Lower tax rates favored by JCC supervisors

It's Feb. 25. James City County board members favor tax relief for homeowners jammed by double digit reassessments. High schoolers in all W-JCC high schools walk out in ICE protest.

James City County supervisors seem inclined to provide tax relief as real estate assessments continue to soar – but they will have to make cuts in the county budget.

At the Board of Supervisors’ business meeting Tuesday, Jamestown District representative Jim Icenhour said he’d like to see a revenue neutral budget that takes inflation and the growth in the tax base into account, then sets a tax rate that “would be considerably less than the current 83 cents” per $100 of assessed value.

“We have got to lower the tax rate,” agreed Stonehouse Representative Barbara E. Null. “People are taxed out so we have to lower it below 83, I would like 75.”

County taxpayers saw the average tax bill increase 21% over the last two years because of rapidly rising real estate values. The new assessments that will be going out this month will show an average of 11.84% increases.

Taxpayers got a 5 cent tax credit the first year of the increases in 2024, but that was based on a budget surplus the previous year …