City Council Sets Tax Rate of $0.76 Cents
Lower rate reflects concern about tax burden on citizens in a real estate reassessment year. Also, Council approves budget for fiscal year 2025.
by Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
Fredericksburg City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a real estate tax rate for fiscal year 2025—which begins July 1—of $0.76 per $100 assessed value.
This is a five-cent increase over the equalized tax rate of $0.71 but is less than the $0.77 rate Council had been considering.
Councilors said they settled on the lower rate due to the fact that real estate was reassessed this year and some residents saw the value of their homes increase.
“People are hurting, and we … [realize] the burden on the taxpayers at this time,” Ward 2 representative Jon Gerlach said during the meeting.
The $0.76 tax rate will bring in $43.8 million in revenue, according to staff. The $0.77 tax rate would have brought in $44.3 million.
Council also approved a new tax of $0.01 per $100 of assessed real estate value to support the operations and maintenance of the Fredericksburg Fire Department. This fire levy will bring in $585,000 in revenue, which will be used in fiscal year 2025 to purchase two new pumping engines to replace two that are approaching 20 years old.
After setting the tax rate, Council approved a general fund budget of $127.9 million for fiscal year 2025. This is a 5% increase over the budget for the current fiscal year and funds six new full-time positions in the Commissioner of the Revenue’s office, the City Attorney’s office, the public information office, and the police, information technology, and parks and recreation departments.
It provides a 2.5% across-the-board pay scale increase to city staff and an additional 2.5% raise and increases the transfer to the school division’s operating fund by $2.4 million over the current fiscal year.
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, Council approved the appointment of former King George County Attorney Kelly Lackey to replace longtime City Attorney Kathleen Dooley, who retired this year.
Council also adopted a resolution making Fredericksburg an official Bee City USA. The city joins 15 other Bee Cities across Virginia that have committed to expanding pollinator-friendly plantings and implementing pollinator-friendly pest-management plans.
The Rappahannock Valley Garden Club partnered with the city, specifically the parks and recreation department, to bring forward the resolution, which establishes a Bee City Committee to help implement the program’s goals.
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1 cent less than the proposed rate? Little concern here. Stop calling it that.