THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Tuesday, May 2, 1995                   TAG: 9505020004
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A12  EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Letter 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   30 lines

SUFFOLK BOASTS LOWEST TAX IN AREA

Editor Cole Campbell's April 7 column (``The Beach's budget: Raising taxes and questions'') was both interesting and illuminating; however, it did perpetuate a modest misconception that deserves correction.

Your comments indicated that Virginia Beach's real-estate-tax rate at ``. . rate was, is and should be over the next fiscal year $1.03, which is the lowest of the Hampton Roads cities.

(The $1.03 rate is levied citywide and is referred to as the Nansemond Taxing District rate. A special service/tax district exists, the Suffolk Taxing District, which has an additional 18-cent levy. This often causes the confusion, even though the Suffolk Taxing District covers only 13 percent of the assessed value of real estate in the city, or less than 1 percent of the land area.)

MYLES E. STANDISH

City manager

Suffolk, April 13, 1995 by CNB