Alert: Nelson Schools Need Your Support

The State Budget is projected to decrease State revenue to Nelson County by over 12%, which will result in a loss to Nelson County Schools of $1,214,869. The Board of Supervisors is committed to providing a 3% cost of living increase to all county employees, which is virtually impossible for teachers and school staff without some increase in county support to the schools from last year. 

 The Board of Supervisors can't specify what their share of the school budget would be used for. We award them an amount based on the budget that they submit to us and our ability to extend funding to them. Their budget lays out their priorities for salaries and positions, which makes up the vast majority of their budget, and everything else.  The School Board then creates an amended budget based on the $$ it gets from the state and the amount that the county commits in our budget. 

 Increasing the Real Property Tax rate by one cent means a 1.5% increase in the tax rate on real property. This means that if a property is assessed at $100,000, the owner would have to bear an increase of $10 in real property tax, from $650 to $660.  Spreading this increase equitably across Nelson County property owners will increase County revenues by $321,000 which would help make up only ¼ of the projected lost State revenue to our schools. Still, the Board of Supervisors felt that this was an appropriate and much needed step to take this year.

The County does have reserves it uses for servicing debt for large projects.  The County is committed to funding $22.5 m for important High School renovations and $9.5m for a new Department of Social Services Building (DSS has aged and grown out of the singlewides that now house it.) These have been priorities for some time, the DSS for over 5 years.  The County is also intending to invest in increasing water supply and infrastructure for the Lovingston/Coleen area. Maintaining our reserves will make these investments possible.

 Real Estate taxes are intended to be equitable...those with higher value real estate pay more than those with lower value real estate. Also, tax relief is available from the county for those in need, based on income.

 Ernie Reed

Member, Nelson County Board of Supervisors