This story was reported and written by our media partner Williamsburg Watch.
York County supervisors approved a $291.6 million budget Tuesday that will raise residents’ taxes by $8 million.
The budget, which goes into effect July 1, raises real estate tax rates for the first time in nine years to 78 cents per $100 in assessed value. Property taxes will revert to where they stood two years ago, to $4 per $100 in value.
York lowered the property tax two years ago when car prices doubled post-Covid. It also lowered real estate taxes three times since 2022 to offset rising real estate valuations.
The supervisors voted 4-1 to adopt the new tax rates and the budget, with District 3 Supervisor Wayne Drewry voting against.
The vote was unanimous to increase garbage collection fees by $2 every other month for all categories except the discounted senior citizen rate, which went up $7.
The Supervisors also unanimously approved increases to filing fees for building permits, subdivision plans and zoning applications.
County Administrator Mark Bellamy has described the budget as a maintenance budget with no new programs. It includes an additional $1 million cash contribution to the schools, a pay raise for county employees, and five new Sheriff’s deputies.
“This is the right decision,” said District 4 Supervisor G. Stephen Roane, Jr. “It’s disappointing” that tax rates went back up, he said, but it was necessary “to continue supporting…. the level of services” residents told him they wanted.
“We’ve had an 8 percent rise in costs over eight years after inflation, that’s remarkable,” District 1 Representative Douglas R. Holroyd said, waving a copy of Williamsburg Watch showing York has had a slower pace of spending increases than neighboring James City County or Williamsburg since 2017.
The budget decreases overtime spending and a drone replacement for the Sheriff’s office and cuts $300,000 from contributions to the Williamsburg Area Transit Authority, among other adjustments.
Bellamy said York’s 78 cent real estate tax rate will be the third lowest in Hampton Roads, behind the city of Williamsburg at 62 cents and Isle of Wight County at 73 cents.
Roane and District 5 Supervisor Thomas G. Shepperd, Jr. said they were pleased with the opportunities for citizens to engage and question the budget over the five-month process that began last December.
The county held 10 work sessions, town halls and public hearings over that time, as well as a budget retreat.
