CHATHAM — Twenty-two speakers appeared Thursday night before the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors, many making a plea to the elected officials to scale back a proposed tax increase they called a “windfall” for the locality.
The board held three public hearings: one for the school system budget, one for the overall county budget and one for a tax increase.
The tax increase brought out the largest number of complaints, even though some spoke during all three hearings.
On average, reassessments in Pittsylvania County skyrocketed 48%, leaving residents poised to fork over hundreds of more dollars in taxes.
Supervisors voted earlier this month to advertise a 59 cents per $100 of assessed value tax rate. By setting that advertised rate, they can still decide to lower it, but by law may not go higher. The current rate is 62 cents.
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An overall theme of revenue neutral emerged with many pushing supervisors to lower the rate to the rage of 45 cents. That would mean most people would the same taxes as now.
Since it was a public hearing, only residents voiced opinions. As soon as the last hearing was over, Chair Darrell Dalton adjourned the meeting.
Supervisors are expected to approve the budget and tax rate at another special meeting set at 5 p.m. April 4.
Randy Owen, 39, who lives in the Westover District, said he was disappointed that more people his age didn’t pack the meeting space.
Later, another speaker — Brandon Robertson, also of the Westover District — said that’s because many were either working a second job or overtime to make ends meet, a comment that drew applause from the audience.
Owen said a home he built three years ago is now tax assessed at 147% more.
“This is insane,” he said, explaining the the cost of living has gone up but incomes are not keeping pace.
“Families have had to make cuts to budgets to make it work,” he told the supervisors. “That’s all we ask of the county to do.”
Joshua Jennings, of the Chatham-Blairs District, said many county residents do not have disposable income in the light of inflation.
“Taxation is something that’s certainly going to touch every household in this community,” he said. “Every family is currently looking at how to make more with less and many times we are coming up short.”
Callands-Gretna District resident Keith Reynolds, 68, said he borrowed about $500,000 10 or 12 years ago to purchase his family’s farm and already pays about $2,000 in yearly taxes.
“I don’t feel like I’ve gotten my money’s worth,” he said while asking how could a retired person pay taxes when they continue to go up.
Jim Scearce, who lives in the Westover District, called it the “historic tax increase,” and asked why other sources of revenue weren’t being used.
For example, he cited more than $5 million in delinquent taxes and asked why something wasn’t being done to collect that.
He said he already has recall petitions for every supervisor.
“We will be recalling you,” if you don’t bring it down, he said of the tax rate.
Ben Davenport, a business owner who lives in Chatham, said “no one wants to pay more taxes,” but explained that the county needed to do something to invest in the future.
Public safety and emergency services are areas of investment that are needed, he said.
“There will need to be an all-out effort to provide EMT training,” he explained. “We as citizens need this county-wide.”
He recalled years earlier when his mother had a heart attack. He was at her bedside for two hours before an ambulance arrived.
He also said the days of volunteer rescue will be coming to an end with fewer people stepping up to help.
Other speakers challenged supervisors to trim fat in the budget to reduce the need to raise taxes.
On the school budget side, residents wanted money to go toward education efforts, especially with teacher wages.
“We are an accredited division, yet we are paid like we are not,” Shelby Alcorn, a special education coach, said. “We will continue to have teacher shortages if that does not change.”