BY JIMMY SHOCKLEY, Eastern Shore Post —
The Northampton County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday, June 23, to raise the real estate tax rate almost 3 cents per assessed $100 in valuation to balance the $50.5 million budget it approved for Fiscal Year 2026-27.
However, that might not be enough to cover expenses next year after the county incurs $641,810 in newly proposed costs from the state for salary hikes.
Supervisors voted, 4-1, with Oliver Bennett dissenting, to approve the new tax rate of 69.95 cents per $100 of assessed value.
Bennett spoke against the tax increase but did not offer solutions on how to trim county spending.
Northampton’s new tax rate is almost 20 cents higher than Accomack’s new real estate tax rate, which is 50 cents per $100 of assessed value.
The 2025 real estate tax rate was 70.5 cents per $100 of assessed value. However, after a real estate reassessment, a state-mandated equalized rate to offset higher property values brought the rate down to about 67 cents, which was approved by supervisors earlier this year.
The 69.95-cent rate was advertised and a public hearing was held prior to the state releasing its budget, which contained an unexpected change that caught county leaders unawares.
The county’s budget was accounting for a 2-3% cost of living adjustment increase for workers, but the state’s budget contained a 3.5% increase for county staff and a 4% average increase for school employees — resulting in a budget increase of $641,810 that the county was not anticipating.
“Wow,” said Board Chairman Dixon Leatherbury.
Leatherbury said that while the state usually releases its budget in March or April, this year it was released on June 22, meaning there was no time for the county to see the state budget prior to finalizing its own.
Northampton County Public Schools Superintendent, Lisa Martin, said that the school system also was caught off guard by the COLA increase.
“The 4% figure came at the 13th hour,” she said.
“We had been thinking 3%,” added Brook Thomas, Northampton County Public Schools’ chief financial officer.
If the state budget had been released earlier, the county would have had the option of increasing the real estate tax.
But because the county budget has to be finalized by the start of the new fiscal year July 1, there isn’t enough time to advertise a new rate and hold a public hearing.
The only option the county has is to do a budget amendment in July, pulling money allocated to other areas to make the change.
The county has a few ideas on where to find $641,000.
John Chandler, the Northampton County director of finance, said there is $457,000 in the fiscal year 2027 budget allocated for the contingency plan, which is usually used for unexpected bonuses, equipment leasing, grants, and more.
But even using all of it, the figure still comes up short.
“So in July we’ll be staring down the $640,000 mark?” Leatherbury asked.
“Yes,” Chandler responded.
