County vehicle tax back

The Madison County Board of Supervisors decided at its April 13 regular meeting that it will keep the current real estate tax rate.

The supervisors, who had been debating a possible $0.03 increase in property taxes, voted to continue with the current $0.44 property tax rate.

“I would like to make some comments on behalf of the board addressing the 2011 budget, it is the intention of this board to continue the real estate tax rate at $0.44,” Supervisors Chairman Eddie Dean said prior to opening the floor for comments about the possible tax change.

However, supervisors did say they will raise some taxes – they decided to reinstate the motor vehicle tax. Although the board had eliminated it in 2009, it decided to bring it back at its previous rates – cars $30, motorcycles $15 and trailers $10, Dean said.

“Yes, this is a tax increase because we didn’t have it a year ago,” Dean said.

The supervisors apparently decided in favor of the vehicle tax rather than raising property taxes, because more people in the county own cars than property.
“This is a broader base of taxpayers,” Dean said. “I think, as a board a couple of years ago, we made a mistake (in doing away with the vehicle tax). If the economy had stayed like it was, it could have possibly not been a mistake but I think this, we feel like this is a fair thing to do because it reaches more people.”

The vehicle tax, which will be collected along with personal property taxes in December, will be charged once a year and will not have to be filed separately from other personal property taxes, Dean said.

“There will not be decals and this will be collected as an item on your personal property tax in December,” Dean said. “There will not be a separate mailing of bills, there will not be a separate collection of this, it will all be combined in the December billing with the rest of the personal property.”

The change in rate is expected to raise about $400,000 for the county, County Administrator Lisa Robertson said at a previous meeting. This increase in funds will allow the county to also fulfill the requests made by the Madison County Public Schools.

“We are funding the school system in the amount that they asked for,” Dean said. “Both in what they asked for in the original request which was approximately $269,000 and then another $150,000 after the legislature had a conference committee to work out a budget to send the governor.”

The additional $150,000 that the supervisors allocated for the school system will include money for a new school bus and to fund the maintenance of school facilities, Robertson said.

Both of these requests were made in an updated version of the school board’s budget presented to the supervisors at the afternoon session of their regular meeting.

Keeping the $0.44 property tax rate, reinstating the vehicle tax and adopting a budget were all passed unanimously at the meeting. There was little discussion between the members of the supervisors at the meeting because they said they’d reached a consensus after discussion at a March 31 workshop meeting.

Two members of the public did speak at the meeting, one who thanked the supervisors for not raising property taxes and the other who asked for an increase in property taxes in place of an increase in personal property tax.

Also at the meeting, supervisors:

• Heard another request for the county to streamline the ordinance process allowing new business growth in the county from Madison County Extension Agent Brad Jarvis. Jarvis mentioned that people from the Farm Bureau are looking at putting a food hub in the area that links small farms and produce retailers with restaurants and “high-end” grocery stores. The supervisors are having an opening meeting on the creation of an advisory committee to work on the process at their regular March 29 workshop.

• Adopted a proposal from the Journey Through Hallowed Ground organization to allow the group to plant trees along a Madison section of U.S. 15 and Route 231 that is part of the historical 180-mile path from Monticello to Gettysburg, Pa. The group is attempting to plant 620,000 trees along the route and roads leading to the route to honor the soldiers who died in the Civil War. It is unclear how many of the trees would be planted in Madison.

• Conducted a public hearing on projects for the six-year plan. Several of the secondary roads have been put on standby status as there is little or no money left to start or complete the projects, according to Virginia Department of Transportation Residency Administrator Don Gore.

• Heard the results of two separate tree-planting events at the Hoover Ridge athletic complex. About 600 trees were planted in total, according to Jarvis.