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Council hears presentation to keep real estate tax rate at $1.18 as assessments rise
Summary
City officials recommended maintaining Newport News’ FY2027 real estate tax rate at $1.18 even as reassessments raised the levy 3.56%, a change the budget director said would increase the average single-family homeowner’s bill by about $46; council discussed outreach and relief programs and scheduled related briefings.
Philip Jones, Mayor, opened the May 12 work session and turned the meeting over to the city manager for an overview of the city's FY2027 budget and the required effective tax rate presentation. The city manager told council the proposed operating budget does not include a real estate tax increase and that staff recommended maintaining the current tax rate at $1.18.
Lisa Cipriano, the city's director of budget, walked council through the state-prescribed effective tax rate process and told members that the city assessor identified a 3.56% overall increase in the real estate levy for FY2027. "The FY 2027 operating budget does not include a real estate tax increase," the city manager said. Cipriano added that the levy growth generates more revenue without changing the rate and that, to collect the same revenue as the current fiscal year at a lower assessed base, a constant-revenue rate would be roughly $1.13–$1.14 (the transcript gave a value written as "$1.13.09" and "almost a dollar 14").
Cipriano said the average single-family assessment change is about 4.65% and that not all neighborhoods saw the same shift. She reported an average median assessed-value figure in the presentation as "closer to $2.87," and said a homeowner at that presented value would pay about $46 more in taxes; the transcript did not specify units for the $2.87 figure. Cipriano also noted that the city must advertise the difference between the effective and adopted rates per state code.
Council members asked clarifying questions about timing and outreach. One councilor confirmed that the disparity study will be presented in the June work session; the city manager and budget staff described planned communications, including scripts for 311, to help residents access tax-relief and deferral programs. Cipriano outlined proposed resident-facing investments made possible by preserving the meals tax and current revenue assumptions: a $1,000,000 residential façade pilot, a $300,000 "Residence First" income-based relief pilot, and a neighborhood assistance grant program described in the transcript as "funded at half $1,000,000" (the transcript wording was ambiguous). She also noted ongoing increases in the city's contributions to schools and in debt service.
On unfunded state mandates, Cipriano and Mayor Jones discussed the state's disabled veterans tax relief, which Cipriano said will cost the city $10,400,000 in the upcoming fiscal year and has expanded since 2011. The mayor described that program as an "unfunded mandate" affecting local budgets.
The council did not take a formal tax-rate vote in the work session; staff said the required public hearing and formal adoption are scheduled as part of the ordinance series supporting the FY2027 operating budget. The presentation concluded with staff pledging further outreach and a public hearing presentation at the appropriate time.
