T. J. ROYAL
The Edgecombe County Board of Commissioners will likely set the 2009-10 county budget, and the new 86-cent property tax rate, at Monday's meeting in Tarboro.
County Manager Lorenzo Carmon crafted a $55.3 million budget for the next 12 months, a nearly $600,000 increase over last year's budget.
The 86-cent rate is an 8 cent drop from the current 94-cent tax rate, which is the third-highest in North Carolina, behind Orange and Scotland counties.
As most of the commissioners have shown contentment with Carmon's budget and tax rate proposal, Commissioner Jon Felton of Macclesfield said he is "the only one opposed to it at this point."
Felton said that he sees the current budget as "a significant increase" in taxation for Edgecombe County taxpayers. He pointed to the roughly 32 percent increase in real estate property value from the mandatory countywide property revaluation, and that only an 8 cent tax rate reduction has been proposed.
Felton added that he doesn't have a problem with how the revaluation process has been handled. But he said he doesn't think Edgecombe County taxpayers "can stand that much of a tax increase all at one time."
Felton suggested that he could "live with" an 80 cent property tax rate. "(But) I don't think they've got anything to worry about as far as getting it passed" at 86 cents, he added.
Carmon had said previously that, because of the $9 million the county has taken out of its General Fund to balance the 2007-08 and 2008-09 budgets, a revenue-neutral tax rate of 76 cents "is not an option" for the 2009-10 budget.
Commissioners Vice Chairman Charlie Harrell said he and the commissioners empathize with all of the county's taxpayers over the property value and tax increases wrought from the mandatory revaluation, occurring during the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression.
"It's a tough time, a terrible time to be going through revaluation, ... (but) we were almost forced into it this time" because the commissioners had been putting off performing the revaluation, which is required at least every eight years, Harrell said.
Neighboring Nash County also went through a revaluation process for this year. At their meeting this month, Nash County Manager Bob Murphy said the Board of Commissioners adopted a tax rate of 67 cents per each $100 of valuation.
The Nash County commissioners had previously asked Murphy to revise his budget from the initial 68-cent tax rate he initially proposed.
Felton said that he does not believe that the Edgecombe County commissioners would discuss lowering the county's proposed tax rate further for the 2009-10 budget year.
Edgecombe County Commissioners Chairman Leonard Wiggins and Harrell also felt that there would not be a formal proposal from the board to lower the tax rate.
"We've got to do something at this meeting" to have the budget approved by June 30, Wiggins said.
"To revise anything the manager has done, we'd have to advise it on the spot and call another meeting. Maybe Nash County has the room to do it. ... (But) we're talking about two different counties with two different tax bases," he added.
Commissioner Viola Harris said that she too does not believe "there's any room to go back and look at" lowering the 86-cent rate on Monday. She noted that, with Carmon's and County Finance Director JoAnne Harrell's expertise with the county's finances, the county has "done everything that (it) can" to lower the tax rate this year.
Noting the $600,000 spending increase from last year, Commissioner T.C. Cherry said that "if you cut the tax, you've got to cut the budget, or vice versa. You can't increase the budget without increasing the revenue."
With the new, roughly $2.1 billion valuation of all Edgecombe County real estate property, each cent of the property tax rate is worth roughly $210,000 in base revenue for the county. At a 100 percent collection rate, which has little chance of occurring, the 86-cent tax rate of for $2.1 billion of real estate value would mean $18.06 million in annual county revenue. That's a $3 million revenue increase, at a 100 percent collection rate.
For the previous $1.6 billion real estate valuation, the 94-cent tax rate, was worth $15.04 million in revenue.
But Harrell added that "by law, we can't count on 100 percent collection rates. We have to go on our past collection rates" when crafting the year's budget. "We can only budget 92 percent" of the possible collection rates for the 2009-10 budget year, based on the actual collection rate for the 2007-08 budget year, he said.
"It's a dual responsibility, following (state law), and also to look out for the taxpayers and for the county" with setting the tax rate and the budget, Wiggins said.
Looking ahead two to four years, Wiggins said that he would "very much hope" that the Board of Commissioners could look into reducing the tax rate.
"We would be hard pressed not to look into reductions in the future."
Harrell said that he thinks the board would be "reluctant to raise it any time soon. ... I don't think anyone wants to set a rate where they have to come back and raise the rate the next year, or the year after."
Commissioner Wayne Hines said the he didn't know if the board could let the tax rate go back up in the near future. "We've got to do all we can to not let it go back up," he added.
But with the economic circumstances as they are, "we want to set a rate that we can live with for the next two to three years," Harrell said.
Harris and Cherry added that they, along with the rest of the board, want to see more industry come into Edgecombe County to help build up the tax base.
"I am hopeful that in the future we're going to be able to come down even more, that we're going to have some big industries come in here and bring us some jobs and more revenue," Harris said.
Recently elected Commissioner Evelyn Powell said she believes that whatever is done to set the tax rate and the budget "will definitely be done in the best interest of the citizens."
The commissioners meet at 2 p.m. Monday at the Edgecombe County Administration Building on Saint Andrew Street in Tarboro.
