June 20. The Davidson Board of Commissioners approved the FY 2023-2024 budget this month.
The seven goal areas from the Strategic Plan are: A Well-Planned and Livable Community; Historic Preservation; Connecting People and Places, Affordable Living, Equity, and Inclusion; Sustainability and Natural Assets; Economic Development; and Operational Excellence. Town staff is greatly appreciative of the Board’s leadership in identifying priorities on which the Town should focus.
Davidson’s revenue neutral tax rate was confirmed at 23.6 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. The newly approved tax rate is 26.6 cents per $100 of valuation.
Highlights of the approved budget:
- To maintain service levels to the community, this budget reflects investments in our staff personnel, equipment, and other capital projects. Preserve all staff positions and add a few key staff enhancements tied to the town’s strategic plan initiatives such as a sustainability coordinator, police positions, public works positions, and a financial reporting position.
- One penny of the three-cent increase as well as a portion of the town’s sales tax is dedicated to establishing recurring funding for investment in affordable housing. Support for affordable housing comes from the Town’s core values and has been reinforced by citizen input for many years. Moving forward with the Affordable Housing Needs Assessment (AHNA) Implementation Strategy is a watershed moment in the community’s history with affordable housing.
Along with the operating budget, the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) has also been updated and approved. Completed every year, the CIP looks five years ahead at various large scale Town projects such as improvements to parks, greenways, roadways and strategically plans out how that work might be completed most efficiently. The CIP also provides expected funding sources for the $67.9 million worth of projects.
In addition to approving the budget, the Board also approved the establishment of a Tax Assistance Program for the Town of Davidson. The preliminary structure has been based upon and aligned with the current Tax Assistance Program (HOMES) in Mecklenburg County. The first year will be funded through a one-time grant of $22,000 from the Davidson Community Foundation, Town Manager Jamie Justice said.
The headline is inaccurate and disingenuous. The Davidson Board of Commissioners approved a “TAX RATE” decrease not a “TAX” decrease. In essence they approved of a TAX INCREASE for all Davidson homeowners. Based on a revenue neutral rate of 23.6 cents per $100 of assessed value they increased the effective taxation of residents by 3 cents per $100 of valuation. Virtually everyone’s total taxes will go up unless by some miracle their properties’ valuation decreased after the recent reassessment, which I seriously doubt. I urge you to print a correction to your headline for this article… hopefully you were not trying to fool your readership with erroneous wordplay.
Respectfully submitted.
Thank you
We agree and there’s a new headline. Our headline writer worked off this statement issued by the Town of Davidson: “This rate is a reduction from the current tax rate of 32.5 cents per one hundred dollars of valuation.” The new headline says “Davidson OKs budget with a 12.6% average tax increase.”
Harry- this is insightful and I don’t think anyone is trying to fool the readership. The tax rate (not “tax” as you point out) WAS actually reduced per The Town of Davidson,”While the proposed Town tax rate is reduced from 32.5 cents per $100 of property values to 26.6 cents, taxes will go up based on the 2023 property revaluations.” Some, like the UNC School of Government, call the revenue-neutral tax rate (RNTR) “a bundle of contradictions.” It contrasts the purpose of the RNTR (to provide transparency) against the confusion it creates – like this. This Cornelius Today article also reports that their new tax rate will maintain service levels, provide investments in staff, equipment, and other capital projects. It will “preserve all staff positions and add a few key staff enhancements “such as a sustainability coordinator, police positions, public works positions, and a financial reporting position” along with funding for affordable housing. We do not want our property values to decrease, so we want our taxes to be as low as possible. The RNTR basis for talking about our taxes espouses a view that would have use reducing and retaining needed staff and equipment, stop work on improving our transportation issues, not care for our beautiful parks and greenways and neglect the needs of all Cornelius citizens. For what? Lets get over this “increased taxes” nonsense and realize that they are indeed needed, like Davidson, to promote our quality of life.
This is a tax INCREASE of over 13%; why in the world does your headline say “tax decrease”???
I need to get a newsletter out on Cornelius’s recent approval of our FY 24 Budget – local media can be fairly loosey goosey with basic facts unfortunately when it comes to town finances and spending.
Our headline writer worked off this statement issued by the Town of Davidson: “This rate is a reduction from the current tax rate of 32.5 cents per one hundred dollars of valuation.” The new headline says “Davidson OKs budget with a 12.6% average tax increase.”