Tax increases proposed in Pittsylvania County

Pittsylvania County must fill a $6 million shortfall in its proposed 2012-13 budget.

County Administrator Dan Sleeper has proposed new taxes and increasing existing taxes and fees to fill the gap in the proposed $213.5 million budget.

The changes would include a four-cent increase in the real estate tax rate, raising the personal property tax by $1, a $4 per household solid waste fee, a new fire prevention inspection fee and a 25 percent increase in building permit and erosion control fees.

Sleeper also proposes cutting about $1.66 million from requested budgets from the county’s departments.

During the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors Finance Committee meeting Tuesday evening, Sleeper told supervisors the state would require localities to give their employees a 5 percent salary raise so they can pay for a similar increase — as part of a proposed bill in the General Assembly — in the employees’ share they have to pay into the Virginia Retirement System.

The raise would cost the county $650,921, said County Finance Director Kim Vanderhyde, during an interview Tuesday. Pittsylvania County has 300 employees, not including county schools’ employees.

The shortfall includes a $5.5 million difference between revenue and expenditures, $207,283 in state cuts for retirement changes and $370,789 in state cuts to Constitutional office revenues, Vanderhyde said.

Sleeper told committee members the commonwealth continues to shift the financial burden from Richmond to localities. Finance Committee Chairman James Snead called the county’s budget situation “depressing.”

Sleeper proposes cutting about 5 percent from last year’s departments’ budget totals. Staunton River Supervisor Marshall Ecker asked if the county could cut another 10 percent instead, but Sleeper said that would require eliminating employees.

As for the proposed $4 solid waste fee, Westover Supervisor Coy Harville said he would not support increasing fees until the county gets rid of illegal dumping.

As for the personal property, or vehicle tax, Ecker proposed giving a break for senior citizens, who must choose between paying for food or medicine, he said. Sleeper said the county would have to find out if state law would allow the county to do it.

Ecker and Harville said the county must focus on how the county’s decisions will affect taxpayers. Harville said he would like to know last year’s budgets for departments, how they fared with last year’s 10 percent budget cuts and how much the county has in delinquent taxes.

Callands-Gretna Supervisor Jerry Hagerman, who is not on the finance committee but attended the meeting, said he would like to see an audit of each department to find out how much they’re spending.

Snead reminded everyone that the budget is subject to change before it’s finalized and the county’s budget situation comes from the state’s placing more mandates and financial burdens on localities.

“It’s not Pittsylvania County doing this,” Snead said. “It’s the state doing this to us.”

The board must approve the county schools’ budget by May and the full county budget by June 30.