Mount Airy’s preliminary budget for the upcoming 2021-22 fiscal year includes no increase in the property tax rate or water and sewer charges, but citizens still stand to pay more in taxes.
That’s because of revaluation being a factor in 2021, involving an every-four-year process undertaken in Surry County to update real estate values and reflect present market conditions.
Mount Airy officials learned earlier this year that this would result in higher property values of 7% overall, which is reflected in the proposed city budget.
The package presented Thursday night to the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners by City Manager Barbara Jones calls for the property tax rate to stay at 60 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.
Yet that will produce additional revenues because of the revaluation factor. The 60-cent rate is estimated to reap $7,321,200 for the next fiscal year that begins on July 1.
Jones said during follow-up questioning after Thursday night’s meeting that this is about $600,000 more than the same 60-cent tax rate generated for the present fiscal year before the revaluation.
State law requires local governments to publish a “revenue-neutral” property tax rate in their budgets immediately after a reappraisal to reflect what the rate would be in order to keep total revenues the same as they were for the previous year.
In Mount Airy’s case, this would be 57 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.
“The purpose of the revenue-neutral tax rate is to provide comparative information,” the city manager states in her budget message, with a municipality not required to downshift its rate to that level.
Mount Airy’s proposed general fund budget for 2021-22 totals $14.9 million, compared to the budget of about $13.9 million for this fiscal year which was approved by the commissioners last June.
Based on the city’s adjusted budget for 2020-21, the spending plan for 2021-22 proposes an overall 2.7% increase in operational costs.
The lion’s share of next year’s budget would go toward personnel expenses put at $9.8 million.
All full-time municipal employees are to get a raise under the proposed budget, of either 2% or $1,000, whichever is greater.
The Mount Airy Police Department is the largest-funded department in the city, budgeted at $4.78 million.
In addition to property tax proceeds, the second-largest revenue producer locally is the sales tax. Funds from it are projected at $1.3 million next year, a 13% increase compared to the original city budget adopted last June at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
The upcoming general fund budget also calls for appropriating $558,216 from Mount Airy’s general fund balance, also known as its surplus or savings, for city government needs.
Mount Airy maintains a separate water-sewer budget, representing a self-sustaining enterprise supported by user fees that are to be unchanged for 2021-22.
“I feel this proposal does allow us to continue providing and maintaining a high level of service for Mount Airy citizens and business partners,” Jones states in a summary of the preliminary budget.
Citizens have a chance to weigh in on it during a public hearing to be held during the next meeting of the commissioners on June 3 at 6 p.m.
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com