The average Rowan County taxpayer could see a 22 percent increase in his tax bill, if the
Board of Commissioners follows through with a budget proposal it drew up Wednesday. By a 4-1 vote, commissioners asked County
Manager Tim Russell to round off budget numbers and come up with a tax rate of 63.5 cents
for every $100 worth of property.
While that rate would be lower
than the current rate of 63.75 cents, the comparison has no relevance to tax bills because
of revaluation; most homeowners would see significantly higher taxes because their
property is worth more on the tax books. Revaluation saw property values go up by an
average of 22 percent countywide.
Despite the board’s labors to
keep the new rate below the current rate, Commissioner Arnold Chamberlain ended the day
Wednesday by noting that the board was calling for a ‘‘whale of a tax
increase.’’
The biggest part of the increase
comes from a school spending hike designed to push the county to the statewide average in
per-pupil spending. When the county manager started tallying up the board’s budget,
new school spending made up two-thirds of the $5.3 million in new spending overall.
Not that the county doesn’t
have major spending needs of its own: The board tentatively approved plans to expand the
number of courtrooms and jail cells; to provide parking and office space in the block
north of the Justice Center; and to buy land for a new south Rowan library branch. The
financing for those needs and other projects are planned to add $1.2 million to the county
budget.
The spending proved to be too much
for Commissioner Dave Rowland, who appeared ready to scuttle even the county school
spending agreement if it meant higher taxes.
‘‘I was led to believe
that we would be able to fund schools with growth money,’’ Rowland said,
sparking disagreement among some other board members that such a spending plan was ever
possible. Rowland called for limiting the increase in county spending to the natural
growth in the county’s tax base, or about $1.5 million in new revenue. He was the
only board member to vote against the 63.5-cent budget recommendation. With cuts elsewhere
in the budget, Rowland maintained, the county could still meet the school commitment.
Such a tax rate would be about
seven cents higher than the rate county commissioners would have to set to keep tax
collections about the same. Because of revaluation, Russell told the board, the county
would have to drop the rate to 56.27 cents to have essentially the same budget revenue,
counting the normal growth in the tax base.
The board dodged a potential
disagreement with school officials when they learned that the schools weren’t
planning to divert a $325,000 allocation for teacher supplies approved by the county last
year. Commissioners were under the impression that such a switch was in the works, but an
afternoon session with Rowan-Salisbury Schools Superintendent Dr. Joe McCann cleared that
up.
As a result, the system will not
only get the $3 million needed to meet the state average, but an additional $375,000 in
supplies to bring the total amount of supply spending to $700,000.
The board’s budget day left
some major projects still on the table, despite the county manager’s earlier budget
revision that had crossed them out to save money:
- The board didn’t cut back
$263,000 needed for annual financing of the project to provide offices and parking in the
300 block of North Main Street. The project may cost $1.5 million.
- Russell had proposed postponing the
construction cells for 48 more inmates in the Justice Center, but that money was left in
the budget along with new courtroom construction costs. The Justice Center improvements
are projected to cost $2.5 million, financed by spending $420,000 per year.
- Frank Tadlock made strong appeals
to keep $200,000 in the budget for finding land for a new south Rowan library, and
apparently won his case.
Rowland argued for putting off the
spending and challenging the community to come up with the money, but Tadlock stuck to his
guns. The board didn’t vote on the matter, but the library money remained on the list
of spending projects.
When commissioners finished work
Wednesday, they had the potential tax rate down to only 63.96 cents, but gave Russell the
go-ahead to look for ways to adjust the rate down to 63.5 cents. The budget won’t
pass until after the public has a chance to have a say during a public hearing. That
hearing date hasn’t been set. |
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