Do you favor raising the real estate tax? Ward B Candidates Respond

Do you favor raising the real estate tax? Why or why not?
Responses from Waynesboro’s Ward B City Council candidates

Bruce Allen: I do not favor a tax increase. And the reason is, there again, it seems like local, state and federal governments, in my opinion, they tax us enough. It’s kind of like when they get to the end of the budget, instead of saying, ‘Let’s cut back here, let’s cut back there,‘ they add a tax to bring in more revenue. My philosophy would be, if we get to the end of the budget, that’s where we’re at. We need to learn to live within our means and spend our money wisely. We need the people who are spending our money to be accountable for how it’s spent. By revisiting needless spending, I believe we’ll be able to maintain, or lower, our tax rate.

Greg Bruno: Absolutely not. We have to work it out. Now, there are some very difficult decisions that may be made, including reductions of some services at some point. But in current difficult economic times, it’s absolutely unwise to raise the tax rate. So I believe council has a responsibility to do its best to keep the tax rate stable - no higher than it currently is.

Chris Graham: I do not. I do not. I think it’s important that we recognize that our taxpayers are carrying a heavy burden. Our property taxpayers already carry a tremendous burden on their backs. And especially now that we’re in a time of economic uncertainty, whether or not we’re in a recession or slowdown, we certainly are feeling some pain. And it’s unwise to raise the tax rate and taxes, because that’s what will happen in this time of uncertainty. I think if we address the stormwater issue in the right way, if we did that this year, we might even be able to look at cutting a cent off that tax rate, which wouldn’t be much. In a sense, for the average taxpayer, it would be a small gesture towards them, but I think the gesture itself would be important because we’d be recognizing that the economy is bad, we want to give you the ability to fuel it a little bit more, to take care of your needs, whatever that might be. I really think it’s important as a long-term issue too, that we consider, first and foremost, that we work within the current budget structure, the current tax structure, as a way of looking at the current budget.