Radford Council Approves Budget and Tax Increases
By DAVID QUESENBERRY
Patriot Publishing
The Radford City Council Monday night adopted its Fiscal Year 2026 budget that included a 13-cent hike in the Real Estate Tax along with other fee and rate increases.
The real estate tax rate will increase from 69 cents to 82 cents per $100 of assessed value. Under the new rate, property assessed at $250,000 will see an increase in annual real estate taxes of $325.
Radford’s new real estate tax rate will be higher than the rates for Montgomery County (75 cents) and Pulaski County (74 cents), but below the combined tax rates for the towns of Christiansburg (89 cents); Blacksburg ($1.01); Dublin (98 cents); and Pulaski ($1.10) which pay both Town and County real estate taxes.
The tangible personal property tax was increased from $2.44 to $2.55. Meals tax was increased from 5.5 percent to 6.5 percent, while the Hotel Occupancy Tax was raised from 8 percent to 8.5 percent. A proposed increase in the Cigarette Tax of one cent to 41 cents per pack was dropped because of a state limit on the cigarette tax of 40 cents per pack.
Utility rates for water and wastewater service for 4,000 gallons of usage were each raised $4.00 per month, raising the combined monthly charges for service from $52.80 to $60.80; an annual increase of $96.00 per year. Solid waste fees were increased by $3.00 per month to $25.00 for an annual increase of $36.00.
The total estimated increase in taxes and fees on a residence assessed at $250,000 under this new budget is $457 per year.
The City’s budget is balanced at $77,983,257 and is distributed as follows; General Fund – $33,843,947; Street Maintenance Fund – $3,058,290; Transit Fund – $3,885,515; Water/Wastewater Fund – $6,594,000; Electric Fund – $28,867,505; Solid Waste Fund – $1,734,000; and Internal Services – $1,078,320. The budget is estimated to increase the City’s reserves by $2,978,365.
The total City budget was increased after adjustments to the General Fund budget raised that budget by $721,000. Those adjustments were based on the following changes affecting the General Fund:
- Increases in the real estate, personal property, meals and hotel occupancy taxes.
- An adjustment in the expenses to the Regional Jail.
- An increase in school funding due to the reallocation of reserved capital funds from the school system. ($500,000)
- A decrease in overall personnel costs from not filling positions. ($1 million).
- An increase in the City’s contribution to employee health insurance ($106,000),
- A projected increase in General Fund reserves. ($1,199,065)
- A 10 percent decrease in Council salaries.
The FY 2026 Radford City Schools Budget was also approved at $50,298,738 and is distributed as follows: Operating Fund – $41,652,203; School Nutrition Fund – $1,049,861; Grants Fund – $2,385,304; Textbooks Fund – $852,102; Capital Projects Fund – $220,000; Health Insurance Fund – $3,064,671; Region 7 Virtual Academy Fund – $199,166; and the Governor’s School -$884,431.
After the budget’s approval Mayor David Horton said, “We thought we were in a different place twelve months ago. The difference is we have reworked the way we look at our revenues. We’ve gone back and looked at our expenses again. What we think we have now is far more reliable than what we had before. We think we are in a much better place now and we are going to monitor it differently with some new reports that we’re developing.”
Councilman Seth Gillespie said “I can promise you, none of us had any joy in increasing those (revenues), but we want to be able to fund our schools and we want to be able to take care of our people. This budget will be a work in progress throughout the whole year and next year and probably the following year to get us where we need to be.”
Councilwoman Kellie Artrip said, “I don’t think that I anticipated when I got elected, how difficult this job would be. I hope that we have not lost faith in the community and the things that we’ve tried to do because we are trying very hard to right the ship and go forward.”
The next scheduled meeting of the Radford City Council will be at 7 p.m. on Monday, April 28, 2025 budget in the Council Chambers of the Radford City Hall at 10 Robertson Street.
April 27, 2025 @ 8:24 am
The article was great. The subject of fee and tax increases? Not so great!
Radford City needs to control its spending habits.
the City wasted grant money received for reviving the foundry property along West Main Street. Have anyone noticed the lackadaisical reseeding of this project? It’s so sad that we can’t even sow grass properly and these are the same people who are repairing our streets which is another project that is not going too well.
Radford spent thousands and thousands of dollars on new cameras at every single stop light in the area. That money could have been used to help rebuild our parks which were devastated by the floods and could have been used to put a modern dog park on the West End foundry property. has anybody noticed the nice new modern dog park in Christiansburg? and the nice skate park in Blacksburg?
Speaking of parks ,what about the high school baseball project located just beneath the recreation center? nice setup but it looks like a cow pasture. And the baseball fields alongside the New River? When are we going to upgrade and repair the damage there?
the city is full of potholes and sidewalk damage from the East side to the West and our city Cruise have yet to find a way to repair them so that they actually stay repaired. we also seem to have the same lingering problems at the bottom of Grove and along West Main that our city public works folks can’t seem to fix as well. how many tax dollars have we wasted at the bottom of Grove?
I don’t mind paying taxes I do mind paying taxes when the money is being wasted. I do applaud Mayor Horton and Mrs Altrip and a few of the others for their efforts but we need to make a little more headway and raising taxes and fees is not always the answer.
let’s make sure that our work crews from whatever department they may be are actually doing their jobs instead of spending more time standing around or sitting in their trucks playing on their phones. Mr Horton if you drive around you will see that quite often. trust me. Our police and sheriff and fire rescue departments do great jobs and they could use a little more funding as well. Please find more ways to cut the pork without having to raise fees and taxes. maybe you need a bigger microscope or magnifying glass to help you search for more waste but most times the obvious answers are right in front of you if you’re looking for them. to our Mayor and most of our Council folks thank you for the jobs that you do; There’s a few of you that need to move on or get out of the way. I am not naming names as you already know who you are. We, the people know who you are as well.
With fullest respects…