By Anita Firebaugh
Contributing writer
A $17 million budget for fiscal year 2024-25 passed the Craig County Board of Supervisors at a special April meeting. The Board voted on the budget following a public hearing on the document as well as the tax rates. No one spoke at the public hearing.
Almost everything stayed the same except for the real estate taxes, County Administrator Dan Collins said recently. Another exception was the Merchant’s Capital Tax, which dropped from $3.50 per $100 value to $1.75 per $100 value.
The real estate taxes dropped from $0.63 cents per $100 value to $0.52 cents per $100 value.
The drop in real estate taxes was mostly due to the recent real estate reassessment. The average property increased in value by 38.06 percent. To offset this increase, the supervisors lowered the tax rate.
“If we didn’t readjust it, we would have gotten so much extra money that it wouldn’t have been fair to the taxpayers,” Collins explained.
The county only reassesses real estate every six years, which can make for a huge jump in real estate values. “For the least six years we’ve not collected on what the property is actually worth,” Collins said. “We have to adjust the rate down so the revenue stays the same.”
The county revenue and expenditures are not dramatically increased over last year’s budget. The majority of the money the county collects is from local taxes at $6.6 million, with the state of Virginia throwing in approximately $3.7 million and the federal government offering up $387,000 for the primary government revenue. (Numbers are rounded off.)
The schools receive $5.2 million from the state and $829,000 from the federal government. The county will give the school system $2,090,907 for the next fiscal year, which is the county’s state-required local match to the school system, according to documents online about the meeting.
As far as other governmental expenditures, Social Services will receive $2.2 million from the county, though Collins said this funding mostly is pass-thru dollars from the state. “All social services programs are increasing each year,” Collins said.
The Sheriff’s Department will receive $1.3 million, the Treasurer’s Office will receive $287,000, the Commissioner of Revenue will receive $226,000, and the Clerk of the Circuit Court will receive $356,000.
Craig County EMS and ambulance services will receive $657,000, while the fire departments will receive $324,000.
Other expenditures include sanitation and waste, $536,000, debt service, $216,000 and building inspections, $106,000.
The supervisors recently heard a proposal for a land use tax, and have taken it under advisement for additional study, Collins said. It will not be enacted for the upcoming fiscal year.
“We were happy to provide the same level of services without having to increase things dramatically,” Collins said. “That’s hard to do these days.”
The tax rates per $100 value now are:
Real estate: $0.52
Personal property: $3.50
Machinery and Tools: $3.50
