Keep land-use taxes in Albemarle

Ronald L. Kerber Albemarle County
Published: April 24, 2008

Removing land-use taxes would be foolish for the county.

There will be several unintended consequences.

- Many owners of sizable parcels will be forced to sell and properties will be marketed as numerous new building sites.

- Property values will decrease and tax revenues will actually drop. The current $10,000- to $30,000-acre assessments will not be sustainable. (The best Midwest farmland sells for $4,000 to $7,000 per acre with $15-$20 per acre tax.) The only economic use for much Albemarle land is cattle production. Much of the land is wooded on steep slopes and of little economic value.

Some will argue that conservation easements are the answer, yet they are way underfunded.

At the same time people are advocating dropping land-use tax, the county is reducing rural property rights through restrictions on stream crossing and use of slopes.

Will people keep hundreds of acres with $200 per acre taxes just to look at it? I think not.
Removing land-use tax does not pass the fairness and logic test.
A suburban acre supports two or three houses, which require education, police and fire services, while one unimproved rural acre requires none of those services and maintains the open space and beauty that all want.
Albemarle County could do much more within the current tax rate by prioritizing its objectives and effectively managing its resources.
Ample evidence exists that there is a large opportunity for efficiency.
Benchmarking the school system against peers shows overstaffing in non-teaching roles and inefficient transportation.
Outside education, few departments or positions have been eliminated even though priorities have changed.
The organization is very hierarchical and bureaucratic versus flat like modern business; often a person has only one or two direct reports.

So how can efficiency be achieved?

The county should state clearly the priorities for each department, and map and streamline work processes eliminating unnecessary positions.

Benchmark all departments against the best.

The county executive should assume a controller function versus a budget advocate role.

The county should hire an experienced management consultant to manage the process for the board, an investment that will return more than a hundredfold.

It should appoint a volunteer business advisory board of five to seven county residents with experience in managing large businesses to guide the process (no political appointments, please).

But don’t destroy rural Albemarle County with a suburban-living mindset.