Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 10, 1992 TAG: 9203100342
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER MUNICIPAL WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Harvey, a private pilot and aircraft owner, said if too many planes move to other airports and the number of landings and takeoffs drops substantially, the radar could be in jeopardy.
"If we don't have the traffic to justify the radar, they will take it out," he said.
City officials think that is unlikely.
The tax bills on some planes will increase fivefold this year because of a new method for determining the value of aircraft for tax purposes. More than 75 planes are based at the airport.
Commissioner of Revenue Jerome Howard recently began assessing aircraft on the basis of their fair-market value, the same method used for assessing automobiles and other personal property.
Previously, Howard had used a depreciation system that reduced the planes' value to 20 percent of their cost after five years.
State law allows him to use either system.
Howard - an independently elected official who does not report to the city manager - believes that the fair-market assessment, which is based on a pricing guide, is the fairest.
At Harvey's request, council voted to ask City Manager Bob Herbert to meet with Howard to see if he will reconsider his decision to change the assessment procedure.
Herbert has recommended that the tax rate be reduced from $3.45 to $1.78 per $100 assessed valuation to help offset the change in the method for assessing the aircraft.
Herbert said the lower rate would generate the same amount of tax revenue for the city as the old assessment method - $233,000 a year.
The tax bills for some planes would still be higher than the old method, Herbert said, but overall tax revenues would be same from the airplanes.
City Attorney Wilburn Dibling said state law allows a locality to have a lower tax rate rate for airplanes than motor vehicles and other types of personal property.
Many localities in Virginia have a lower tax rate on airplanes.
The change in the assessment method has angered some aircraft owners - and caused at least one corporate plane to be moved to another airport.
They complained to council last month, saying the tax issue could hurt the general aviation business at the airport.
General-aviation supporters told council Monday night that Herbert's recommendation for reducing the tax rate was a "step in the right direction," but it didn't solve the problem.
Even with the lower tax rate, the tax bills on some planes would double, said Roy Spicer, secretary of the General Aviation Association.
Spicer said city officials should try to offer tax incentives that would encourage owners to keep their planes at the Roanoke airport.
"Do you want to keep the same amount of tax dollars or do you want to promote growth at the airport," he said.
Jim Hopkins, general manager of Piedmont Aviation Inc., said he thinks the reduced tax rate of $1.78 is fair, but he understands why some plane owners still may he unhappy.
Hopkins told council last month that the tax issue could hurt the city's economic development program because it would discourage companies with their own planes from locating in the Roanoke Valley.
by CNB