Only a handful of taxpayers showed up Tuesday night at public hearings on York County’s proposed $314.7 million budget, along with proposed tax increases and sewer and garbage rate hikes.
Most of the few who spoke asked the supervisors to lower the property tax rate to offset the impact of an 11.2% increase in assessed home values, and one protested the county’s plan to increase the meals tax by half, from 4 to 6%.
But the supervisors did not entertain the idea of any rate cuts, saying they had squeezed the budget as tight as they could, and that increases largely went to pay an extra $9.4 million for employee pay raises, as well as increased contributions to local schools and higher health insurance costs.
York’s initial proposed budget was for $308 million, a 7% increase from the current budget. But after several work sessions the staff is proposing to increase the budget to $314.8 million. The largest increase, $6 million, would allow preliminary work to begin …