notices and they refused to lower the assessments saying this years assessments would reflect the drop in values. All we have seen and heard for the last year is how home values have continued to drop, so we should see a decrease in our valuations.
Every time the City wants more money but doesn't want to appear to raise taxes all they do is raise the assessments enough to cover the increase in taxes that they really want. Enough is enough.
Pembroke crossing
Gotta love the million dollar bridge!
Correction: Same tax rate as last year is an increase!
If the value of average assessments has increased more 101% from last year - meaning moere than a 1% increase, then state code automatically LOWERS the tax rate - to offset the tax increase due to higher assessments.
I suspect that Virignia beach average assessment will increase from last year by at least 5%.
If so, then a tax rate of $0.89 cents per $100 of assessed value is NOT the automatically lowered tax rate and City Council would have to vote to INCREASE the tax rate to $0.89 cents per $100 of assessed value if they are planning to "freeze" the tax rate to last year's tax rate.
Folks - do not be fooled - that is a tax INCREASE!