Death and taxes, that is, no matter the changes in property values.
From the Washington Post:
"Arlington County residents would face higher taxes and fees and reduced services under a budget proposal released by county officials yesterday.
County Manager Ron Carlee proposed a $924.6 million spending plan for the coming fiscal year that would increase the real estate tax rate by 2 cents, institute a 1.4-cent sanitary district tax to pay for storm water improvements and raise the commercial property tax rate by 12.5 cents to pay for road improvements. The average homeowner's tax would increase by $126, with the bill rising to $4,523 from $4,397, officials said".
"Prince William faces a major drop in revenue because of the nose dive in the housing market. The county's problems are magnified by the large number of foreclosures, which has contributed to a 16 percent decrease in residential property values.
After cutting spending by about $19 million, officials said, the county wants to increase the [property] tax rate. The tax rate, 78.7 cents for each $100 of assessed value, would rise to $1.01 under Gerhart's proposal. He said the average tax bill would rise 8 percent.
Board of County Supervisors Chairman Corey A. Stewart (R) said he could support a budget that trims $10 million more and keeps residential tax bills flat. Officials said that because of the decrease in property values, the tax rate could rise as much as 19 percent without increasing tax bills. The budget year starts July 1".
"Fairfax is among the first localities in Northern Virginia to reveal in detail just how seriously declining home values and consumer spending will affect government services. After years of booming growth, the county is projecting a decline in residential property values of 3 percent -- and a decline in revenue for the first time since the 1992 recession. . . .Also see Around the Neighborhoods for DC: it shows percent changes in assessment value from 2008 to 2009.
'The residential real estate market is continuing to go south,' [County Executive Anthony H.] Griffin told the county Board of Supervisors. 'It hasn't hit bottom yet. It may be calendar 2010 or calendar 2011 before it does.'
As a result, he said, prudence must be the county's response. His proposed $3.3 billion spending plan would keep the property tax rate at 89 cents for each $100 of assessed value, producing a tax bill of $4,450 for a $500,000 home. It would cut scheduled pay raises in half for county workers and fund virtually no new programs. That includes Fairfax's school system, which requested, but did not get, a 4 percent increase".
6 comments:
Still waiting for PWC/Manassas 2008assessments to come out...
cutting services makes no sense to these clowns.
Tejada in Arlington would rather promote accessory housing as part of his uber-progressive agenda than look at ways to shore up their books.
There is no way Fisette and Mary Hynes--who represent Ashton Heights and Lyon Village--will let Walter push through accessory housing, which is one issue that could actually wake up Arlington's silent majority and threaten the Dems control.
I like Fairfax County's proposal. Cut pay raises, lower spending, don't raise the already hefty taxes. Nice to see public officials doing what households do when the times get tight: cut spending.
makes me wanna run out and BUY BUY BUY! hey look, prices falling, taxes staying the same/rising. needless to say, these local govts suck.
on the plus side, i like that the fairfax guy is realistic that 2010/11 is bottom.
Maybe Arlington can break $200 million when they redo Yorktown high. The county finds new ways to waste money constantly. Fd, there is no silent majority in this county. The voting for the board is at-large and as the old-timers move out, it's becoming more liberal. The school budget is out of control, we spend over $20K a student. Plus we are adpoting failed teaching fads from CA. Thank goodness for Dillon's rule that protects us from much of Tejada's agenda. Democrats in the rest of the Commonwealth are far more reasonable than the limousine liberals here.
Post a Comment