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Updated: Tuesday, December 24, 2024

SUFFOLK, Va. — In over four decades of serving as city treasurer, Ron Williams said he’s been asked one question repeatedly — why Suffolk’s annual personal property tax due date is Dec. 5 rather than June 5, like other surrounding municipalities.

Williams is now imploring the Suffolk City Council to change the date to June. 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, calling it an “administrative burden on city government.”

“The amount that the city nets off of this fee is far less than the roughly $2.7 million levy, given the amount of staff time that goes into it, along with the amount that ends up getting refunded,” Williams wrote in an email to the Suffolk News-Herald. “Additionally, this fee is a major inconvenience to citizens who buy, sell, and/or trade-in vehicles that we feel has become unnecessary.”

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 wrote to the city council.

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.

He wants to use similar metrics to what the city’s Department of Social Services uses for its real estate tax relief program. Citizens can receive between 25% and 100% real estate tax relief under that program, depending on their income level.

“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.”

These changes aren’t the first time Williams has lobbied the city council for changes. He recently lobbied for Suffolk to eliminate the convenience fee charge on all credit card and electronic transactions.

“My comment to city council and administration was that if someone can order something from Amazon today and it arrives on their front porch tomorrow, then they shouldn’t have to pay a convenience fee to pay their taxes with a credit card or debit card,” Williams said.

Now, he’s back to the drawing board, again asking for changes that he feels would benefit Suffolk citizens.

“Now is the right time [for these changes’ given Suffolk’s population and economic growth as well as its financial stability and strength,” he said. “Additionally, my staff and I have noticed an increase in feedback from citizens asking about the vehicle license fee and asking for personal property tax relief for the elderly and disabled. Simply stated, it’s time for these changes.”