After spending two hours last Thursday digesting and dissecting the proposed 2011-2012 budget without ever addressing funding for the schools, Mathews County board of supervisors continued its meeting to Wednesday, March 30.

Discussing proposed revenues, supervisor Neena Putt asked county administrator Steve Whiteway for a scenario that would illustrate the typical taxes that would be placed on an imaginary individual’s home and vehicles under the proposed budget plan.

Whiteway said he used a specific lot and real vehicles to calculate the difference in taxes under last year’s budget and this year’s proposed budget.

He said that reducing the tax rate from the current 56 cents per $100 of assessed value to 44.6 cents, which would keep real estate taxes level from last year, while maintaining the current rate for personal property taxes at $4.53 per $100 of assessed value, would result in taxes of $2,038 for this imaginary resident with a home assessed at $321,000 and two vehicles valued at $12,500 and $7,800. Under his proposed rates of 47 cents per $100 of assessed value for real estate and $3.70 per $100 of assessed value for personal property, Whiteway said this same individual would pay total taxes of $2,004.

In response to a request from supervisor Janine Burns, Whiteway calculated that the same resident would pay $2,400 in taxes if the tax rate were not reduced at all.

"It’s nice to know the difference sometimes," said Burns.

The county’s overall tax intake would be about $85,000 less for the real estate and personal property categories this year than last year under his proposed budget, said Whiteway.

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