Town of Bath budget to include 3% tax increase

March 08, 2005|by TRISH RUDDER

BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.VA. - The Bath Town Council on Monday unanimously approved a 2005-06 town budget that will include a tax increase for property owners.

Councilman David Crosby, who heads the Finance Committee, said the projected revenue for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, is $498,116.

"We are in better shape than last year," Crosby said.

The levy rate for 2005-06 includes an estimated real estate property tax revenue of $82,416, he said. A maximum property tax increase of 3 percent is allowed by law, Crosby said, and the town's tax increase will be 3 percent. Anything more than that would require a public hearing, he said.

Crosby said "what it really amounts to is that on the average the property owner will be paying 3 percent more than last year on the portion of their taxes which goes to the town."

Mayor Susan Webster said that last year "we spent a lot of energy raising fees" for garbage collection and court fines.

"We were looking at the town through different eyes and we will be again this year," she said.

The Town Council also voted unanimously to contribute $1,000 to the West Virginia Conservation Agency for the cost-share funding for flood control dams. Webster said the conservation agency checks the dams once a year, and the county pays a share. The funding for this is in the 2005-06 budget, she said.

The Town of Bath is the local government inside Berkeley Springs.

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