How rich is Goochland?

 

Annual notices of assessed valuation and tax bills generate outrage as property owners wonder where all their tax dollars go. Some contend that the “extra” money, generated by what some believe are unrealistically inflated property values, winds up in the pockets of our elected officials. These citizens do not seem to have bothered to review the annual budget, whose process is open and welcomes citizen input between the unveiling of the county administrator’s “proposed” budget in February through final adoption in April.

Often citizens grumble that Goochland is a rich county and complain that the county does not fund (fill in the blank with your favorite pet project).

So, how rich are we?

The state uses something called the local composite index to decide how much state aid a locality receives. Goochland’s composite index is .80, which means that we pay 80 percent of education costs. It’s also the maximum. Henrico’s composite index is .4273.

A recent post on Bacon’s Rebellion (https://www.baconsrebellion.com/) explores the relative fiscal positions of all 133  cities and counties, in the Commonwealth, citing a report released by the Commission on local government  ranking  fiscal stress chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.dhcd.virginia.gov/sites/default/files/DocX/clg/fiscal-stress/fiscal-stress-2022.pdf. The report, released last month, uses data from 2022.

The report defines fiscal stress as lack of revenue-generating capacity that can lead to either a shrinking budget or a gap between revenues and expenditures.

Goochland comes out as having the least fiscal stress in the Commonwealth because we do not set tax rates at the statewide average. In other words, the report seems to suggest that Goochlanders can pay higher taxes.

Of course, the report bases its conclusions on “averages” and statistical snapshots. The county does have a high per capita income. This is computed by dividing the sum of county incomes by the total number of people, including children, who may not have income. Our population is relatively small, approximately 27,000. It doesn’t take many highly compensated residents to skew the per capita income figures totally out of reality. Median income, half of the people make more, the other half less, does not paint a clear picture either. Goochland is a land of contrasts. A former supervisor remarked when he first campaigned for office that some of his potential constituents had dirt floors, while others had marble. Indeed, our county is home to mansions and more modest dwellings. All residents expect excellence in local government services.

Goochland does look like a “rich county” through the lens of these statistical abstracts. If Goochland used the state average tax rate of 80 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, rather than the 53 cents that has been the norm for more than a decade, the county could rake in a lot more dough.

In truth, the “stable” 53 cent rate has, for the last few years, represented a tax increase, due to rising assessments. It should be noted that when property values declined significantly during the “great recession,” the county tax rate was not increased to cover the shortfall. Instead, Goochland tightened its belt to deal with fewer tax dollars.

Supervisors elected in 2011 worked very hard to move the county onto a sound financial footing. Goochland went from being on the brink of bankruptcy to earning three AAA bond ratings, which allowed us to issue general revenue bonds in early 2022 before interest rates began to skyrocket.

The price tag on the wonderful new Goochland elementary school was much more than expected. Projected costs for a new fire-rescue station in West Creek and circuit courthouse, also approved in the 2021 bond referendum, are also on the rise.

The Commonwealth of Virginia places no statutory limits on the amount of debt that a jurisdiction can issue. Goochland, however, has strict financial management policies that establish “net debt as a percentage of taxable assessed value of real estate shall not exceed 2.5%.” Debt service has a target of 10 percent of total general fund expenditures, not to exceed 12 percent. The supervisors must balance needs, and there are many, with our ability to use tax dollars wisely.

Crafting a balanced county budget, where revenues equal expenses, is a difficult task complicated by inflation and rising demand for local government services.

Goochland’s true riches may lie in its people and beauty. Paying the bills is complicated.