Four cent tax hike in NK’s draft budget

A 4-cent real estate tax hike is being proposed to fund a $67.3 million county budget for fiscal 2013-14 unveiled Monday in draft form before New Kent’s Board of Supervisors.

If approved, the real estate tax rate would rise from the current 81 cents per $100 of assessed value to 85 cents. That means, for example, a homeowner whose property is assessed at $200,000 would be paying an additional $80 per year. Under the current rate, taxes on that property amount to $1,620 per year. With an 85-cent rate, the total climbs to $1,700.

County administrator Rodney Hathaway told the board that two cents in the 4-cent increase are slated to help pay part of an estimated $5 million price tag for converting the county’s Historic School into an elementary school. The lion’s share of the cost would be debt-funded, he added.

The remaining two cents in the proposed tax hike would be applied to an increase in operating costs for the county, he said.

There is no proposed change in the current personal property tax rate of $3.75 per $100 of assessed value. One cent on the personal property tax rate equates to $17,422 while one penny on the real estate tax rate brings in $232,121.

The draft budget proposes $12.4 million in county dollars for schools, an increase of $700,000 above the current year’s $11.7 million local contribution. School officials had requested more than a $1.3 million increase.

“The $700,000 is based partly on what we could afford to give [schools] and what schools requested,” Hathaway said in response to a question posed by District 4 Supervisor Ron Stiers on justification for the increase in school money.

“We believe [schools] really need $1.3 million in additional revenue next year, but we had to prioritize,” he added.

The proposed budget includes a 2 percent cost of living pay raise for county workers along with six new employee positions and upgrades at a half-dozen other posts. Upgraded positions are in the sheriff’s office (3), fire/rescue (2), and parks and recreation (1).

New jobs include a senior environmental compliance inspector and an environmental technician, both mandated and unfunded by the state. Other new positions are two fulltime firefighter/EMT posts, a School Resource Officer (SRO) for Watkins Elementary School, and a Comprehensive Services Act administrative assistant. The new jobs and upgrades add almost $307,000 to the budget.

“It’s a struggle to keep up with staffing to keep up with demands in the county,” Hathaway told the board.

The county administrator also proposes $3.6 million in capital improvement projects, all to be paid for by cash on hand. There is no new debt proposed in the budget.

The proposed budget’s bottom line is $67,340,532 or about $8.7 million higher than the current year’s $58.6 million figure. Most of that increase, Hathaway said, is “money in, money out.”

County taxpayers’ money, however, goes toward the general fund portion of the budget which, for now, stands at $35.3 million or about $1.8 million above the current year’s $33.5 million amount.

Driving most of the $1.8 million increase, Hathaway said, are the $700,000 in extra school money, debt service of just over $465,000 for Historic School renovations, and personnel costs of almost $609,000. Those costs include the new jobs and upgraded positions along with the proposed 2-cent pay raise plus benefits.

Supervisors are aiming at scheduling a budget public hearing during their regular meeting on May 13. By law, supervisors cannot adopt a next year budget until at least seven days after the public hearing.

The entire budget can be found on the county’s web site. Click on the link to the county’s web site that appears on the Chronicle’s web site nkccnews.com.