From the Richmond Palladium-Item:
The Union County Council adopted a 2014 General Fund budget of $1.73 million that includes $500 raises for full-time employees and elected officials and $250 raises for part-time workers.
The county’s total assessed property values have declined by about $9 million since last year, but Auditor Gene Sanford said that probably won’t push tax rates to the point where property tax caps are triggered.
Part of the drop in assessed property values is because of the county removing the value of the Whitewater Industrial Park from the tax assessment roles on advice of the county attorney, Sanford said. The industrial park is a Tax Increment Finance District and shouldn’t be subject to property taxes, he said.
Most of the land is farmed, and the county’s Redevelopment Commission receives the income from the property.
Councilman Russel Rude this week questioned the industrial park’s tax-exempt status. Union County still owns a farm, which was once the place where the homeless and aged resided, and that land also is farmed, with the county receiving rent for the farmland.
“What sense does that make?” Rude asked. “We pay property taxes on the county farm.”
The council also approved additional spending of $29,170 to pay for two months of ambulance service from the Riverboat Wagering Fund. Councilman Burke Thomas asked if gambling revenues were declining, and Sanford said they were.
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http://www.pal-item.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013310180013
