The county’s Budget and Finance Committee approved a tax rate of $1.99 Wednesday, paving the way for a ninth straight year without a county property tax increase.
County Executive John Pelham said the budget, which is similar to previous years, features a $500 across-the-board pay raise for county employees.
The budget will become official when it’s passed by the full Warren County Commission. Because of time constraints, Pelham said the commission will not vote on the budget this month. The vote will come during the county’s regular September meeting set for Sept. 19.
“Unless something comes up that I don’t anticipate, we’ll be able to get this budget passed and meet our obligations without a tax increase for the ninth straight year while also giving our employees a raise,” said Pelham. “I don’t know how many more years we’ll be able to keep doing this. It may be the last one, although I know we keep saying that.”
The county’s prior tax rate was $2.31, but it dropped to $1.99 after property reappraisals were conducted over the past year. By state law, a property reappraisal cannot result in a tax increase so the tax rate was reduced to compensate for higher property values.
The county’s total revenue from property tax actually dips a little, according to director of accounts Linda Hillis. Last year, it was $12.84 million. This year it’s $12.77 million, a difference of about $60,000.
Even though the county is receiving slightly less overall in property tax revenue, some residents will pay more this year due to the reappraisal. Likewise, some residents will pay less.
“During the reappraisal, the state came in and recognized some property is worth more than what the people were paying and those people will pay a little more in taxes,” said Pelham. “We’ve already heard from some of those people about that. At the same time, there are people in different neighborhoods, in different parts of the county, who will pay less in property tax so it evens out.”