Amelia County adopts budget; proposal to cut personal property tax fails, board directs staff to draft elderly tax-relief ordinance

Amelia County supervisors adopted the county's FY25-26 budget at a special meeting and approved an employee bonus ordinance, after rejecting a motion to reduce the personal property tax rate by 10 cents and directing staff to prepare an ordinance to raise the elderly/disabled tax-relief income threshold.

The budget vote came after a proposal from a board member to increase the income limit for elderly and disabled tax relief from $30,000 to $33,000 and to lower the personal property tax rate from $4.35 to $4.25. "I would like to give them 10% which would move it from 30,000 to 33,000," the board member proposing the change said. The board directed staff to draft an ordinance for the elderly/disabled tax-relief increase and schedule required public hearings.

Why it matters: supervisors said the county is projecting a surplus this year after several years of tight budgets, and several members argued that some of that excess should be returned to taxpayers. Others cautioned that unresolved audit deficiencies and incomplete final figures counseled caution before reducing recurring revenue.

Most important facts

- A board member proposed two changes during the budget discussion: (1) raise the elderly/disabled tax-relief income limit from $30,000 to $33,000 (a 10% increase) and (2) reduce the personal property tax rate from $4.35 to $4.25. The board directed staff to prepare the ordinance language for the…