No property tax increase for Rutherford College this year

Rutherford College home and business owners will not be facing a property tax increase in the upcoming fiscal year.

The property tax rate will remain at 12 cents per $100 of property valuation.

“That’s not on the drawing board. Never has been on the drawing board,” said Town Manager Jessica Bargsley of a property tax hike.

Instead, Bargsley and the Town Council are now focused on blunting the impact of rate hikes by both Valdese and Burke County, which supply water and sewer services for the small municipality.

Burke County is looking at a 45% increase in what it charges Rutherford College for sewer services for homes on the east side of town. That increase amounts to $75,000.

Valdese, meanwhile, will likely impose a 7% increase on both the water it sells to the town and the sewer it processes for homes on the western side of town. Those two increases will amount to $18,400 in town expenses.

One possible way of lessening the impact of those increases on municipal customers, Bargsley explained to the council at a budget workshop on Monday evening, is to halt parks and recreation spending for a year and use the expected $100,000 in savings to pay for garbage pickup for all town residents.

“We’ve done an awful lot, parks and rec wise over the past few years,” Bargsley noted. “We’ve built the town greenway, provided restrooms and playground equipment for the greenway, and constructed a new town stage.”

Having the town take over all garbage pickup expenses, Bargsley said, would decrease each residential utility bill by $7 per month, blunting the impact of increased water and sewer rates.

A spending pause for parks and recreation would mean putting on hold projects that council has considered but not yet funded such as a disc golf course in the area around the greenway or a large slide on the hill between the greenway and Town Hall.

Council also instructed Bargsley to examine the town’s loan obligations, including the $740,730 still owed on Town Hall loan, to see if part of the town’s reserve funds could be used to lower the loan payments.

In an interview after the budget workshop, Bargsley noted that one reason the council does not want to consider a tax increase this year is the county’s revaluation of property coming up in 2027.

“That’s liable to raise everyone’s property values and we want to see that impact before we make any changes,” she said.

“The council gives me the same direction each year,” Bargsley said. “Develop a budget that ensures the continued growth of our town but that puts the financial well-being of our residents first.”