Real estate tax hike among changes in new Lynchburg budget year ...

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Lynchburg?s new budget of more than $294 million took effect July 1. Here?s a quick look at some of its biggest changes.

Real estate taxes

Lynchburg?s tax rate rose to $1.11 per every $100 of assessed real estate value, a 6-cent increase. For a person with a $100,000 home, it means an extra $60 in annual taxes. Collectively, city property owners will pay nearly $3 million in additional taxes.

This is the first time a Lynchburg City Council has raised the tax rate since 1989 and it?s the single largest rate increase since the mid 1960s.

But at the same time, the new rate is familiar to the city. Lynchburg had held its tax rate at $1.11 for a solid decade before cutting it in 2007.

The city bills its real estate taxes in quarterly installments. The first payment under the new budget and tax rate is due Nov. 15.

Pay Raises

A limited pay raise applying only to public safety employees took effect in mid-July.

Police officers, firefighters and 911 dispatchers received raises of 2.5 percent to 8.8 percent, depending on their position.

Lower-ranking officers got the bigger boosts in hopes of addressing recruitment and early- retention concerns.

Most city employees are not seeing a substantive pay raise for the fourth year in a row ? although newer employees hired after July 2010 will enjoy a 5 percent pay hike due to new pension requirements approved by City Council. These two raises combined apply to fewer than 500 of the city?s more than 1,000 employees.

Workforce cuts

The city is developing a plan to cut at least $300,000 from its personnel budget. Ideas being considered include offering early retirement and downgrading some jobs to part-time.

Employees are being surveyed to gauge their interest in different scenarios. Responses are due back this month.

The new budget already cuts 30 jobs (most of which were vacant) at an estimated savings of $1.5 million.

Positions eliminated included a community liaison who worked with the race dialogue, four sworn officers in the police and fire departments and the city?s outside lobbyist.

The cuts also closed the city?s two-person internal audit department. Officials said the finance department would take over routine checks of credit card statements and other invoices to guard against fraud.

Heritage High School

The new budget sets aside $2 million for Heritage High School?s future fix, up from $940,000 last year. This is reoccurring money that can be banked every year in the short-term and applied to Heritage?s debt service in the long-term.

In order to meet the project?s 2018 deadline, city officials eventually hope to be setting aside $5 million a year.

What else?

Lynchburg City Schools got a $3.7 million increase in local funding, which educators said helped stave off more extreme budget cuts.

Smaller funding boosts, in the low six figures, went to several other partner agencies, including the Lynchburg Humane Society, Greater Lynchburg Transit Company and the tourism program run by the Lynchburg Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Source: http://www2.newsadvance.com/news/2012/jul/21/real-estate-tax-hike-among-changes-new-lynchburg-b-ar-2072727/

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