No Fooling — Expect Another Tax Increase, Albemarle County

April Fools Day has come and gone and, from all indications, the Albemarle Board of Supervisors (BOS) didn’t fool anyone on 1 April 2016 with pranks doing away with their 4.07% effective tax rate hike for FY2017. It’s also doubtful there will be any fooling around this coming Tuesday afternoon either when these six Democrats sit together in Lane Auditorium for a budget work session on their proposed 2.5¢ hike in the real estate tax rate.

In early March when the BOS approved taking this 4.07% increase to their March 30th Public Hearing, White Hall Supervisor Ann Mallek tried to get a motion passed for only a 2¢ hike in the tax rate. Her motion didn’t even garner a second for discussion purposes. Meanwhile, Samuel Miller Supervisor and Board Chairwoman Liz Palmer started the increased tax rate bidding at a 3¢ hike. She even said at that March 9th meeting: “I’d be fine with 3.2¢.” With that attitude, start watching your wallets for FY2018 — in addition to what’s coming starting this July 1.

What I expect to hear this coming Tuesday afternoon while watching the video streaming of the budget work session is a perfunctory review of the past month's TAX INCREA$E Town Halls, more financial rhetoric from County Executive Tom Foley about his stewardship of taxpayer money, and maybe one more failed attempt by Supervisor Mallek to lop a half cent off the advertised 2.5¢ tax rate increase. Perhaps one of her colleagues will fool with her for a few minutes and grant a second to her motion before a 5-1 vote shuts her down.

It's doubtful that any of the Supervisors will fool around with shifting any monies in the proposed budget. To do so, a Supervisor would want to have heard from several members of the public about which fund or department should be cut, by how much, and which other fund or department should receive the money. In paying attention to 11 TAX INCREA$E Town Halls (either in person, through webinar, or by video streaming), I never once heard such testimony from the public.

Even now I can also imagine hearing some Supervisor at Tuesday’s budget work session saying something foolish like: “The low attendance at our community engagement meetings must mean the public is happy with how we’re doing and the direction we're heading.”

Yet, why would anyone even attend an Albemarle County TAX INCREA$E Town Hall? Tom told the public in advance — and the Supervisors agreed — that interactivity with Board members was not to take place at these community engagement sessions! Q&A with-Staff-only was the rule. Understandably, Albemarle County residents — other than Albemarle County employees — stayed away in droves.

Was the public foolish to do so? Or were people just too engaged in working one, two, and three private sector jobs — or cutting their Social Security budgets — to come up with more tax money to hand over to Albemarle government? After all there is another 2% raise — oh, sorry, I mean “market increase” — to pay for at the County Office Building.

So, prepare for an upcoming 4.07% increase in the effective tax rate on real estate (and rent) in Albemarle County.

The real April Fools Day comes April 13 when this disengaged, all-Democrat BOS will once again vote the public out and another tax increase in.