Stafford property owners may see an increase in the real-estate tax rate in their next bills, but it’s not likely to be any larger than what the county administrator already proposed.
The Stafford County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday night voted 5-2 to advertise a tax rate of $0.985 per $100 of assessed value, up from the current figure of $0.9236, and a fire levy increase from $0.0131 per $100 of valuation to $0.014.
Those were the same rates County Administrator Bill Ashton proposed last month when he presented a $1.12 billion local government budget for the next fiscal year.
Advertising the rates essentially means the supervisors can later set lower levies but not higher ones. It creates a sort of tax-rate ceiling.
Even before the board’s vote, Chairman Deuntay Diggs said he intended to start at $0.985 and lower the rate from there.
“I want to understand what the implications of those decisions [are] as we work down from that set tax rate,” he said. “What are we cutting? How’s it going to impact operations and stuff going forward?”
If the $0.985 rate stands, the average annual Stafford real estate tax bill would go up by $462, or $38 per month, to $4,699. The median assessed home value in the county is $477,100.
Earlier in Tuesday’s meeting, Rock Hill District Supervisor Crystal Vanuch proposed setting the real-estate rate at $0.93 per $100 of assessed value and the tax rate on data center computer equipment at $2.50 per valuation, a 100% increase from the current rate of $1.25.
However, Vanuch’s motion failed when only she and Hartwood District Supervisor Darrell English voted for it. Vanuch and English were also the only supervisors to vote against $0.985.
The lower, $0.93 rate would have been an effort on behalf taxpayers, who for the most part have seen their property values rise because of this year’s reassessment.
And the $2.50 rate on data center equipment indicated a desire to bring in more money from the technology businesses, which are touted as big revenue-generators.
The current $1.25 ended up being chosen for advertisement along with the real-estate rate and other county tax rates.
The supervisors’ action Tuesday, for example, also proposes instituting a $0.985 per $100 of assessed value rate on solar energy equipment, facilities, and devices, and potentially increasing some other levies. Those changes include taking the tax rate on camping trailers and recreational vehicles from $5.49 per $100 of assessed value to $5.72.
This year’s county budget-writing season is complicated by some mandatory increases in spending, such as opening three new schools, and trying to make up for $40 million in lost revenue that resulted from tax relief for seniors and disabled veterans.
A public hearing on the budget will be held April 7, and the supervisors are scheduled to approve the budget April 21.
Some Stafford residents, though, are already speaking out.
Molly Denham, who lives in the Hartwood District, had some harsh words for the supervisors Tuesday, but she also said she supported the $0.985 rate because it allows for the elected officials to have some budget negotiating space.
She said the county government isn’t spending too much, as some claim. Rather, it needs to target businesses that can be attracted to Stafford and pay taxes to fund government services so property owners don’t have to foot so much of the bill.
“This is greater than adding more retail or restaurants or some 15-year data center plan that still hasn’t been explained,” Denham said. “We need a specific industry identified for the county to grow around. One that can drive education, provide jobs, give structure and be a very much needed counterweight for taxes on county residents.”
