Tax increase may be coming to Washington County, Va.

ABINGDON, Va. – While it may be too soon for Washington County leaders to say how much, it’s apparent that the county will need to raise taxes this year, said Joe Straten, chairman of the Washington County Board of Supervisors.

In the face of more state funding cuts for schools and a desire to raise teacher salaries for the first time in several years, the Washington County School Board is asking for $6.6 million in additional local revenue.

According to school system budget figures, the biggest chunk of that request is the $3.6 million it would take to raise teacher salaries to the level previously set by a five-year salary improvement plan that was started before the recession.

Two other big pieces – each about $1.6 million – are the expected increase in contributions to the Virginia Retirement System and a change in the composite index, the complicated state formula used to calculate how capable localities are to fund schools – and, based on that, how much the state expects them to pay toward education.

The composite index for Washington County is going up this year, meaning about $1.6 million the state expects the county to pay.

The school system is also requesting more money to pay for an increase in health insurance costs, to fill certain positions that have been left vacant, and buy buses and supplies that schools have done without in the last few years of successive state funding cuts.

School system officials say they’ve lost 77 positions and $6.6 million in funding over the last few years, not including the current year’s proposals – cuts that could negatively affect the quality of education that students receive.

The school system has balanced its budget by leaving positions unfilled, making careful use of federal economic stimulus funds and cutting the purchase of buses and supplies.

“I think that we have done everything that we can do to shore up the budget the last couple of years,” said Elizabeth Lowe, a longtime school board member and past chairman.

“Then we get to a point where we just say we can’t have the quality of schools that we have over the years if we can’t get some new money going into it. These are our needs – not our wants – at this point.”

In Richmond to meet with legislators, School Board Chairman Bill Brooks said he and other school system officials were talking a lot about the VRS and the possibility that the state could let localities make up for deferred contributions over time rather than all at once.

He said salaries have to be raised so the county can be competitive in attracting and retaining good teachers.

Superintendent Jim Sullivan said the school system’s local funding request will stay the same unless the state legislature makes changes that affect the amount of funding flowing to or expected from Washington County.

Straten said the county has some new revenue sources to look at, such as back taxes owed on the recently reassessed gas storage facility in Saltville, that could help offset some needed school funding increases.

Beyond that, he said it’s too early in the process to say how much of the school system’s request might be funded – and how much of a tax increase that would mean.

“Obviously, we’re going to have to look at everything on the budget, and certainly we’ve got some areas where we can make some cuts,” he said, “but there’s no way that we can make enough cuts in our budget to make up a $6.6 million shortfall for the schools without some sort of tax increase.”

Generally speaking, he said, a penny per $100 valuation on the county’s property tax brings in about $375,000.

Straten said the board will go through its budget proposals line by line next month and will have a better idea by the end of that process how much of a tax increase property owners should expect.

“It’s going to be a daunting task,” he said.

The board sets the year’s tax rate in the spring, in time for tax bills to be sent out in advance of a May 20 payment deadline. In Washington County, half of the property tax is due in May and the other half, in November.

dmccown@bristolnews.com

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