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0 RESOLUTION Opposing Legislation to Eliminate the Personal Property Tax WHEREAS, personal property and real estate taxes are the two largest sources of local revenue available to Virginia localities, and the personal property tax accounts for approximately 9% of of City revenues; and WHEREAS, there is no guarantee that the City and other localities will recover an equivalent amount of funding (approximately $5 million per year for Charlottesville) from the state to replace this revenue; and WHEREAS, an increase of approximately 28 cents in the real estate tax for the City would be necessary to generate enough additional revenue to compensate for the loss of funding from personal property taxation, and WHEREAS, it takes all of the revenue collected from the real estate tax in Charlottesville to pay for operation of the schools, which leaves the personal prop- erty tax and other smaller taxes to pay for fire and police protection, refuse collec- tion, libraries, parks and other valuable services; and WHEREAS, the Commonwealth of Virginia ranks 42nd in the nation in its contribution to higher education; and WHEREAS, the educational needs not only of Charlottesville but of the State of Virginia include school renovation and construction, more training for technological jobs of the future, and a re -investment in our State institutions of higher learning, including our own P.V.C.C. and University of Virginia; now, there- fore BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of Charlottesville, Virginia, that this Council states its opposition to any legislation which will reduce or cause the loss of the personal property tax as a source of revenue for localities, and we urge the Governor and the General Assembly to support more, not less, funding for all education, pre-school through college. Approved by Council '1" November 3, 1997 C1 of City Council