Staunton City Council passes 90-cent tax rate

STAUNTON - A close vote Monday night pegged this city's new tax rate at 90 cents, a choice sure to please few in what has been a contentious budget season, councilors acknowledge.

During the past month of fierce public debate, Staunton City Council threw out as many as a half a dozen tax suggestions in its quest to both meet city needs and lighten the burden on property owners facing a record reassessment.

On Monday, that struggle came to a quick and quiet close, with a minimum of debate preceding the 4-3 vote that locked in a new rate of 90 cents.

The approved figure represents a 6-cent drop from the status quo and a slight shave off the 94 cents staffers had recommended.

The cut will cost the city budget $320,000, which will include the loss of a new truck and police car, as well as $20,000 in contributions to the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and $15,000 to the regional law enforcement firing range. Schools will also take an automatic slash of $183,000 under the pre-approved funding arrangement between the two bodies.

Dissenting in the vote was Mayor Lacey King and Councilmen Dick Robinson and Dickie Bell.

Bell, who from the beginning had advocated a rate closer to 80 cents, started the meeting off by putting 85 cents on the table, a motion that died due to lack of a second.

King and Robinson both said after the vote they were holding out for 89 cents, an additional skimming that would have meant forgoing a new paint job for the fire department and trimming the Staunton Downtown Development Authority contribution by $10,000. The schools would also lose another $83,000, according to the plans laid out by staff Monday.

"I thought 89 cents was much closer to what we needed after the big reassessments we had," said Robinson, noting the average homeowner saw their property values jump 35 percent this year.

King recalled the many residents who spoke at earlier public hearings about the financial straits such a large rise would put on them.

"They were passionate," he said. "I wanted to get it down into the 80s, to do as much as I could."

Many of those who attended the hearings fought for an 80-cent rate, a figure the majority of council, including King, felt would devastate the city.

Councilman Bruce Elder, who introduced the 90-cent proposal, pointed out the city was suffering from weak sales-tax growth and a decline in state funding for teachers' salaries.

"The actual change in spending from this year to next is only 2 percent," he said. "… If we could have lowered it another half a cent, we would have. But it was important to me to preserve teachers' salaries."

Vice Mayor Dave Metz acknowledged many would be displeased with the decision but said it was the right one to make.

"I don't think anybody's completely happy with this budget," he said, noting the cuts that had to be made and the night's narrow approval. "That speaks volumes that this budget doesn't make everyone happy, but it reflects the reality of the revenue stream and the expenses that cannot be cut out."

Under the new rate, a person with a home assessed at $200,000 would save $40 over the rate suggested by staff.

At the same time, that person would pay close to $400 more than the previous year - assuming their property values were raised 35 percent in the reassessment.

Contact Alicia Petska at apetska@newsvirginian.com.