[RP TownTalk] why are the taxes going up? Road improvements!

[Alice Ewen Walker]

> why do we need to raise our rates this year?

Short answer is that it's due to a combination of factors. To answer
thoroughly requires looking through the budget line items which are
posted, and updated after each finance session, online at the town
website.

Background:  Staff costs for existing staff are going up. Road work
accounts for some of the increase. Workers compensation premiums have
gone up dramatically. On the revenue side, while we are experiencing
growth in revenue from assessments, the town is suffering losses from
other sources. The sale of Riggs bank to PNC and its subsequent move
from the Rivertech building means a loss of $75,000 in revenue,
equivalent to 1.8 cents of the tax rate. (Each penny of the proposed
68.7 cents tax rate = $41K).

As to the variation Dwight notes in tax rates and in rate of
appreciation among municipalities, the answer to that is also
complicated. I don't pretend to know the full answer, but here are
some factors worth noting -

The local municipalities vary greatly in land area and composition of
property type. From year to year, a single commercial project could
account for a big % change in assessable base, especially in smaller
municipalities.  Has the rate of appreciation for commercial land been
different than rate of appreciation for residential in the region? If
so, that would impact RP differently than some other towns. University
Park has no commercial base, is all single family residential, and is
fully built out, so I'm not surprised that the % change in base is on
the low end of the spectrum. Cheverly and UP also had higher
residential values to start with, so their rate of upward growth might
be less than under-valued areas.

To compare municipal rates meaningfully, we would need to know what
services that municipality delivers. In RP, policing accounts for
about 2/3 of total expenses. Towns that do not have their own police
will assess a dramatically lower tax rate than RP would.

It's up to the council to go through the budget and decide rates and
expenses over the next couple of weeks. The next meeting is May 31 and
is open to the public. The town hopes to have the rate finalized by
June 8.

- Alice Ewen Walker