Bedford City Council ends car decals; Raises property taxes

By Justin Faulconer
Lynchburg News & Advance
Published: October 15, 2008

BEDFORD — Bedford City Council voted Tuesday to discontinue vehicle decals and to raise the personal property tax rate to compensate for the city’s revenue loss.

Mayor Skip Tharp said the city tried to be as fair to everyone as possible in pursuing the change, which will increase the tax rate from $1.80 per every $100 of assessed value to $2.17.

“It keeps us collecting the fees we need to run the city,” said Tharp. “It’s cash flow neutral, as long as everyone pays their taxes.”

City Manager Charles Kolakowski said using decals as an enforcement tool is difficult because other surrounding localities have done away with them, including, most recently, Bedford County.

Lynchburg and Amherst, Appomattox, Campbell and Nelson counties have also done away with decals. They are an outdated method of enforcement and taxation, several area officials have said.

Council also voted Tuesday to approve a personal property tax relief rate from the state of 53.7 percent, which decreased from 64 percent.

Kolakowski said the drop was consistent with what other localities had done.

Valerie Wilson, the city’s commissioner of the revenue, said vehicles valued at less than $1,000 would get 100 percent tax relief.

She said the figures mean anyone who owns a vehicle worth less than $7,200 — 58 percent of the city’s population — will pay less this year in personal property taxes.

The bills would go out at the end of this month, she said, and will be due in December.