.jpg)
Five percent pay raises for city employees and no tax or fee increases are included in a proposed budget for fiscal year 2024 that Buena Vista City Council will consider next month.
Planned budget expenditures for the general fund budget stand at $15,658,212, which would represent an increase of $856,947, or 5.8 percent, over the current year. Revenues for next year are projected at $15,675,438 that would lead to a surplus of $17,226 to go in the city’s fund balance.
City Council is to hold a public hearing on the proposed budget May 4 with plans to hold a second reading and adopt the budget May 18. The proposed budget has been crafted by City Manager Jason Tyree and Finance Director Charles Clemmer, with guidance from Council’s finance committee.
Under the proposed budget, the real estate tax rate would remain at $1.27 per $100 value and the personal property tax rate would stay at $5.85 per $100 value. Water and sewer rates would continue to be $8.58 and $8.54, respectively, per 1,000 gallons of water.
Personal property taxes are to be calculated at “clean trade-in” values of vehicles, or 100 percent of values, rather than at “rough tradein” values, or 85 percent, that were used a year ago when the values of used cars were skyrocketing. Those values are currently declining.
Local funding for the schools has been set at $2,293,803 for the upcoming fiscal year, which would represent an increase of 9.5 percent, or $215,261, over the current year.
The cost of 5 percent pay raises for city employees would be $251,000. There are no new positions proposed in the budget document, though one part-time position – in the voting registrar’s office – is being elevated to full-time because of added responsibilities in the office.
Increases in revenues can be attributable to a number of factors, including rising sales tax receipts (due to inflation), occupancy tax increases (because of better arbnb collections), rising values of personal property, improvements to existing housing stock and new business development.
An influx of federal funding from the American Recovery Plan Act and reaching a settlement over the golf course property have put the city in its best financial position in years.
“The auditor said it best – ‘it’s shaping up to be a really good year,’” remarked Tyree. “With the golf course behind us, the city is on a more solid foundation [financially]. We hope to repair the damage that the golf course [debt and litigation] created.”
Clemmer said the city’s fund balance, as of the end of FY22, stood at $2,791,924, which represented an increase of $568,257, over the end of FY21. The city hit a target of having a fund balance equal to 15 percent of general fund expenditures.
Looming capital projects include a major upgrade to the wastewater treatment plant, a new roof for the police department and a new building to house the Rockbridge Area Department of Social Services. The city is awaiting word on possible state or federal grant funding for the WWTP. Other future capital projects include an upgrade to the Rockbridge Regional Jail and a new or renovated school in Buena Vista.
Like all other localities in Virginia, Buena Vista is awaiting final action from the General Assembly on the state budget.
