Public Hearing on Tax Increase: ‘Read My Lips’

By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave

May 31, 2013

Six residents spoke or submitted comments at last night’s public hearing on a proposed tax increase for the Town of Cape Charles. And while each resident spoke in his or her own way, each message was essentially the same: Don’t raise my taxes!

Town Council is proposing a two-step rate increase. The first rate hike would bring the amount of tax collected up to last year’s level, even though real property assessments dropped 35 percent on average.

Last year’s Town tax rate was 18 cents per $100 of property value. The first step would increase that rate to 27 cents – a 50 percent rate increase.

The second step would increase the rate an additional 8 percent, from 27 cents to 29 cents per $100.

The Town is required to advertise the proposed tax rates and hold a public hearing before voting. Under law, the rate voted by Town Council cannot be higher than the rate advertised, but it can be lower.

At last night’s meeting, Town Treasurer Kim Coates provided an updated proposed budget some $211,000 less than earlier projections.

The latest budget projection requires a rate of 27.6 cents instead of almost 29 cents.

That would be a 3 percent increase over last year instead of the advertised 8 percent increase.

Town property owners also must pay Northampton County taxes. The County also plans to increase its tax rate to compensate for lower property assessments, but unlike the Town, no additional tax increase is planned.

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The County is advertising a rate of 68 cents. If the Town rate is 27.6 cents, the total cost to property owners would be 95.6 cents per hundred dollars’ value. For a Cape Charles property assessed at $250,000, the combined tax would be $2,390.

Town Manager Heather Arcos announced that the tax increase will pay the Town’s share of capital expenses such as the multi-use trail and the fishing pier.

Capital projects also include $40,000 for handicap access to the building formerly housing the library.

Town Council has not yet decided how the old library building will be used. During its decades of use as a library, the building had no handicap access.

The Town’s share of the multi-use trail cost is $150,000. The trail includes a sidewalk on Washington Avenue and a median on the north side of Peach Street from Central Park to Washington Avenue.

The Town also plans to spend $10,000 for a new sidewalk on the 700 block of Randolph Avenue between Heritage Acres and Fig Street.

And $21,700 would be contributed toward a $310,000 reworking of the fishing pier, with the balance funded through grants.

Although only six people commented at the public hearing last night, that is six times more than the total number of comments at similar public hearings over the past three years.

Former town manager Tim Krawczel told members of Town Council that he felt no animosity toward them, just profound disappointment. He said that Council had disproved the myth that annexing more property decreases taxes.

Another myth is that increasing the service area of the town’s wastewater treatment plant will decrease rates, Krawczel said. “We will be having this same conversation a few years from now if such a plan goes forward,” he predicted.

Krawczel chided Town Council for buying the Bank of America building without giving townspeople adequate notice, and for selling the Old School in the park, thereby pitting one group of citizens against another.

Dan Burke, a former candidate for Town Council, said that while he thought members of Council were wonderful individuals, he questioned their judgment as a body.

Burke questioned the wisdom of spending $86,000 to defend a lawsuit against the Town over giving away the Old School. “Stop spending our money like it is Monopoly money,” he emphasized. Increasing taxes to give money away to projects like the park bathroom “makes me furious,” he said.

Lisa Harmon, a local businesswoman, raised the issue of uncollected real estate taxes. She said that according to county records the Town is owed about $500,000 in uncollected taxes. She wondered why the Town was not pursuing that money.

“It makes it hard for me to agree to this [tax increase] when there is so much money on the table. Your first obligation is to the taxpayers,” she stressed.

Deborah Bender, spokesperson for the Old School Cape Charles group, asked if the new owner, Charon Ventures, is paying a water bill for the school.

Bender reminded the audience that during the controversy about the sale of the school, Town Council members had claimed that taxes would go up unless the Town sold the school. “What happened?” Bender asked.

Local resident Veann Duvall emphasized to Council that many people in Cape Charles are retired and on a fixed income, whether they live in the Historic District or Bay Creek. “We don’t have extra income to compensate for tax increases,” she said.

David Gay, a longtime weekend homeowner who recently retired here, wrote to Council expressing the same thought as Duvall. He asked Council to keep taxes at or below the current level.

Town Council will vote on the tax rate at a special meeting 6 p.m. Monday, June 3, at Town Hall.