First things first: I only ask that you read the entire post before you dig in. For as much time as the Council has spent on this baby, I think it’s a reasonable request…..
OK, the tax rate as proposed by the Council for next year is $1.395. The tax rate for last year was $1.472. The tax rate in Manassas is comprised of two pieces: the fire levy and the “normal” Real Estate tax. To arrive at your tax bill, the two are added together. The changes in the overall rate this year are primarily driven by increases this year and last year in the Fire Levy. Last year we added operational costs in the form of consolidated dispatch and other recurring costs but paid for it out of fund balance. I wasn’t wild about paying for things that way but went along with it. We did that as we were trying to keep the tax rate low while the economy was is such a bad state. This year, the bill for those operational improvements has come due and continuing to pay for them with fund balance is bad policy. Besides, if we spend our Fire & Rescue fund balance on operational costs, we’re wiping out our savings fund that will help buy fire trucks and that’s dumb. So: