Tonight, in light of the increased real estate assessments and businesses being shuttered and job losses stemming from COVID-19, the Board of Supervisors cut your real estate tax rate by three pennies — from 55 cents per $100 to 52 cents per $100 of assessed value, giving landowners and residents relief as we move forward across these uncharted waters. I am proud to have supported and voted for this motion and offer the second to the motion.
We also voted to adopt a $56,898,005 Fiscal Year 2020-2021 Operating Budget, which incorporates a 1 percent decrease in expenditures. This effort was made to curtail our spending and decrease our reliance on the 55 cent tax rate. I also supported this. The proposed budget totaled $57,426, 995.
In a time with 1 in 10 Americans are unemployed, businesses are closed (with some possibly not coming back), people underemployed and having lost their jobs, I am very proud of the actions we took to protect our citizens.
The budget we adopted remains very progressive and fiscally stable, balanced and prudent. This budget also allows us to have a reserve for contingency of more than $215,600.
I feel as if this $0.52 real estate tax rate was a compromise with my fellow supervisors that allows us to move forward in a very fiscally prudent way while preserving crucial county services and projects.
Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. I welcome your comments and thoughts.
Maysville District Supervisor Thomas Jordan Miles III 
Thank you Jordan for this informative post. You and the Board of Supervisors did right to recognize citizen financial needs while identifying budgetary expenditures that could be cut and maintaining a contingency fund. Over the coming year the Board will continue to have financial issues to address and it has gotten off to a good start.
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