Danville budget thrown into disarray

By Denice Thibodeau
Danville Register & Bee
Published: May 21, 2008

Three Danville City Council members voted against a tax increase at Tuesday night’s regular meeting, throwing the city’s budget into disarray.

The motion before council was to affirm the real estate tax rate at 77 cents per $100 of assessed value. Since homes in Danville have new assessments advertised as being 5.9 percent higher beginning July 1, the amount of taxes homeowners would owe would have increased.

To pass a budget item that is higher than $10,000, two-thirds — or six out of nine — of the council members must approve it.

Council members David Luther, E. Stokes Daniels and Adam Tomer voted against the tax increase, saying they want to drop the tax rate to 73 cents per $100 of assessed value so people don’t have to pay a higher real estate tax bill.

Normally that would not have been enough to kill a motion.

But two council members, Vice Mayor Pete Castiglione and T. Wayne Oakes, were absent Tuesday night.

Mayor Sherman Saunders, Councilwoman Ruby Archie, as well as councilmen John Hamlin and Gary Miller voted in favor of the motion.

City Manager Jerry Gwaltney said Danville has one of the lowest tax rates in the state.

“We’re second or third from the bottom compared to the 34 cities in Virginia,” he said.

Tomer said property owners have told him they do not feel like their property is increasing in value, based on the overall housing market.

Daniels also explained his opposition.

“What we’re trying to do is attract people to this city,” he said. “If they can come here and have low tax rates and low fees, this is part of economic development. I’m going to vote no also.”

Two Danville residents also spoke out against the increase.

“You can hardly pick up a newspaper or look at television that you don’t hear a comment about housing being in a downward spiral,” Neal Morris said. “This is the wrong time to put an additional tax on real estate.”

Jerry Clayton said he is a senior citizen, who has watched rates go up while tax incentives are given to businesses.

“A lot of us residents are running out of funds,” Clayton said.

Failure of the motion leaves the city budget with a $600,000 shortfall — and since that budget was also on the council agenda for a first-reading and public hearing, it had to be tabled until adjustments can be made.

The budget, by law, must be balanced and passed by June 30, so unless at least one of the three council members who voted against the tax increase offers to reintroduce the motion, cuts will have to be made in the budget. Without that introduction, the issue cannot be addressed until next year.

Saunders recessed the meeting to be continued at a later date so City Attorney Clarke Whitfield Jr. could research proper procedure for handling the budget conflict.

“I’ve never seen this happen in all the years I’ve been here,” Hamlin said after the meeting was recessed.

Contact Denice Thibodeau at or (434) 791-7985.