Council amends city code to include tax rates in Chapter 34 after debate over timing

The Hopewell City Council on Tuesday approved an amendment to Chapter 34 of the City Code to include the city’s tax rates in the published code so that the ordinance language matches the rates the council adopted for the coming year.

Councilors debated whether the item required more advance notice and discussion. City staff and the finance director said the change is housekeeping to reconcile the city’s published code with the rates council already adopted and to enable timely updates on the municipal code platform.

Stacy Jordan, the city chief financial officer, told council that the ordinance language being proposed does not change any adopted rates: “None of these rates that are published in this proposed ordinance are different from what city council has adopted. These are precisely the same tax rates that city council has adopted for the upcoming year.”

Several councilors, including Councilor Stokes and Councilor Holloway, expressed dissatisfaction with the timing and asked for more lead time and materials in their agenda packets. Councilor Stokes moved to delay the item to the next meeting; that motion failed for lack of a second. Councilor Day moved to approve the amendment and Vice Mayor Joyner seconded; a roll-call vote passed the ordinance amendment with Councilor Stokes recorded as opposing the measure.

City staff explained the practical reason for the timing: updates to the published municipal code (Municode) are processed on a quarterly basis, and the city sought to ensure the published code would reflect current adopted rates without further delay. The ordinance amendment will be uploaded to the city’s Municode publication to update the public-facing code.