New tax rate, new budget for Albemarle. Grab your calculators.

Albemarle residents have a higher tax rate to pay beginning June 5 and a bigger budget to fund beginning July 1 — on top of whatever changes (usually increases) County property owners are facing in their real estate assessments.

The 2.0¢ tax rate hike from 81.9¢ to 83.9¢ per $100 value approved by the Board of Supervisors Wednesday is a 2.4% increase on top of re-assessments.

Here’s what the calculator says this is going to mean for the family wallet that I know best: $111.97 more in annual real estate taxes.

Not bad. It’ll be found somewhere. Have to. And there are choices. Cut out one month’s electricity. Or one month’s gasoline (not counting vacations). Or a third of a month’s supplemental health insurance premium. Or one and a half week’s worth of groceries. Or?

This husband-and-wife family is not rich, but they’ll be able to pay the additional $9.33 per month the new tax rate and reassessment will require. According to the 2009 "Slutzky Rule,” not accounting for inflation, this probably equates to about a pizza and a beer every six weeks or so. This Social Security couple’s monthly Albemarle real estate tax bill will now climb to just over $265.00 per month. Good thing they were investors and savers during their working years and paid off their mortgage and used cars years ago.

Remember, though: your results will vary.

Here are a few of my notes and observations from listening to another three-hour Albemarle BOS work session on how much taxing and spending got approved for another fiscal year ahead:

• How Supervisor Ann Mallek (D, White Hall) could open the discussion by saying, “This year’s budget process was really, really well done.” caught me completely off guard! If she thinks County Executive Tom Foley’s engagement-prohibited community engagement process was worth even one really "well done," she must not have attended or paid attention to the budget process I witnessed over the past couple of months.

• The first vote for Tom’s 84.4¢ recommended tax rate, moved by Supervisor Norman Dill (D, Rivanna) failed on a 3-3 tally. Supervisors Liz Palmer (D, Samuel Miller) and Diantha McKeel (D, Jack Jouett) voted with Democrat Dill for this highest advertised tax rate. Fortunately, but for varying reasons, Supervisors Brad Sheffield (D, Rio) and Rick Randolph (D, Scottsville) and Democrat Mallek countered with three no votes.

• Democrat Sheffield again played his pay-before-pavement card during the afternoon’s tax rate and budget discussions. He hasn’t been happy with the idea of funding sidewalks instead of 2% pay raises for all County employees. Said Democrat Sheffield, “Employees are working way too hard. County employees are yet to disappoint me.”

• Democrat McKeel repeatedly demanded that across-the-board and up-and-down-the-pay-scale 2% raises be given to all County employees — even to the 168 whose total compensation already tops $100,000 per year. Said McKeel, “We ought to be paying market for all our employees. World of Work is at 3% and we’re hearing 2 and 3 and 3.5%.” [World of Work is a national compensation research organization that Albemarle County officials use to determine what they think their fellow employees should be paid.] In later comments, McKeel said there’s a list of people who have left County employment and also candidates who didn’t accept job offers because of Albemarle’s low pay. Produce the list, Diantha.

• Democrat Dill: “If you pay under market, you get what you pay for.” In Dill’s defense, he quickly added that he didn’t mean to demean any current Albemarle County employees.

• Democrat Palmer: “We are operating at a lower [tax] rate than communities around us.” Conveniently, she didn’t mention the median or average assessments in either Albemarle’s surrounding communities or for Albemarle’s seven peer counties around the Commonwealth (Fauquier, James City, Stafford, Hanover, Spotsylvania, Roanoke, Montgomery). It’s always the tax burden (tax rate times assessment), Liz, that’s the appropriate comparison. For the record, Albemarle’s tax burden is above both the median and the average of its peer counties and more expensive than that of five of these peer counties.

• Democrat Randolph: “We need shared sacrifices among all parties in the County.” Said during the tax rate discussion as he reminded Supervisors Dill, Sheffield, McKeel, and Palmer that only he and Supervisor Mallek were willing to consider a lower than 2% pay increase for County employees in order to reduce the 84.4¢ recommended tax rate.

After more than two hours of financial point-counterpoint, Chairwoman Palmer agreed to change her vote for an 84.4¢ tax rate — to get away from the 3-3 stalemate — and go along with a slightly lower 83.9¢ tax rate proposed in a motion by Supervisor Mallek. The motion passed 5-1 with Supervisor McKeel still voting no. She did so even though her colleagues and County staff confirmed to her that her beloved 2% raises for all employees were safe.

To get down to an 83.9¢ tax rate — which is actually up from the current 81.9¢ — the BOS members had to agree to around $826,000 in cuts. After another tie vote and then a 4-2 vote (Dill and McKeel voting no) on how to accomplish this, the BOS finally agreed to cut $298,000 from the local government side of the new budget, $448,000 from School Division funding, and $79,000 from the Capital Improvements Plan. The exact details of what will be cut to accomplish this will come later. And while Supervisor Mallek’s $288,000 in ACE funding disappeared for now, this conservation easements wealth-fare program could return in a similar, close to similar, or greater amount. The reason? After the FY2016 books are closed and the financial records are audited, the BOS already knows there will be a little something left over as “fund balance” that can be “carried over” and “reallocated.” Government words, folks; not mine. It’s surplus. It gets sent to wherever there are at least four votes to send it. It’s an ACE in the hole.

So, this spring’s “budget season” can now be considered pretty much complete, or close to it.

A new season, though, of “strategic planning, citizen engagement, priority-based budgeting, and community aspirations” is already set to begin.

The BOS took so long at this meeting settling the FY2017 budget and determining the new tax rate for June 5 tax bills, they didn’t have time to talk about the $35.5 million more dollars (plus interest) they hope taxpayers will agree to spend if a November bond referendum is placed on the ballot.

Find your checkbook and don’t put away that calculator.