Lori Graham
Contributing Writer
CHRISTIANSBURG – Montgomery County Board of Supervisors held a special meeting Thursday, April 13 to discuss budget items and hear public comment related to the county’s advertised real estate tax rate and the proposed advertised budget FOR fiscal year 2023-24.
Chair Sherri Blevins opened the county’s Board of Supervisors’ meeting with an explanation of the current real property tax levy, which is $0.70 per $100 assessed property value. A proposed increase of $0.03 would bring county real property taxes to $0.73 per $100 assessed value. Personal property remains at $2.55 per $100 of assessed value and mobile homes will increase to the proposed $0.73 per $100 assessed value. Additional tax levies were also listed as part of the board’s agenda, and can be found on the county’s website. One correction to the agenda’s proposed tax rates was made at the start of the budget meeting.
“The mobile homes rate is tied to your real estate rate so the revenue neutral rate for that would still be 70, so it’s a $0.03 increase on mobile homes as well as a regular real estate”, Marc Magruder, Director of Budget and Management clarified.
Public comment was opened at the meeting, with two citizens speaking to the board. Frustrations were shared that rising costs of living such as fuel prices coupled with monies allocated for the local Christiansburg High School were just some of the reasons that taxation in the county is a growing problem.
One citizen also discussed the recent decision of the Montgomery County School Board to approve collective bargaining for teachers, which he claimed brought on the need for additional attorneys’ fees.
“How much money have you spent on attorneys? That’s our tax dollars . . . to bring a union into our school system,” said Bob Beard. “Tax rate should be at 70-cents and not a cent higher.”
The second public hearing during the special budget meeting focused on the proposed FY 2023-24 budget of $239,883,893. This budget proposal is an “increase of $19.1 million (8.7%) over the current fiscal year” according to a letter addressed to the Board of Supervisors dated February 27, 2023, from F. Craig Meadows, County Administrator. There were no citizen comments shared with the board on this agenda item.
