On April 24, 2024, at 6:00 PM in Lane Auditorium, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors held three public hearings on proposed tax rates for Calendar Year 2024: real property tax, personal property tax, and transient occupancy tax (TOT). No formal votes were taken; action is deferred to the May 1, 2024 meeting. The proposed general fund budget totals $438 million. Key revenue impacts include a proposed personal property tax rate increase from $3.42 to $3.96 per $100 of assessed value (a 54% increase generating approximately $4.5 million) and a TOT increase from 8% to 9% (generating approximately $900,000). The proposed real property tax rate remains at 85.4 cents per $100 of assessed value (the advertised cap).
Good evening. Welcome to this regular meeting of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors on this 24th of March 6 p.m. in Lane Auditorium in the McIntyre Building. Note that supervisors present here. Supervisor Ann Malik of the White Hall District. Supervisor Ned Galloway of the Rio District. Supervisor Diantha McKeel of Jack Jewett District. Supervisor B. Lapisto Kirtley of the Ravana District. Supervisor Mike Pruitt of the Scottsville District and myself, Jim Andrews representing the Samuel Miller District decorum is present. We're also joined by our county executive, Mr. Jeff Richardson, County Attorney, Mr. Steve Rosenberg, and our clerk, Claudette Borgerson. Also, let me please welcome Albama County Police Officers present, Master Police Officer Paul Quillen, and Officer Andy Muncy. We thank you for your service here today and every day. Board, our purpose here tonight is to consider three public hearings relating to our tax rates. The real property, personal property, and to consider a one cent increase in the transient occupancy tax. At this time, I'll turn the meeting over to Mr. Jacob Sumner, who will our chief financial officer who I think will lead the presentation. Thank you. Thank you, Chair Andrews. Uh good evening, board. Uh my name is Jacob Sumner, Chief Financial Officer for the County. And tonight, uh as uh you alluded to, we are going to be holding three different public hearings uh tonight. Um we'll start with the real uh 2024 real property tax rate, and the second will be the personal property tax rate for 2024. And then we'll wrap up with the public hearing on the transient occupancy tax. We're going to we're going to begin with one presentation, however, that will cover all three tax rates before turning it back over to the chair and to conduct the three public hearings. Uh there is no board action being requested today, as all tax related actions will occur will occur at the May 1st board meeting. Just public hearings tonight. We've shown this slide many times in our budget discussions this year, and we're bringing it back to remind the board and the public that while we budget annually, the decisions from one year affect what happens in the next year. And decisions from last year are part of the budget story for this year. The decisions the board makes for fiscal year 25 will be the driver for fiscal year 26. Focusing on the general fund as we do the introduction, the proposed general fund budget totals 438 million dollars. And while this evening's public hearings focus on tax rates and revenues, we want to highlight how the proposed increase in revenues impact the expenditure side of the budget. In comparing to last year's budget, here are the major areas where we're recommending to allocate new revenues in FY25, including $13 million to schools for our funding formula, $9.3 million to workforce and customer service for salary adjustments, health care costs, and the implementation of the community development system. Additional funding is included in our partner agencies as well as transportation costs with MicroCAT and CAT. We are also investing $2.4 million in safety and well-being with operational costs for the General District Court Building, additional firefighters to support ambulance in the Berkmark area, and to address the 24-7 staffing needs at North Garden. There's also an investment for an expansion of the Hart team, as well as additional sheriff's deputy and police officer. We're going to focus the majority of the time here on the general fund revenues. Again, the general fund revenues total $438.00. I'm sorry, $438 million. On this slide are the four main tax rates by the board set by the board and the proposed budget is balanced on these rates. Tonight we'll hold public hearings on three of the four rates. The real property, personal property, and trade and occupancy. The subject of the first public hearing is the real estate tax rate. The current rate is 84, 85.4 cents for a hundred dollars of assessed value. Each penny on the tax rate equates to approximately 2.9 million in collectible tax revenue. What that means is if the board were to adopt a tax rate one penny lower than the advertised rate, then there would need to be a corresponding expenditure reduction of 2.9 million. Another item to mention is that it is the advertised rate of 85.4 is a cap. By advertising that rate, the board can only adopt a rate at or below the amount advertised, but it cannot adopt a rate higher.