The Virginia Beach City Council unanimously approved the 2013-2014 operating budget at their meeting Tuesday night.
Under the new budget, the fee for trash collection service in Virginia Beach will double, while the real estate tax will decrease.
The trash collection fee will increase to $21.86 per month starting July 1st. Currently, the fee is only $10 per month.
Real estate taxes will go down for Beach homeowners. The current rate of $0.95 per $100 of assessed value will drop two-cents to $0.93 under the plan adopted by City Council.
The city says that decrease is meant to partially offset the increased trash fee and should save the average Virginia Beach homeowner about $50 annually.
Some longtime Beach residents say that they'll still end up paying more in the long run though because of the increased trash fee.
"That more than covers that. So therefore you didn’t get a decrease, you got an increase," explained John Petry.
David Huffman says he would have preferred the city increase a luxury tax rather than a necessity tax like garbage.
"If you live here in the city, you just can’t burn the trash or whatever, you’ve got to do it," Huffman commented.
The FY 2013-2014 budget also allows for 3% raises for both city and school employees.
It restores the Tax Relief for the Elderly Program as well and did not include an increase in the boat tax as had previously been discussed.
In order to check how the decreased real estate tax will affect your property, the City of Virginia Beach has set up a website to allow residents to see how their property’s assessed value and taxes have fluctuated since 2007. Click here.
