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Supervisors approve Rappahannock County budget, keeping real estate taxes flat

by | May 12, 2024

During its meeting on May 6, the Board of Supervisors approved the county budget. Also at the meeting, Hampton Supervisor Keir Whitson talked about his cardiac incident and the need for automated external defibrillators (AEDs) around the county.
During its meeting on May 6, the Board of Supervisors approved the county budget. Also at the meeting, Hampton Supervisor Keir Whitson talked about his cardiac incident and the need for automated external defibrillators (AEDs) around the county.

board of supervisors meeting 5-6-24

During its meeting on May 6, the Board of Supervisors approved the county budget. Also at the meeting, Hampton Supervisor Keir Whitson talked about his cardiac incident and the need for automated external defibrillators (AEDs) around the county.

The Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 Monday to adopt the $30 million budget compromise hammered out last month. 

The plan holds property taxes at their current rate of 55 cents per $100 of assessed value. The schools– the county’s largest single expenditure– will receive $9.95 million of county funds, 98% of what they requested. 

The one point of contention was the personal property tax, levied on cars, trucks and farm vehicles. Under the budget compromise worked out in April, this levy would rise slightly to $3.60 per $100 of assessed value. Hampton Supervisor Keir Whitson explained that the change is calibrated to keep residents’ actual tax payments the same as they are this year. Without the adjustment in the tax rate, downward prices in the automobile market and the aging of residents’ vehicles, would result in lower valuations and lower tax receipts for the county.  

In addition to Whitson, Chair and Wakefield Supervisor Debbie Donehey, Stonewall-Hawthorne Supervisor Van Carney and Jackson Supervisor Donna Comer all voted in favor of the adopted budget, including the new rate for personal property taxes.

Video: Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors May 2024 meeting

Watch the supervisors and residents meet Monday at the Rappahannock County courthouse on Gay Street in Washington.

Piedmont Supervisor Christine Smith questioned the projection that the new rate would be neutral, with property owners paying what they did this year. “We all know that will affect different brands and types of vehicles differently, and I know some people will be very heavily impacted,” Smith said. She cast the one vote against approving the budget plan. 

The budget process for the fiscal year starting in July focused on how to make up for a shortfall in state funding for the schools. In March, County Administrator Garrey Curry suggested a hike in property tax rates, and supervisors instead patched together an alternate plan to provide the schools most of what they requested without a real estate tax increase. 

A significant factor was the county’s interest income, both in the current fiscal year and the next. Because of persistent inflation pressures, interest rates aren’t dropping as rapidly as expected. As a result, the county is earning higher returns in its reserves, eliminating the need for higher real estate taxes. 

Background:

Rappahannock supervisors staving off tax hikes

The key elements of Rappahannock County’s next budget are settled: Barring a last-minute reversal, increases in property taxes won’t happen, personal property tax payments will remain level, and the schools will receive $9.95 million in local funds, 98% of the funding they requested.

Raise taxes, or ‘scramble’ for funds?: Rappahannock supervisors weigh options

One thing was clear last Monday night when the Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors convened to hear residents’ thoughts on the proposed budget: the supervisors are reluctant to raise property taxes, leaving them to “scramble” for other funding sources to meet the county’s stated needs.

Rappahannock County budget architects trying to avoid tax hikes

Rappahannock County’s proposed increase in property taxes is in play, but may evaporate if two other sources of funds materialize. 

 

Author

  • Tim Carrington

    Tim Carrington has worked in journalism and economic development, writing for The Wall Street Journal for fifteen years from New York, London and Washington. He later joined the World Bank, where he launched a training program in economics journalism for reporters and editors in Africa and the former Soviet Union. He also served as senior communications officer for the World Bank’s Africa Region. He is author of The Year They Sold Wall Street, published by Houghton Mifflin, and worked at McGraw Hill Publications before joining the Wall Street Journal. His writing on development issues has appeared in The Globalist, World Paper, Enterprise Africa, the 2003 book, The Right To Tell: The Role of Mass Media in Economic Development. He is a regular writer for The Rappahannock News through the Foothills Forum. His profiles and stories on the county’s political economy have earned several awards from the Virginia Press Association. Carrington is also a painter, whose work is regularly shown at the Middle Street Gallery in Little Washington. He grew up in Richmond, Va., and graduated from the University of Virginia. In 2006, he and his wife became part-time resident in Rappahannock County, which is currently their legal residence. Reach Tim at [email protected]

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By Tim Carrington

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Tim Carrington has worked in journalism and economic development, writing for The Wall Street Journal for fifteen years from New York, London and Washington. He later joined the World Bank, where he launched a training program in economics journalism for reporters and editors in Africa and the former Soviet Union. He also served as senior communications officer for the World Bank’s Africa Region. He is author of The Year They Sold Wall Street, published by Houghton Mifflin, and worked at McGraw Hill Publications before joining the Wall Street Journal. His writing on development issues has appeared in The Globalist, World Paper, Enterprise Africa, the 2003 book, The Right To Tell: The Role of Mass Media in Economic Development. He is a regular writer for The Rappahannock News through the Foothills Forum. His profiles and stories on the county’s political economy have earned several awards from the Virginia Press Association. Carrington is also a painter, whose work is regularly shown at the Middle Street Gallery in Little Washington. He grew up in Richmond, Va., and graduated from the University of Virginia. In 2006, he and his wife became part-time resident in Rappahannock County, which is currently their legal residence. Reach Tim at [email protected]