Politics & Government

Town of Herndon Says, No New Taxes in 2014

The Town Council passed its budget for Fiscal Year 2014 last week, with no new taxes and no tax increases.

 

The passing of the Town’s budget for Fiscal Year 2014 (FY 2014) by staff and officials last week means good news for residents – because it means no raised taxes, and no new taxes.

At its meeting last Tuesday, April 23, the Town Council adopted an ordinance that will keep several taxes and fees at the same rate for FY 2014, including the town’s real estate tax; meals tax, water and sewer rates, recycling fees and more.

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Despite all taxes remaining at current levels, the Town managed to increase expenditures in a few areas, such as personnel and capital improvement projects. In all, total budget expenditures will increase by 7.3 percent over FY 2013.

The FY 2014 budget in its entirety will be available on the Town’s website by June 30, and goes into effect on July 1, 2013.

Find out what's happening in Herndonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

 

Tax rates in Herndon

Real estate tax rates within the town will remain at $0.2650 per $100 of assessed value.  According to Town staff, the average residential property value in the town is $318,262, resulting in an average real estate tax bill of $843.39.

The town’s meals tax - which applies to all food items prepared for immediate consumption, such as restaurants, salad bars, ready-made groceries and more - remains at 2.5 percent for FY 2014, and the cigarette tax remains at 75 cents per pack

All business, professional and occupational license taxes (BPOL), classifications and thresholds will also remain at their current amounts. 

The motor vehicle license fee remains at $25 for private passenger vehicles and other vehicles weighing less than 4,000 pounds, and $32 for vehicles weighing more than 4,000 pounds. 

The consumer utility tax remains unchanged, and the amount of the tax for residential consumers contains a monthly cap of $3.00 per utility.

Water and sewer rates and availability fees remain unchanged. The base water rate remains at $2.90 per 1,000 gallons of water consumption. Peak rate remains at $3.50. The base sewer rate remains at $5.05 per 1,000 gallons of water consumption. Peak rate remains at $1.70.

Recycling fees remain unchanged, at $16 per year, or $4 per quarter.

There will remain no personal property tax in the town.

 

Possible raises or cost-of-living adjustments for Town employees

As for Town employees’ salaries, Town Manager Art Anselene’s proposed budget, first presented to the Town Council in early April, called for no pay increases for Town staff due to projected budgetary constraints. 

However, Anselene said a higher rate of collection for BPOL taxes “allowed the Town Council to include revenues to fund potential salary increases for Town staff in its adopted ordinance.” 

Anselene said BPOL collections for this year "were much stronger than the previous year," by about 15 percent.

"So, we realized we didn't have to be quite so conservative," he said.

The unanticipated higher collections, which came to around $230,000, Anselene said can be set aside to allow for salary increases or cost-of-living adjustments for Town employees if they so choose.

Anselene said, he plans to propose to the Town Council in June that the Town reimplement its "Pay for Performance" plan, or PFP. Under the plan, employees will receive an evaluation on the anniversary of their hire date, and if it is favorable enough to warrant a raise, that raise can come out of the $230,000 surplus from BPOL collections.

 

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