Higher taxes proposed for Albemarle

Albemarle County officials are eyeing a budget recommendation for fiscal 2010 that’s $26 million lighter than the current budget and calls for a 5.7-cent increase in the real estate tax rate in the 2009 calendar year.

County Executive Robert W. Tucker Jr. released a budget recommendation about an hour ago. The proposal is designed to guide the Board of Supervisors as its members create a budget in April and sets tax rates. Tucker’s budget is online at http://www.albemarle.org. 

“It goes without saying the county is facing a dramatic downturn in revenues, due to the broader economic conditions facing both the public and private sector,” Tucker said.

The total recommended budget is $307.7 million, compared with the current $333.7 appropriated budget. Included in the fiscal 2010 recommended budget is $17.5 million for capital expenses, such as building infrastructure, a decrease of $31.7 million compared with fiscal 2009.

Albemarle officials have been forced to consider a combination of service cuts and taxes to make up for less revenue, because of the downward economy. And in some cases, Albemarle has more mandates it’s required to pay next fiscal year, compared with the current fiscal year.

“We have significant decreases in revenues, to the tune of $5.24 million. We’ve got a major increase in obligations or mandates that I can’t change, really, to the tune of about $7.6 million,” Tucker said. “So that means the county has had to be very aggressive in scrutinizing all expenditures to find significant reductions to balance our budget.”

Overall, property values in the county are down 2.6 percent. The value of the average single-family residence is down 4.1 percent, and the county is collecting $2.1 million less in taxes and fees associated with building and housing activities, because of the housing crisis.

At the same time, the county will have to front the costs of a $4.4 million increase in money it owes to Charlottesville, through a revenue-sharing agreement, totaling about $18 million. Plus, the county owes more money for school debt service, because of infrastructure improvements at schools, such as new building renovations.

A tax rate of 74.2 cents per $100 of assessed value would mean that the average Albemarle homeowner would pay the same real-estate taxes. However, in December, the Board of Supervisors asked that Tucker add another 2.5 cents to the tax rate, setting aside the additional revenue for a rainy day fund, in case the economy becomes even worse in the coming years than officials expect.

If a 76.7-cent tax rate were adopted, the owner of a median-value single-family home in Albemarle would pay $77 more a year in real-estate taxes, compared with the current rate of 71 cents, according to county spokeswoman Lee Catlin.

Under Tucker’s plan, the personal property tax rate would remain the same, at $4.28 per $100 of assessed value.

Tucker’s recommendation calls for a variety of service cuts. Tucker said police response times, for example, would “probably be reduced,” and library hours would be cut. The county also plans to freeze 50 county employee positions before the end of January 2010.