Danville commission passes property tax decrease, hears parks updates
Published 4:42 pm Monday, August 22, 2022
FIONA MORGAN
The Danville City Commission passed the first reading of ordinance 1998 to establish property tax rates for the 2022-23 fiscal year at their meeting on August 8.
Finance Director Leigh Compton explained that Danville’s property tax is a compensating rate, which means they adjust the rate to generate the same revenue as the prior year. This year, the rates will decrease slightly to account for property value increases.
In 2021, rates were 0.138 cents per $100 for real property and 0.1902 cents per $100 for personal property. The new rate for this year is 0.133 cents per $100 for real property and 0.1901 cents per $100 for personal property.
Taxes for motor vehicles will remain at 0.2 cents per $100, and Compton explained this will bring the city an anticipated revenue increase of $30,000 in motor vehicle and watercraft revenue.
“This is not an increase due to rate, it’s an increase due to the assessment of the property value administrators,” Compton said.
City Engineer Josh Morgan gave an update about several parks projects and their hopeful construction start dates. The city has construction documents for the new tennis courts at the fairgrounds, and will likely start the bidding process in September. They hope that construction will start in October and be done by March.
In the new Jennie Rogers community center, the city plans to get construction documents next month that will prepare the building for a child care center, like replacing the flooring, adding sprinklers, and other things.
Morgan explained that while the city has a tentative agreement with Boyle County Schools to use the building as a child care center, this construction will only address the building’s needed repairs, not to prepare a child care center yet. They hope this initial construction will be done by May.
The Michael Smith Park and aquatic center projects are still in the design phase. Morgan said they hope to get more feedback from community members about the Michael Smith Park soon, and they hope to have some sort of water feature constructed at the park by May.
For the aquatic center, the city will talk more with the McDowell Wellness Center to possibly partner with and add an outdoor pool to their facility.
In other business, the commission:
• Approved the contract for the Danville Police Department to provide Danville Schools with two safety resource officers. The department will bill the schools $6,200 for 10 months.
• Approved a banner request for the DeaFestival in early September.
• Reappointed Arnetta Myers to the Ethics Board.
