Real estate tax rate of 67 cents proposed in New Kent

A 67-cent real estate tax rate is being proposed to fund New Kent’s fiscal 2011 budget that now stands at $49.9 million.

County Administrator Cabell Lawton presented the draft budget to county Board of Supervisors members during the board’s Monday night meeting. Supervisors have scheduled an April 28 budget work session, coinciding with their regular monthly work session, in preparation for a May 10 public hearing.

The proposed tax levy is a penny below a 68-cent equalized rate determined after last year’s property reassessment. County residents currently pay 73 cents per $100 of assessed value.

If the 67-cent proposal stands, it means an average homeowner in the county, whose property is valued at $266,000, would pay about $1,782 in taxes next year.

Except for utilities, no other tax or fee increases are proposed. The county’s personal property rate of $3.75 per $100 of assessed value remains unchanged. Customers hooked up to county-owned water/sewer systems can expect an 8 percent across the board hike in fees.

Earlier, Lawton and his budget team were able to build a budget proposal in which revenue outpaced anticipated expenses by $2.3 million. To help balance the budget, the team restored $1.1 million in funding for county schools. School officials say the extra money means teaching and other positions on a long list of job cuts are no longer in jeopardy, and a proposed salary decrease for school employees is off the table.

Lawton’s team is also proposing to erase more of the county’s debt, provide a $300 one-time bonus for county employees, restore a Social Services position set to expire, add one position to the janitorial staff at the county health/human services building, and cover the salary of a deputy sheriff assigned to monitor a road clean-up crew from Henrico Jail East.

Other proposed budget highlights are:

–Three new employee positions, two in the utilities department and one in Social Services;

–Just over $923,000 in capital improvement expenditures, all cash-funded;

–No salary raise for county employees;

–$25,000 in funding for Providence Forge Volunteer Rescue Squad, down from $72,000 for the current year.

Lawton said the PFVRS figure is by mutual agreement with the squad since the number of emergency calls answered in New Kent has dropped dramatically.

District 4 Supervisor Stran Trout offered a list of budget amendments for the board to consider at its April 28 work session. Trout wants to do away with a proposal that would shut down the county’s trash transfer sites one day per week on a staggered basis.

He also wants supervisors to consider opening a brush recycling station in the county’s western end and accelerate work to renovate the “historic school” for housing the School Board and Heritage Public Library. Another proposal is to further reduce the county’s Business/Professional/Occupational/Licenses or BPOL tax.

The total proposed budget is about $1.7 million less than the current year’s $51.6 million budget. The proposal can be viewed at the county’s web site www.co.new-kent.va.us.