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Buena Vista City Council approved a budget this past Thursday without any tax or fee increases for the next fiscal year.
The real estate tax rate is to remain at $1.27 per $100 value and the personal property tax rate will stay at $5.85 per $100 value. Water and sewer rates will continue to be $8.58 and $8.54, respectively, per 1,000 gallons of water.
The budget adopted for fiscal year 2024 sets general fund expenditures at $15,482,748 and total expenditures at $19,570,822. Changes included in the budget from when a public hearing was held two weeks earlier included making a $1,200 contribution to the Bridge to Hope food pantry and using $50,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds for a fire department capital expenditure.
Local funding for the schools was set at $2,293,803, which represents an increase of 9.5 percent, or $215,261, over the current year.
The vote for setting the tax rate was 7-0, the vote for appropriating funds was 6-1, with Tyson Cooper dissenting, and the vote for approving the budget was 5-2, with Cooper and Melvin Henson dissenting. -Also at last week’s meeting, City Council approved applying for a $1,070,000 Virginia Community Development Block Grant on behalf of Mountain Gateway Community College for the planned Wilson workforce development center.
Council approved a well and water license agreement with The Ranch Golf Club LLC, the entity that purchased The Vista Links golf course. The agreement allows the golf club to use the unfiltered well water at the golf course pond in return for maintaining the pump, pipe and associated equipment. The agreement is for 20 years with options for five-year renewals thereafter.
