By Ashley McLeod, staff writer
Feb 26, 2016, 13:16
COLONIAL HEIGHTS — City residents may be seeing a tax increase in the near future.
In a special meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 23, the City Council discussed the possible increase as a response to a need for necessary programs to improve the city.
The reasoning behind the increase is the need for more revenue in order to provide updated emergency systems, to add more staff to the Fire and EMS Department, and to help fund capital improvement projects for the school system.
“All three items represent a significant cost to the city,” said City Manager Thomas Mattis.
The radio project proposed to council includes updating all radio equipment used by the fire department, police department and sheriff’s office. The updated equipment will also benefit the school system, and will give added contact between schools and buses to the police and fire departments.
The project has been in planning for approximately five years, but has not moved forward. With a price tag of approximately $6 million, funding hasn’t been found in the past to move forward.
The need for new radio systems for emergency services comes as technology advances, and new and better equipment is released. The current technology used by fire/EMS and police will no longer be supported after 2018, making acquiring the new system of high importance.
“While we can continue to operate, our communications would be very much impacted if we don’t go forward with this project,” said Mattis.
According to Fire Chief A.G. Moore, the police department has approximately 155 radios, fire department 84, the school system 60, and the sheriff’s department 32. The new radio system will allow all of these departments to better communicate within the city, as well as in surrounding areas.
The project is a regional project, with Henrico, Chesterfield, Richmond, and Hanover also participating in replacing radio equipment. The new systems are guaranteed to last for at least 20 years.
Moore also said at the meeting that the old system would be eligible for a trade-in discount. The amount is not yet known but will be applied to new equipment. The discount is not reflected in the $6 million cost of the project.
Moore also spoke to council about a request from the Fire and EMS department for additional staffing, a total of six new positions.
The added personnel would allow for two on-duty firefighters at all times, and four off duty.
The added personnel would cost approximately $65,347 per position, with a total for the six positions at $392,082 a year.
The added personnel will address fire safety issues and ease of access problems by the department and will increase response time. The average time currently is 13 minutes and 34 seconds.
Moore said there were 249 instances in 2015 where the fire station was unstaffed due to those on duty being out on a call. The added personnel would presumably fix this.
Moore also explained that the added personnel would help allow the department to enter into buildings faster than previously. There must be a total of four personnel members on the scene to enter a building on fire, and currently, the department must rely on outside sources for this.
The two projects both have high projected costs, but both are also critical to the safety of the city. In order to pay for these projects, there needs to be a tax increase or creation of a new revenue stream.
“It will be difficult to create this kind of funding that we need from any other source other than property taxes. I’d make the argument that these two services are very basic public services, and that’s exactly what property taxes are for, are to pay for city services,” said Mattis.
The proposed tax increase suggested by Mattis shows that an increase of 6 cents will allow the city $463,648, and will allow schools $476,352. The school system is allocated a little more than 51% of tax income for the city.
With this increase, the city would still need to find approximately $24,000 but will give the school system an excess of $66,004 a year.
These numbers are based on the hiring of three employees for Fire and EMS, and not the total six that are being asked for.
A 9-cent raise on property tax would give the city $693,972, and the schools would get $714,528. This would leave both with a bit of excess money.
“Whatever increase we do, we create an opportunity for the school system to finally address some of their many capital improvement needs in the process,” said Mattis.
This includes renovations to science labs and classrooms, redoing the parking lot at North Elementary, replacing bleachers and buses, and locker room renovations, among others.
Mattis did note that no projections have been made yet which include revenue the city will gain from the sale of the old courthouse to Kroger. The current costs do not include any money that will be made from this.
This tax increase will bring the rate back up to 1.20, which was previously the rate before a decrease a few years ago.
No action has been made on this issue, as the tax was discussed in a manner to help build the budget and discuss the affordability of projects by the city for the upcoming year.
