Lori Graham
Contributing Writer
A Tax Assessment Impact Rate schedule was shared with the public during the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors meeting March 26, 2024, reflecting effective increases from $0.01 to $0.05 on taxes per $100 in property valuation due to reassessment values.
Last year, the county did not see an increase in real estate taxes, but property assessments did go up.
“I appreciate staff getting this together but also you remember, too, I know last year we lowered the tax rate, but the majority of people still pay more where it was reassessed,” Supervisor Todd King said.
Supervisor Sara Bohn asked County Administrator Angie Hill to clarify King’s comment applying the revenue neutral concept in relation to real estate taxes.
“If people’s, the value of their property increased more than the average rate their taxes went up and if their property values increased less than the average rate, their tax would go down,” Hill said.
“Blacksburg homes increased more than the county in Christiansburg, which means Blacksburg residents did have more taxes than they had to pay on average…but, I can’t say that 50% were more and less, but it all averaged to be the same,” Bohn said.
The Tax Assessment Impact Rate chart can be found in the agenda of the Board Docs section at www.montva.com.
The Board of Supervisors also discussed proposed insurance plans for county employee retirees including an Other Post-Employee Benefits (OPEB) impact assessment.
There were previously two options, Plan A and Plan B, but an additional Plan C had been added “providing a 60% contribution for individuals that have either 25 or 30 years of service depending on what kind of duty they performed for the county and assuming that they could meet the other criteria,” Hill said. “We also calculated the impact of switching to Plan C, which is 60%, so you can see in the far-right column of both of these charts, these are the cost estimates for the liability and also the per year cash impact.”
According to the chart, which can be found also at www.montva.com, Hill said that 60% supplement applied to all plans for a family would be result in an approximately $419 premium and for a retiree and family it would be approximately $1,000. The impact chart also shows the 60% supplement costs applied for everyone at all levels of benefits, resulting in approximately $419 for all beneficiaries across the board whether single or family.
The Board of Supervisors made the final decision to have the numbers run again by the actuaries as the retirement insurance would be in effect immediately since those employees planning to retire in the next couple of months would need the final figures. The full policy would be applied, however, in the next fiscal year.
In other announcements, the Auburn Park bid contract was supposed to go out on March 28 but has been pushed back to April 4 due to a needed change for design.
Also, the Magistrate and Support Services building is moving along, Hill said.
“The demolition is complete and they’re going to work on the building pads to grade those this week,” Hill said.
