Sylva aims to maintain current tax rate
As Sylva closes in on a final proposed budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year, it looks like the town will be able to achieve its top budget priorities without an increase to the tax rate, due in part to growth in its taxable value from the 2025 tax revaluation in Jackson County.
“We are balanced based on our current tax rate,” said Town Manager Paige Dowling in a budget work session March 27.
Jackson County is undergoing a property revaluation in 2025, something that is required by North Carolina Law at least every eight years. Real property taxable value in the county stood at about $11.45 billion in 2024. As of Jan. 1, that number has increased by almost $7 billion, or 60%, to about $18.4 billion.
As of March 27, Sylva was estimated to see the second lowest overall property value increase in the county, at about 28%. This number does not include any appeals, which could lower the percentage increase.
“The only way we can budget for an increase of our property tax collection is if we collected it at 100% the previous year,” said Finance Officer Lynn Bryant. “That doesn’t typically happen. I just wanted to point that out to indicate that it shows 28%, but there’s other factors that are taken into consideration when you actually go to budget.”
Tax revaluations represent an important growth factor for the Town of Sylva, considering that since 2021, the town has seen an average annual natural growth rate in its tax base of just 0.18%.
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“That is a very low growth rate that we are realizing in between budget years,” said Bryant. “That’s low. Most of the time the way we’re able to gain value is during the revaluation because we don’t have growth in between.”
The average home within city limits is worth a little less than $300,000. For each cent on the property tax, someone living in a home with a taxable value of $300,000 would pay about $30 per year.
One cent on the tax rate for Sylva currently equals about $57,362. The current tax rate sits at $0.45 cents per $100 of assessed property value.
During its last budget work session, town board members ranked their priorities, one of which was the funding of a full-time social worker within the Sylva Police Department to continue the Community Care Program. While that position has previously been funded through grants, it will become the responsibility of the town in the coming fiscal year. Four commissioners on the board ranked this role as a budget priority.
All five commissioners listed both a skatepark and revisiting sidewalks that need repair as top budget priorities. While town staff was able to include funding for sidewalk repair in the preliminary budget, it did not budget for the skatepark.
“We did not put the skatepark in the budget because the county at some point will decide where that’s going to be and if the town is able to contribute, we can do that at that time,” said Dowling. “But I didn’t feel like it was final enough until they’ve got more concrete plans to build that into this budget, even though that one was a high priority for the board.”
Staff also included funding for painting crosswalks in town and repairing pavers on Mill Street, as well as renovating Poteet Park bathrooms. Each of those projects were priorities for three and two commissioners respectively.
Another budget priority that three board members put forth was a Main Street police officer, full or part-time. Specific funding for that role was not included in the budget.
The total preliminary proposed budget is $7,525,677.
“So, we’re looking at an increase of $1,556,458,” said Dowling. “As we’ve talked about, we’re buying a lot of equipment this year. That’s primarily the bulk of the increase.”
The police department has a proposed increase of $211,399, of which $87,000 will fund the Community Care employee. The rest of the increase will pay for wages and benefits, liability insurance, workers comp, auto maintenance needs, training and vehicle replacement.
Sanitation has a proposed increase of $263,193, which will continue to pay for the new garbage truck. In its non-departmental miscellaneous appropriations, the town has a proposed increase of $257,725. That money will continue to pay for the Scotts Creek Stabilization Project and cover increasing costs of operating the swimming pool.
The fire department has the largest proposed increase of any department in the coming fiscal year at $727,405. This is funding that the town is requesting from the county to pay for two additional employees, as well as continued payment on its new pumper truck. If the county approves the request the money will be appropriated to the town, which will then pay the fire department.
“At this point, we need direction from the board if you want to make changes, if there are additional things you want to fund, discussing where money would come from, or if you’re happy with this version of the budget and providing the same level of service,” said Dowling.
Board members will receive a draft version of the budget on April 18, and will hold their next budget meeting on April 24, where it will also review the fee schedule for the coming fiscal year.
