Tax rate proves to be cause for debate for City Council

By Jimmy LaRoue

Published: May 12, 2008

The Waynesboro City Council will consider an ordinance to keep the real estate tax rate at its current level, meaning it will have to shave nearly $600,000 off the proposed $41 million budget.
No one on the council introduced the ordinance raising the tax rate to 74 cents per $100 of assessed value, which City Manager Doug Walker said would support his current budget.
Councilman Frank Lucente then moved to introduce a 70-cent tax rate, which a majority of the council supported, albeit with some reservations. The introduced ordinance also proposed a personal property tax rate of $5 per $100 of assessed value and a machinery and tools tax of $3 per $100 of assessed value. Councilman Tim Williams seconded Lucente’s motion.
Vice Mayor Nancy Dowdy, along with Councilwoman Lorie Smith, said their goal is to get to the 70-cent tax rate, but said specific cuts needed to be identified.
“My comfort level tonight is not where I would like for it to be,” Dowdy said, “because right now I’m not sure how we’re going to achieve that, or what the impact on the services are going to be.”
Smith said her “premise” would be to keep the tax rate at 70 cents, adding that she was “very comfortable” with introducing the ordinance at that rate.
“I think it’s premature at this point in time for me to come out and say I’m not going to increase taxes,” Smith said, “but I’ve got to get comfortable with the reductions.”
Smith said she wanted to hear what specific cuts other council members will propose, and if they’re not to her liking, she said she would offer up some of her own.
When asked about specific cuts, Lucente pointed to the removal of duplications in the stormwater program that has already cut $100,000 from the budget. He said he had a couple of other ideas but wanted to talk with city officials before identifying them publicly.
Lucente said his preference would be for Walker to identify the additional cuts, but said he would sit down with him to find out whether the council needs to make the cuts, or whether Walker will.
“I’d prefer him to make the cuts, but if he thinks that we should make the cuts, I certainly will bring my share of them to the table,” Lucente said.
Mayor Tom Reynolds, supporting the 74-cent tax rate, challenged the council to identify the cuts needed to balance the budget.
“Knowing that our budget came forward balanced on the 74-cent tax rate is the only reason that I support the 74-cent tax rate,” Reynolds said.
The mayor called a 2-percent cut in the budget “absolutely ridiculous.” He said some departments have no increases, and with what needs to be done in the city, cuts would create “a wider gap, which at some point has to be made up.”
He said the council has to “think long and hard” about how to make a 70-cent tax rate work.
Lucente believes the cuts can be made “without any harm to the city.”
“You’ll wake up tomorrow and you won’t even know what happened,” Lucente said.
The council is scheduled to adopt a tax rate ordinance – and introduce a budget ordinance – on May 22.