Southampton County hearing advances plan to raise real-estate tax 4 cents to fund teacher pay request

Southampton County supervisors heard more than a dozen public commenters on May 20 before moving to advance a proposed 4cent real-estate tax increase that officials say would help fund requested raises for school employees.

Residents at the public hearing pressed the board on several fronts. Warren Simmons asked whether earlier questions about missing school dollars had been answered and warned that repeated reassessments and prior rate changes had effectively ‘‘raised our taxes even though it doesn't look like you have.’' Cindy Edwards pointed to errors in the proposed budget's table of contents and numerical tables and noted the sheriff's salary was listed as "$139,612 plus $21,577 for animal control," saying those presentation problems risked producing inaccurate arithmetic across the document. Several speakers also criticized a long-standing solid-waste fee first imposed in 2012 and urged the board to consider shifting any increase to personal-property taxes so renters share the burden.

Acting Superintendent (public speaker) urged the board to adopt a needs-based budget and asked supervisors to support a 5% pay increase for teachers and staff, saying the raises were necessary to improve recruitment and retention. "The needs that we have ... are not wasteful areas," the acting superintendent said, adding a direct appeal that the board help "ensure that our teachers ... can have a 5% pay increase." Brandon Rogers, who identified himself as executive director of the Western Tidewater Community Services Board, said county funding last year made a difference for local services and warned that smaller increases would cause the county to "lose ground" to neighboring divisions.

Board members repeatedly framed the vote as a balance between long-term strategy and immediate need. One supervisor said the staff had presented "a fair and equitable budget" but argued that staging raises over two or three years and moving funds from administrative categories into instruction could be preferable to a single-year 5% increase. Chair noted that a 4cent increase would generate roughly $954,000 for instruction and said Southampton's teacher pay lags neighboring divisions, creating retention pressures.

After discussion the board recorded a motion to raise the real-estate tax rate by $0.04 (from $0.71 to $0.75 per $100 assessed value). The motion was seconded and the body conducted a voice/hand vote; the transcript records the vote prompts but does not include a roll-call with member-by-member tallies in the public record. Earlier in the hearing county staff advised the board that the budget was scheduled for action at next Tuesday's regular meeting and that, if necessary, a special meeting would be called in early June to finish deliberations.

The public hearing surfaced three recurring themes for supervisors to weigh at the next vote: visible errors and formatting problems in the published budget documents that commenters said could obscure totals; an ongoing solid-waste fee residents say should be reconsidered; and school leaders' request for targeted increases to teacher pay to address high turnover. The board left the proposal on the table for action at its next regular meeting.