Should Beaufort County homeowners expect a property tax hike?

Balancing Beaufort County’s budget could mean higher property taxes for homeowners.

The new 2017 fiscal year budget proposal introduced by county staff earlier this week calls for a roughly 5 percent property tax hike.

For owners who live full-time in houses valued at the county’s median of $265,000, that means an extra $21.62 in annual property tax payments, said Deputy County Administrator Josh Gruber.

Owners of second homes, which are taxed at a higher rate than primary homes, would pay $32.44 more.

This increase would allow county to make up an approximately $3.6 million gap between revenues and the nearly $115 million in expenses projected for next fiscal year.

While county revenues, both from taxes and fees, have grown in the past year, they have not kept pace with the amount staff proposes to spend on a variety of projects and initiatives.

After shedding nearly 150 full-time employees between fiscal years 2010 and 2016, the new budget calls for hiring at least 20 new workers.

Those employees would be spread across nearly all departments — from a specialist to handle hazardous waste to staff to keep the county’s most popular libraries open longer hours.

“For the most part, those (additional) personnel (requests) are related to having to process more documents, inspect more homes” and serve a host of other demands of a growing population, Gruber said.

Officials are projecting a county-wide population increase from fewer than 144,000 people in fiscal year 2007 to about 177,000 next fiscal year.

But Gruber said that 2017 estimate may skew low because it “doesn't take into account undocumented immigrants, tourists and other people we might have to provide services to.”

The Beaufort County Council’s Finance Committee got its first look at the budget proposal Monday.

The committee and full council will have the the next several months to propose amendments and refinements before approval in May.

“We will continue to discuss (the proposed budget) and will probably have minor changes to it,” Councilman Jerry Stewart said earlier this week.

The 2017 fiscal year begins July 1.

This story was originally published March 22, 2016 at 5:11 PM with the headline "Should Beaufort County homeowners expect a property tax hike?."