Newport holds public hearing on 2025 property tax rate; commission votes to proceed with first readings of tax and budget ordinances

Mayor Thomas L. Cadulli opened a special meeting of the Newport Board of Commissioners on Sept. 8, 2024, calling a public hearing on the city's property tax rate for tax year 2025.

"Again, this is a public hearing. The property tax rate public hearing of 2025," Cadulli said before staff presentation began. Finance staffer Lenny walked the commission through the certified tax roll, exemptions and proposed rate options, and framed the proposed rate as a small rise from the compensating rate.

The city received certified assessment data from the local Property Valuation Administrator (PVA) and public-service (PSC) assessment data the staff uses to compute its tax-rate options, Lenny said. He reported roughly $3.3 billion in assessed real estate, with about $1.4 billion taxable after exemptions and moratoriums, and roughly $102 million in taxable tangible personal property. Lenny said the city's compensating property tax rate for 2025 would be 2.15 per $1,000 of assessed value and that staff's proposed rate for consideration that night was $2.24 per $1,000 ("comp plus 4"). "So the proposed rate for tonight is the $2.24, the comp plus 4," Lenny said.

Lenny showed examples of taxpayer impact at that rate: a $150,000 home would see an annual increase of about $13.50 and a $250,000 home about $22.50, and noted the taxable base is affected by exemptions and moratoriums (69 parcels in the moratorium program this year). He also noted estimated PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) receipts for fiscal 2026 of almost $900,000 and said those PILOTs represent roughly $402 million in tax-exempt property value receiving…