What you need to know
City officials are proposing increasing the property tax rate by $0.018 for a total of $0.326182 per $100 valuation for the upcoming fiscal year, Director of Finance Kyle Lester said.
If the tax increase is approved by City Council, the average property owner would pay $134 more annually than last year based on the average home price of $570,000 and the taxable value of $426,000, he said.
City officials predict a revenue of $13.2 million in fiscal year 2025-26 if the tax increase is approved, which is $936,655 more revenue than fiscal year 2024-25, Lester said at the Aug. 5 budget workshop.
Breaking down the budget
Roanoke officials discussed spending $33.8 million in fiscal year 2025-26 on capital projects, with $22 million being funded with debt and $15.8 million being funded with cash, Lester said Aug. 5.
The city wanted to fund $158.5 million in Capital Improvement Projects over the next five years, but the financial team could only dedicate $77.5 million to those projects, he said.
Proposed projects include $24.5 million for park amenities, $40 million for a facility needs assessment, $37 million to upkeep roads and $22 million to construct a parking garage on US 377 and Main Street, Lester said.
Diving deeper
If the tax increase is approved by City Council, $465,000 of the $936,655 revenue increase will go toward debt funds related to construction of a parking garage on US 377 and Main Street, Lester said.
City officials are also funding additional staff positions with $475,000 of the revenue generated from the proposed tax increase, according to a news release sent by the city.
Positions include a custodian, a dispatcher, an IT systems analysis, a seasonal labor for recreation and two utility equipment operators, Lester said.
City officials asked for 11 positions, but not every position could be funded due to the state legislature limiting the amount of taxes that cities can raise, Lester said.
“The pressures that we had from the [state] legislature in the past several years has made the city shift from being able to raise adequate revenue in one year to having to have a multi-year strategy,” Lester said.
Before legislative changes, Roanoke could increase property taxes by 8%, which would bring in $1 million, Lester said. Now cities can’t increase property taxes by more than 3.5% without voter approval, which would bring in around $500,000, he said.
All budget items must be approved by Sept. 30 ahead of the start of the new fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, said Sandra Pettigrew, Roanoke's public events manager. The budget proposal will be on the Sept. 9 City Council agenda.
Looking ahead
Lester said that future bonds may be needed to fund the capital projects and proposed calling for bonds in 2026, 2028 and 2029.
