Supervisor Karaffa has come out saying that he will not support or vote for a raise in the real estate tax rate because of the flawed county reassessment of 2009. This "Flawed" reassessment was the key issue that candidate Karaffa ran on during his campaign to become supervisor and looks to be a issue Karaffa plans to keep alive.
It will be interesting to see what the supervisor does when it comes time to vote on raising taxes on the citizens of Augusta County on Wednesday night. Karaffa made his statements, as faithfully reported by Bob Stuart at the NewsVirginian, at the "SWAC-Breakfast" in front of his "SWAC" supporters who have been quick to jump on past issues such as the reassessment and "Save our Schools" by organizing groups of people and providing only limited information and viewpoints to support their claims.
What will Supervisor Karaffa do when it comes time to find revenue to "Save our Schools" since the county faces a large shortfall in the county budget? Since Karaffa has now ruled out any increase in the real estate tax will he then vote for a increase in the property tax rate to meet this budget shortfall? If Karaffa sticks to his "SWAC-promise" to not raise real estate taxes will he then have to vote for a property tax increase to meet the budget shortfall? If so what will this do to increase the property tax rate since the tax revenue base will be limited by the promise already made by Karaffa? Imagine the next time the citizens open their "Car tax" bill and see the increase to cover the shortfall?
Perhaps the supervisor that ran on his "Conservative" principles and promises will look at cutting spending and waste to close this budget shortfall instead?
Karaffa says he won't vote for Augusta County real-estate tax hike
By: Bob Stuart | News Virginian Published: April 29, 2012
A third Augusta supervisor said Saturday morning that he will not vote to raise real-estate taxes in the next fiscal year to meet county budget needs.
David Karaffa, who represents the Beverley Manor District, told the crowd at the SWAC Political Breakfast that he wouldn’t vote to increase the current real-estate tax rate, which stands at 48 cents per $100 of assessed value. Supervisors are to set the tax rates for real estate and personal property when they approve the 2012-13 budget Wednesday night.
A proposal before the board calls for a 3-cent increase in the real-estate tax rate and a 32-cent increase in the personal property tax rate. The latter rate would rise to $2.57 per $100 of assessed value on cars and trucks..
Karaffa joins Board of Supervisors Chairman Tracy Pyles and North River District Supervisor Marshall Pattie in opposing a hike in real-estate taxes. He said he has not made a decision about the personal property tax rate.
The Beverley Manor supervisor said he is basing his opposition to a real-estate tax increase on the flawed county reassessment of 2009. He wants to see what the next reassessment will bring Augusta County. That process is set to be finished in January 2014.
He either changed his vote becasue he is sticking to his campaign promise or hes playing politics and changed his vote in knowing that the other 4 are committed in raising the tax rate.
ReplyDeleteEither way this is a tricky situation, if the tax rate stays the same and the economy doesnt improve and revenues do not increase, then the same debate will be heard next year. With the choices of either cutting the expeditures the board added this year (on top of a balanced budget) or continue to drain the countys reserve revenues down to nothing, to where the board has no choice but to raise taxes.
Have you ever seen on a major vote that the House members will all stand around waiting to see which way the vote will go so if it looks like their party is NOT going to win, those in danger of not being re-elected will vote against the bill so they can say so during the next campaign.
ReplyDeleteStan,
ReplyDeleteHave seen this done several times when Democrats are worried about getting re-elected in their districts and their party has lost the vote on the bill already.... Kind of like voting whichever the wind be blowing!....
Congressmen usually wait for their leadership to give them the go ahead to switch votes. As noted this usually only happens after leadership is confident the margin is such that the few who are allowed to switch won't affect the outcome. Question is- who is giving direction to Karaffa? Should we be looking at the SWACster for the slightest shift or motion (could just be gas) or is Dr Mike going to be pulling the puppet strings?
ReplyDeleteWatch,
ReplyDeleteI would guess both but one being the conduit taking overall direction from the "Puppet master"... Sup Karaffa has not shown he is his own man as of yet.....