Summerfield council mulls idea of property tax hike

Citing rising expenses, town staff recommends imposing the first rate increase in the town’s history

by CHRIS BURRITT

SUMMERFIELD – Town Manager Scott Whitaker and finance office Dee Hall floated the idea of increasing the property tax rate in a meeting of the Town Council last week.

The council neither rejected nor endorsed the idea. Instead, it instructed town staff to explain how rising operating costs may warrant the first rate hike in Summerfield’s history.

“I really think we need more specifics to give it consideration,” Mayor Tim Sessoms said during the council’s special called meeting March 21 to start planning for next fiscal year’s budget. The council may revisit the topic during its regular meeting April 11.

Whitaker and Hall cited rising costs, from refilling the propane gas tank at Summerfield Community Center to future expenses for hiring staff to manage Bandera Farms Park. The town also anticipates spending a significant amount in legal fees to fight de-annexation efforts by landowner David Couch, Whitaker said.

“Just our operational expenses are climbing beyond what we are collecting in (property) taxes,” Whitaker told the council. Capital expenses are rising as well, making it “time for us to seriously consider an increase” of property taxes, he added.

This fiscal year ending June 30, Summerfield anticipates collecting about $535,000 in property taxes. If expenses exceed what is collected from property taxes, sales taxes and other revenue sources, spending will diminish the town’s fund balance, or cash reserves, Hall noted.

Based on staff’s recommendation, Summerfield Town Council will consider increasing the town’s property tax rate next fiscal year by 1 cent – or more –per $100 property valuation.

That runs contrary to the town’s policy of reserving the fund balance for capital spending and paying operational expenses from www.nwobserver.com

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Redmon House

...continued from p. 1 appropriation for the project, reigniting debate over how much the Town Council should spend to create public meeting space at Town Park.

The council plans to decide during its meeting this Thursday, March 30, whether to accept Bar’s $630,000 bid to transform the circa 1930s farmhouse into the Farmhouse Community Center. The bid exceeds by $175,000 the $455,000 the council appropriated for the project in the current fiscal year.

The restoration and potential use of the house at Linville Road and Lisa Drive has fueled debate since Oak Ridge took possession of the property in 2018.

Federal pandemic relief funds totaling $305,000 will lower the project’s cost for Oak Ridge taxpayers, along with a potential $75,000 the town is seeking in a North Carolina Community Fund Grant. In addition, town leaders are seeking cost savings in Bar’s bid before the council’s March 30 meeting, Mayor Ann Schneider said in an interview earlier this week.

“I would like to see the cost come down,” councilman George McClellan said in an interview earlier this week.

“I think it’s a wonderful project. You’re taking a historic structure and giving it a new use. I’m leaning towards it, but I want to make sure I have all the information before I make my decision.”

A proponent of restoring the Redmon house, Schneider said she’s inclined to vote to accept Bar’s bid. Council members Spencer Sullivan and Martha Pittman said they’re still weighing information while Mayor Pro Tem Jim Kinneman, who has raised cost, safety and traffic concerns about the project, declined to say how he plans to vote.

“I want to make clear I am not for demolishing the building; we should preserve it,” Kinneman wrote in an email earlier this week. “The question is how extensive and the cost.

“I agree the house would make a nice club/event/meeting space, just not