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SUFFOLK, Va. — In over four decades as city treasurer, Ron Williams said he’s been repeatedly asked one question: Why is Suffolk’s annual personal property tax due Dec. 5 rather than June 5 like other surrounding municipalities?
Williams is now imploring the Suffolk City Council to change the date. In a Dec. 20 memorandum to the city council, he said he also wants to eliminate the vehicle license fee added to the personal property tax bill and give more tax relief to the elderly and disabled.
“I understand and respect the fact that it may take some time to bring this to completion, and it is not at all lost on me that several other city offices and departments would be impacted should the city council move forward with enacting my requests,” Williams said in a press release. “I believe that if all of the stakeholders work together, we can achieve a meaningful change for our community that will benefit the city for a long time.”
Williams noted that Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, and Isle of Wight have June 5 due dates for personal property taxes.
He said that when Suffolk was agrarian, it made sense for taxes to be due in December after a large portion of the population had received the majority of their income.
“Having grown up in a farming family, I have a unique understanding of and appreciation and respect for this way of life,” Williams said in the memorandum. “However, as Suffolk has changed, so too must its government in order to best serve its diverse citizenry.”
The vehicle license fee brings in less than $3 million per year. It was established in 2006 to eliminate the city decal, but Williams wrote it’s time to revisit it.
“This fee has become an administrative burden on city government, and it no longer makes sense to allocate an enormous amount of staff time and resources to such a relatively small revenue stream,” Williams wrote. “Most importantly, however, is the fact that eliminating this fee would provide additional relief to Suffolk’s taxpayers.”
He added that the property tax bill is for the current year, while the vehicle license fee is for the following year. Creating confusion and causing his office to have to issue refunds to people who move or sell their vehicles.
“While there is certainly a cost to enacting such tax relief and eliminating the Vehicle License Fee, I would remind you of the considerable budget surpluses totaling tens of millions of dollars that the City of Suffolk has had in recent years,” he said.
In addition to those changes, Williams also asked for personal property tax relief on automobiles for the elderly and disabled, which is allowable under Virginia state code. Suffolk already has a real estate tax relief program for the elderly and disabled in place, but Williams would like that to extend to automobiles as well.
“Our number one priority is to provide as much tax relief to as many citizens as possible, and to make our city government work as best as it can for everyone,” said Chief Deputy Treasurer Andrew Owen in the press release. “Changing the tax due date, eliminating the vehicle license fee, and providing personal property tax relief for the elderly and disabled are all major steps in the right direction.”