While she was serving on the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners, Shirley Brinkley was among the majority voting for a 25% increase in city property taxes — but now is singing a different tune.
Brinkley is advocating that taxes be slashed in the municipal budget for the 2022-23 fiscal year that begins on July 1, which the present council members possibly will adopt during a meeting this Thursday night without such a cut.
Although the proposed $18.4 million budget, released last month, is $3.5 million higher than that approved in June 2021 for the present fiscal year, the property tax rate is projected to remain at 60 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.
That might satisfy some citizens, yet Brinkley, a former South Ward commissioner who served two terms, believes the board should go an extra step given the present state of affairs with consumers hit by record gas prices and inflation at a 40-year high.
“A tax cut in this economy should have been your priority instead of increasing the budget by $3.5 million,” Brinkley told city officials while speaking during a public hearing on the spending plan at a meeting earlier this month.
That increase is largely due to Mount Airy’s receiving of about $3.2 million in federal COVID-relief funding through the American Rescue Plan Act, which is reflected in the overall municipal budget even though local tax dollars aren’t involved.
The bulk of that funding is proposed to be spent on a long list of projects during the next fiscal year, mainly including major building and equipment needs at City Hall, Reeves Community Center and elsewhere.
Brinkley implied that city officials should have found some way within the budget parameters to reduce property taxes rather than increase spending on items that do not directly help local residents.
“You are here to make changes and improvements that will benefit all citizens of Mount Airy, and I say all — not the few here and there.”
The former commissioner added, “I see many on this board making your decisions, and forgive me for saying this, in a vacuum,” and not “looking at the needs of all the citizens.”
Brinkley punctuated her comments with stern criticism.
“I’m just going to say, shame on you,” Brinkley told the commissioners at one point, warning that some would be held accountable come ballot time in November.
“Elections are on the horizon — voters are putting their eyes on those running that are honest and will keep their word, those committed to tax cuts,” she said.
“If I stepped on toes, I apologize,” Brinkley concluded in her remarks to city officials. “If you felt anything, maybe you had a little conscience from what I said.”
Ironically, Brinkley was on the city council the last time property taxes were raised, in June 2018 when the rate jumped from 48 to 60 cents. Before that, the last tax increase had occurred in 2007.
Part of the 2018 hike was due to Brinkley’s insistence that city firefighters get a raise.
For the next fiscal year, full-time municipal employees are recommended to receive a $1,500 increase.
Mayor pro tem responds
Brinkley was up for re-election in 2019, but chose not to run for a third term.
Instead Marie Wood successfully campaigned that year for the South Ward seat held by Brinkley and in addition to serving as a commissioner is the city’s mayor pro tem, or vice mayor, who presides in the absence of the chief executive.
With Mayor Ron Niland not attending the last council meeting when Brinkley spoke, it fell to Wood to respond to Brinkley’s address — including her belief that now is not the time to reduce taxes.
Based on Wood’s statements, this is because the municipality is facing a financial crunch the same as private consumers.
“Things are going up — they are not going down,” she said of prices.
In her opinion, “it will be impossible to cut taxes — in this environment,” Wood added.
“Would I love to have my taxes cut? Absolutely,” she said. “But I don’t see that as a possibility — I’m saying I just don’t.”
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com