City Council's Proposed Budget Less of a Tax Burden for Residents

Residents would  see an average increase of $38 on their real estate tax bills and the city police department will get additional funding to revitalize its community policing program under the City Council’s proposed fiscal year 2012 budget.

 The Manassas City Council  proposed a budget during their regularly- scheduled council meeting Monday evening that is less of a tax burden on residents than the  budget proposed by the city manager in early March.

Commercial property owners will pay an average of $564 less if the council’s proposed budget is approved later this year. The council’s budget will also maintain staff salary increases that will range from 1 percent to 4 percent, with department directors getting at least a 2-percent increase.

Residential and commercial property assessments increased for the first time in five years, a sign that the local economy is recovering from years of declining property values. The assessments that were mailed in February far outpaced what city staff estimated for the coming year. Residential property assessments increased an average of 6.9 percent and commercial property assessments increased 1.9 percent.

 The council proposes in the new budget a real estate tax rate of $1.226 per $100 of assessed value and a fire and rescue tax rate of 16.9 cents. Together, the total is $1.395 cents — 2.5 cents less than the rate proposed by the city manager and 7.7 cents less than the current rates in total.

The city will collect less real estate tax revenue but other tax revenues increased. For example, the city collected $250,000 more in property taxes primarily from the Micros Technology expansion. The city also collected more meals, sales and other tax revenue, totaling more than $1 million.

Residential and commercial property assessments increased for the first time in five years, a sign that the local economy is recovering from years of declining property values. The assessments that were mailed in February far outpaced what city staff estimated for the coming year. Residential property assessments increased an average of 6.9 percent and commercial property assessments increased 1.9 percent.

The proposed budget would result in an average residential tax bill of $2,932, or a $38 increase. Commercial property owners would pay $16,041 on average, a 3.4 percent decrease. Townhouse owners would see the highest average increase in their bills, at $124.

City residents also will pay 5 percent more for sewer, 2 percent more for water and 5 percent more for electricity. The average water-sewer bill will increase $62.40 per year. The solid waste disposal rate increases 4 percent from $22.79 to $23.64 per month for single-family homes and slightly more for townhouses.

The proposed budget would fully fund the schools plus allocate an additional $248,000.

 Some reductions to the proposed budget include a fire equipment contribution to $187,000 and funding to build a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Academy at Johnson Learning Center to $250,000, which was originally budgeted at $325,000 by the city manager. In addition, funding for management training and a development program for the city’s work force was reduced from $325,000 to $150,000. The city’s Capital Improvements Plan will also get a boost with a 500,000 increase in its paving budget. The budget also includes a first raise for staff in two years and reduces health care costs by $1M.

Overall property tax bills will fall by 0.7 percent under the council’s proposed budget, which was presented at Monday night’s regularly scheduled council meeting.

Council Member Marc Aveni said he could not approve the budget. “We could provide a more conservative budget to our citizens,” Aveni said.

Aveni said the public safety expenditures are his biggest issue with the proposed budget. He said his issue lies not with expanding and implementing the Public Safety Retention Policy, but with adding additional officers.

 The police chief said his biggest problem is retention, Aveni said. “He did not say he needed more officers.”

“We should be looking at a much smaller budget than this,” Aveni added. Aveni said he would like to see the city use any extra money the city sees to provide tax relief for single-family and townhome owners rather than just running out to spend it.

The remaining council members voted for the budget that will be addressed during a public hearing at the council meeting.

 “We all want to spend the tax payers’ money wisely” and “we also want a city that’s safe; for me, that takes priority,” said Council Member J. Stephen Randolph.

Vice Mayor Andrew Harrover said he thinks the proposed budget is “best for the whole city” because is address some of the crime issues facing the city and gives raises to employees that haven’t seen a salary increase in several years.

 The City Council will hold a pubic hearing on the proposed budget at their next meetings on April 18 and 25 at 7:30 p.m. at  City Hall.