BAKERSVILLE — Property taxes in Bakersville are going up for the first time in several years.
On Monday, June 29, the Bakersville Town Council approved its 2020-21 fiscal year budget which includes a five-cent tax increase, from $0.41 to $0.46 per $100 valuation based on real property values.
For example, if a person has a property in Bakersville valued at $150,000, their taxes will increase $75 from $615 per year to $690 per year. With the change in the tax rate, the town’s revenues will increase approximately $12,519.
The council passed the budget and tax increase by a 2-1 vote with council members Andy Palmer and Jordon Baker voting for it and Charles Nash casting a dissenting vote. Nash said a tax increase should have involved a separate public hearing.
“We didn’t advertise this as a tax increase meeting, we advertised this as a goat and pony show,” Nash said.
Palmer was the first person to bring up a possible tax increase following a budget message from Bakersville Mayor Charles “Chuck” Vines. Palmer also made the formal motion to increase taxes.
“If we don't continually have our tax rate match the expenditures then we just get farther and farther into a hole,” Palmer said. “If you don’t raise the percentage at the same rate you raise expenditures then you don’t have it compounded each year and you don’t have the money. At some point, somebody has got to pay for it all.”
Baker agreed with Palmer and said raising the rate was the right move for the town.
“It’s the responsible thing to do,” Baker said. “We’re behind on moving up taxes. You know, this [ongoing pandemic] is a bad situation to be in, but we need to do it.”
Palmer defended the tax increase and said it would not be as severe as citizens might think.
“It sounds like a lot because we’re so low,” Palmer said. “We’ll still be at $0.46. So, we’ll still be 12 percent under every other nearby town. And it’s compounded. It would be something that’s progressive and then we could pay for the things without having to stress.”
Harley Masters, owner of Southern Ridge Cafe in Bakersville and a candidate running for a seat on the Mitchell County Board of Commissioners, attended the meeting said she was saddened by the “lack of transparency” she observed from the Town Council.
“I hear each of you promote transparency and that’s not very transparent,” Masters said. “From a business perspective, five cents is blindsiding people. Take it or leave it, I don’t care. ”
Masters pointed out the county will likely also raise taxes significantly next year based on its recent 2020-21 budget approval.
“I will also be faced with this tough decision if I’m elected,” Masters said. “I will make sure that I am out talking to the people that voted me in, that this is what’s going to happen. I’m not going to blindside anybody.”
Vines expressed his disapproval of the tax increase and said he worried Bakersville citizens might not be able to pay for it.
“I am not in favor of the tax increase,” Vines said. “I will not be in favor of it because the population in our town is 69.9 percent below the modern income and they live paycheck to paycheck and I don’t think they can afford to pay for it.”