Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 11, 1992                   TAG: 9203110162
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER
DATELINE: PULASKI                                LENGTH: Medium

TOWN KEEPS SAME TAX RATE; BUT NEW VALUES TO RAISE BILLS

The town might finally adopt a lower rate to keep taxes about the same.

Pulaski County's property reassessment has raised the fair-market value of property in town from $197,541,810 to an estimated $213,244,688.

That means the total town taxes, if the rate stays the same, would go from $655,329 to $725,032. The rate would have to be reduced to 31 cents per $100 valuation to keep taxes the same.

Town property owners also pay county real-estate taxes.

Council can reduce the rate from whatever it advertises for a public hearing, but cannot legally raise it. That was why council's Finance Committee decided to stick with the 34-cent figure for advertising purposes.

The rate must be set by April 15. The committee discussed holding its hearing at a special March 31 meeting or its regular April 7 meeting, but changing the time to evening. Council probably will decide Tuesday.

"I think people are anxious to know what we're going to do about this," said Andrew Graham.

Mary Lou Copenhaver said she believed people would not want municipal services cut. Nick Glenn agreed. Glenn's concern was the possibility, if a lower tax rate is adopted, of having to come back and raise the tax rate later to meet revenue needs.

"You've got to bite the bullet sometime," he said.

The committee also looked at the possibility of adopting state definitions of which businesses fall into what categories for purposes of business license taxes. Many of the town's definitions date to 1952, making them difficult to administer in some cases.

The town's business license taxes last were revised in 1982.