Williamsburg approved a more than $103 million budget this week, growing 9.3% from 2025.
Here are five things to know about it.
Property tax rates are flat
Real estate taxes are staying at 62 cents per $100 of assessed value, the lowest of any city in Virginia.
But that doesn’t mean residents won’t see their bills increase. Property assessments continue to rise on average by 4% in Williamsburg, though that is lower than it’s been in prior years.
The exact increase will vary in different parts of the city, but generally means many property owners will pay more despite the flat tax rate.
Additional school funds
The city will give Williamsburg-James City County Schools an additional $1.4 million next year, or about 12% more than in 2025, for a total of $12.7 million for operations.
The city settled on that increase based on the funding split in the joint agreement with James City County, where the city agrees to fund about 11% of the district’s budget.
The schools sought $11 million more overall for next year’s budget. The county earmarked $2.8 million in additional funding for the division based on its expected revenue increase for the year.
The school system pared down its budget in response by $4.5 million, cutting vacant bus driver positions, scaling back some raises meant to bring pay in line with the market and holding off on hiring several new teachers, special education positions and behavioral support aides.
James City County has since proposed giving $1 million more in funding. The state is also allocating an additional $2 million.
The joint agreement for WJCC expires before July and the city and county are still negotiating a new one, which could include changes to the formula used to calculate how the localities share school operation costs.
Pruned from earlier drafts
The budget was cut from $112.3 million proposed in March to the final amount of $103.3 million.
“I don’t ever recall us making this many cuts to a proposed budget to try to get it down to a manageable number,” said Vice Mayor Pat Dent.
City Manager Andrew Trivette in February reported a tightening financial outlook. The city is collecting less income from sales, lodging and meals taxes as well as business licensing fees while grappling with rising costs for materials and contractors.
The approved budget cut 34 capital projects from its plans, amounting to $22.8 million; reduced departmental expenses by $725,000; and cut $207,000 by freezing hires for nine positions.
The latest cuts included reductions in police vehicle purchases, postponing restorations at the Kiwanis Park tennis court and reducing its contribution to the Williamsburg Area Transit Authority.
Excise tax bumps returning for approval in January
City Council will vote on raising Williamsburg’s meals tax by 1.5%, its lodging tax by 2% and instituting a new 10% tax on event tickets on Jan. 8.
That’s when a moratorium on increases to the city’s meals and lodgings taxes stemming from the 1% Historical Triangle Regional Sales Tax or “Tommy Tax” expires.
Trivette proposed increases to meals, lodging and the new ticket tax, coupled with cuts, to cover operations costs and keep the capital improvements fund out of the red.
The budget also reassigns $5.5 million in COVID relief money and $1 million in reserve dollars to address the “structural imbalance” in capital upgrade funding. Adding in utility fee changes puts the fund in the green through the next five years.
“Not by a huge margin, but enough,” Trivette said.
The ticket tax, if approved, would be limited to the first $10 of the ticket and not apply to Williamsburg-James City County and William & Mary events. Charitable events with fewer than 2,000 admissions per year are also excluded
Restaurateurs and hospitality business owners railed against the proposals. At several meetings, owners and employees said raising taxes on their customers will drive them to eat out of town and put their establishments out of business.
Neil Griggs, owner of Cochon on 2nd, said it adds another burden for restaurants that haven’t fully recovered from COVID’s impact.
“I am worried about sales on a daily basis,” he said at an April city council meeting. “We're being hit with these tariffs, the food chain is attacking us; we're being attacked from every angle there is, taking our margins away.”
Cumulative taxes on meals in Williamsburg currently amount 12% and would reach 13.5% if the tax increase is approved in 2026. Cumulative taxes on lodging amount to 12% and an additional $2 per room night.
Water rates on the rise
Residents’ water bills will go up by $6.36 per month for the average customer, a 30% increase. Commercial rates will raise more than $28 per month on average.
Trivette said the money is needed to fund upgrades to Williamsburg’s aging utility infrastructure, expected to cost more than $27 million over 10 years. That pays for improvements to its water treatment plant, distribution pipes and replacing multiple pump stations.
The increase is part of a plan that would see a return to annual rate increases “to avoid that one-time big jump in a future year again,” Trivette said. The last rate increase in Williamsburg was 2017.
The plan would see rates rise by 90% over five years and average out to 12% per year by 2035 if nothing changes, according to a report by Davenport Public Finance, the city’s financial advisor.
