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Fairfax City weighs tax rate increase
In what so far has proved to be the most challenging budget process Fairfax City has faced in at least two decades, the city council is considering an increase of up to 7 cents in the city's real estate tax rate.
Mayor Robert Lederer and the city council voted 4-3 Tuesday to set the advertised real estate tax rate at 79 cents for every $100 of assessed property value, up from 72 cents for the current fiscal year. As a result of the action, the council may lower the rate when it votes April 8 on the final version of the city budget, but it cannot raise the rate above 79 cents.
Breaking the council’s tie vote during the March 25 council meeting at City Hall, the mayor sided with council members Jeffrey Greenfield, Scott Silverthorne and Gail Lyon.
On the other side were Joan Cross, Patrice Winter and Gary Rasmussen, who said prior to the vote that setting a rate of 79 cents at the outset would require either $3.8 million be trimmed immediately from city expenses or the same amount in revenue be found just as quickly in order to help bridge an $8-9 million gap in the city manager’s proposed $116 million general fund budget.
Fairfax City Manager Robert Sisson had previously recommended a tax rate of 83.5 cents to bring the budget into balance. Every $850,000 in the city budget represents roughly one penny in the tax rate.
Greenfield said prior to the vote that he was suggesting the 79-cent rate based on an anticipated $5 million or so coming into city coffers from two separate sources.
The City of Fairfax School Board is set to transfer about $2.25 million in unspent construction funds into the city's general fund. The money is left over from renovation work at Lanier Middle School.
Before the end of fiscal year 2008-09, the city also anticipates receiving about $2.7 million from the sale of city-owned property at the now vacant library site at the corner of Chain Bridge Road and Whitehead Street to Kimco Reality Corp., the owner of Old Town Village in downtown Fairfax City.
The city also owns several other properties within the downtown, which are currently off the tax rolls. Some of the properties include 10414 Main St., which houses the TT Reynolds restaurant, and 10418 Main St. at the northeast corner with Chain Bridge Road. Also, two city-owned parcels – one at the corner of University Drive and North Street next to Old Town Hall, the other at the corner of Main and East Streets – are currently being used as gravel parking lots.
During a work session portion of the March 25 meeting, the council discussed an option made available by the Virginia state legislature permitting localities to levy a surcharge on commercial real estate of up to 25 cents for every $100 of assessed value. The state also mandated that taxes collected from the surcharge could only be used to fund transportation projects.
The city staff has recommended a surcharge of 12 cents.
Several council members, including Silverthorne, suggested that if the council votes to implement the surcharge, then a special tax the city currently levies on commercial property owners within the Fairfax Boulevard business improvement district (BID) and owners of commercial property in the downtown should be reduced or eliminated in order to spread the tax burden more equitably among all owners of commercial real estate within the city.
Wait just a darn minute...aren't property and home prices going DOWN? So then, why are taxes going to go UP??? WHO are the WEASELS that want to raise our taxes even MORE????
AAAAGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
Posted by tjhall
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