Get Ready for a Tax Hike, Albemarle County Residents

Actually, it’s not a tax “hike” but an assumption that the mil rate in Albemarle County will be raised next year. (bolding mine)

For the purposes of the financial plan, Foley said staff are assuming a tax rate increase that accounts for falling residential property values and that keeps the effective tax rate the same as the current fiscal year. The tax rate would be increased by 3.5 cents for a total rate of $0.745 per $100 of assessed value in calendar year 2009. Residential property owners, on average, would not pay an increase in their annual real estate taxes. If commercial properties were included in that calculation, the effective tax rate would be only 2.2 cents higher because commercial assessments have not declined. A one-cent rate increase was already assumed in the five-year financial forecast and the plan assumes it will go up another cent in 2010 to 75.5 cents.

Personally, I’d love to be able to assume I could earn more revenue next year.
Read the entire story at Charlottesville Tomorrow – virtually everybody in CharlAlbemarle will be affected in some way, not least by the delays to capital improvements:

The County will delay several capital projects. New fire stations in Pantops and Ivy will be delayed until FY2013. A new library for Crozet was expected to open in 2011, but that will now be pushed back to 2013. A new library to replace the Northside library will be pushed back out of the five year plan. Recycling centers anticipated to open in FY2010 will be delayed until FY2013. Western Park in the Crozet growth area, scheduled to open in 2012, will also be moved out of the first five years of the capital plan.

As I said last year – If we could all set our budgets the way government does …

Update – Related discussion at Waldo Jaquith’s site.