by Jackie Nunnery
HEATHSVILLE—Property values, budgets and tax bills all seem to be continually increasing in Northumberland County.
At a special meeting on Thursday, May 7, county administrator Luttrell Tadlock unveiled a proposed budget overview for the upcoming fiscal year totaling $48,878,924, an increase of $2,776,803 (6%) over the revenues and expenses approved for the current fiscal year.
However, the overview did not include the undesignated fund as part of the beginning or ending balances. Last year supervisors adopted a $49,102,121 budget which included a $3 million beginning fund balance.
In a follow-up email, Tadlock said volunteer finance facilitator Karen Pica had suggested removing the undesignated fund from revenues “since the fund balance is not new revenue.” While the budget presented had no mention of the undesignated fund, Tadlock did supply a revised budget summary that included a separate line for both the beginning and ending fund balance.
Pica, in a follow up conversation said the change would discourage the use of the undesignated fund to pay for budgeted expenses as has been done in the past.
As presented, the county budget was developed with a real estate tax rate of $0.51 per $100 of assessed value. However, it is important to note that does not represent a decrease in tax burden from the existing $0.74 per $100. As a result of the recent reassessment, the equalized tax rate—the tax rate that would generate the same revenue at the now higher property values—is $0.4721. The increase in tax burden from the equalized rate to the proposed rate of $0.51 is nearly four cents ($.0379) or 8%.
Supervisors proposed an even greater ….
