Mike Ruffin’s 2009-2010 budget recommendation keeps intact the current property tax rate, which is 70.81 cents per $100.
Ruffin opted for spending cuts over raising taxes, using fund balance — the government equivalent of a piggy bank — or cutting services.
But commissioners want to keep taxes level. Ruffin agreed, noting than 9.3 percent of the county’s residents are 60 or older and 15.1 percent live below the poverty line.
“Ten dollars doesn’t mean a lot maybe to us in the room, but it means an awful lot to somebody who’s trying to choose between paying taxes and buying medicine,” he said.
A one-cent tax increase would mean an added $10 payment on a $100,000 home. The current tax rate is 70.81 cents per $100 of assessed value.
Now if only the state would follow suit. JLF’s Joe Coletti explains why lower spending and tax rates are key to helping North Carolina deal with its current 10.8 percent unemployment rate.
