Waynesboro set to hold public hearing on real estate assessments, real estate tax rates on Monday
WAYNESBORO — With budget season well underway, Waynesboro residents will have an opportunity to speak about real estate assessments and a real property tax increase in the city on Monday. City council will hold a public hearing on the tax rate as part of their regular meeting.
Now, the city’s tax rate has not been finalized yet with the city still working through the budget process, but city manager Mike Hamp was able to offer some insight into where that tax rate might be headed.
While the public hearing is mainly focused on assessments and thoughts on the tax rate generally, the city will still welcome thoughts
There isn't a proposed tax rate yet, so what could it be?
To be clear, the city has not landed on a proposed tax rate for this year's budget. The advertisement for the public hearing on the city’s website mentions that the proposed tax rate is 90 cents per $100 of assessed value, but that number is essentially a placeholder. Hamp said that a state statute requires the city to advertise the current tax rate if they have not adopted a new one, but most localities have not finalized their tax rates at this point in the budget process.
So what could the rate actually be? Let’s start at the equalized rate, which would levy the same amount of real estate tax rate as last year. That number sits at around 74 cents per $100 of assessed value, but Waynesboro is actually working off of a rate that is a bit higher. When accounting for full funding for the schools and a 5% cost-of-living adjustment, the lowest the tax rate would likely go is 77 cents per $100 of assessed value.
According to Hamp, the current tax rate the city is working on within Waynesboro’s proposed budget is 79 cents for every $100 of assessed value. That number is far from finalized, as that number can change depending on the decisions that the city could still make.
Waynesboro will likely bring in more real estate tax revenue this year. What would it be used on?
Coming out of their retreat, Waynesboro City Council set four major funding priorities: Nature’s Crossing Technology Center, police department positions, the registrar’s office and, most importantly for the council, maintaining an affordable tax rate for all Waynesboro residents. At their March 8 budget work session, Hamp presented an 81 cent tax rate per $100 of assessed value based on those priorities from city council. However, a majority of council was against that number.
“Generally, my sense was that what we were contemplating, what I was contemplating for the recommended budget did not sufficiently reflect affordability,” Hamp said.
At that March 8 work session, Hamp said that it may be possible to get closer to the equalized rate if the council didn’t add any new expenditures, including Nature’s Crossing, police positions, and the registrar’s office. Hamp told The News Leader that those priorities have not changed.
A recommended budget reflecting a 79 cent tax rate was presented to the council on Monday, March 3 during a budget work session.
What exactly can residents comment on during Monday's public hearing?
First off, it’s important to note that this is the first of two public hearings that will take place during Waynesboro’s budget cycle. According to Hamp, this first hearing is “intended to afford the resident, the taxpayer an opportunity to simply comment on the reassessment and the lowered tax rate.” As the city continues to work through the budget process, the next public hearing will be on the budget and the proposed tax rate when the council is ready to adopt a rate.
That tax rate will be worked on by city staff and council during their next budget work session on Wednesday, April 12, and will be a part of a notice for the second public hearing. That work session will present an opportunity for council to revisit their priorities from their retreat.
“It’s an opportunity for folks to respond to the general reassessment and provide input on the rate generally, and then also, if they want to furnish comment on preferences they have regarding the budget, it’s appropriate to do so at that time as well,” Hamp said of Monday’s public hearing.
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—Akhil Ganesh is the Government Reporter at The News Leader. You can contact him at aganesh@newsleader.com and follow him on Twitter @akhildoesthings.
This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Waynesboro set to hold public hearing on real estate assessments, real estate tax rates on Monday
