YOUR TAXES ARE GOING TO GO UP
Everyone who pays property taxes in James City County WILL BE AFFECTED!
That’s the bottom line...for the next 20 years! We’ve broken down the details for you.
It Starts With the JCC Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Budget
Despite public opposition (click here to read) the James City County's Board of Supervisors, including Chair Jim Icenhour, unanimously approved the Fiscal Year 2026 budget on May 14, 2025. The budget, totaling $390 million, went into effect on July 1, 2025. You can read the budget by clicking on the cover photo to the right. There are several references to the budget in this discussion.
This budget includes the proposed Government Center (a.k.a. Budget Busting Mega Center) payments we will be making for the next 20 years on the nearly ONE QUARTER BILLION DOLLARS that will be borrowed to build it.
Next we’re going to discuss what’s driving the increase in your property taxes. It’s on page E-2 of the budget.
FY2026 Budget, Page E-2
The green bars in FY2024, 2025, etc. represent existing debt service requirements (think credit card payments). The scale on the left (in %) represents the percentage of revenue (your taxes) devoted to paying off the debt.
The blue horizontal lines at 10% and 12% are defined on page 9: “Annual debt service requirements should target 10% or less and shall not exceed 12% of total operating revenues, including revenues allocated to James City County for public education.”
Notice how that debt payment amount goes down starting in FY2027.
The purple bars stacked on top of the existing debt start in FY2026 and bring debt servicing up past the target and to the maximum allowed in the budget...this year.
The combined green and purple bars are the new debt servicing (payment) requirements for capital improvement projects in the FY2026 budget…Including the QUARTER BILLION DOLLAR Budget Busting Mega Center – THE SINGLE BIGGEST PROJECT EVER UNDERTAKEN BY JCC!
What does that explosive debt payment requirement mean to me? The answer’s in the small print below the bar graph.
The Small Print
Fiscal Year (FY) – a 12-month accounting period that JCC uses for financial purposes. A fiscal year does not need to coincide with the calendar year. JCC’s fiscal year starts July 1 and runs through June 30 of the following year. JCC started it’s FY 2026 on July 1, 2025.
Revenue – JCC’s revenue comes from many sources but property taxes comprise almost $186M of the $264M in the FY2026 budget (page A-5)
Reassessment year – the Code of Virginia requires localities (cities and counties) to reassess property values every two calendar years. Property taxes are adjusted according to the assessed value. JCC’s next reassessment year begins Jan 1, 2026. The one after that, Jan 1 2028, etc. You may recall that property values, and therefore property taxes, rose an average of 21% in the 2024 reassessment year. These are the years when your property tax will increase 7%.
Non-reassessment years – the odd numbered years in between the reassessment years. The 3% increase here refers to growth in the landbook (number of homes). There are an estimated 35,000 home in the county. The 3% growth equates to over 1,000 new homes each year – for the next 20 years! Page iv of the Budget says that JCC’s average population growth over the last 10 years has been 1.3%, well below the 3% the BOS is counting on.
The additional assumptions in Sections B and F aren’t relevant to this discussion.
In addition to the 21% average increase in FY25, the SMALL PRINT says that your property taxes will continue to go up an additional 7% every reassessment year and 3% in every other year.
If You Pay Property Tax in JCC Your Taxes Are Going to Go Up!
This chart illustrates the progressive tax increases (7% every reassessment year and 3% in every non-assessment year) effects on several 2025 baseline tax examples
- We start with $2,000, $3,420 (median tax in 2025), $4,000, and $5,000.
- The percentages shown at five-year intervals represent the percentage increase from the baseline.
- In ten years, your property tax will have increased by 63%, in 20 years it will have increased by 164%.
Remember the purple bars in the first chart – the debt servicing requirement starting in 2026? These progressive tax hikes are built into the budget to pay off those purple bars.
The table below provides the dollar values shown in the line graph. If you were paying the median tax in 2025 ($3,420) you’ll pay over $4,000 in 2030 and over $9,000 in 2045!
Some Questions
- Your taxes are the product of the Tax Rate x the Assessed Value of your home (in 100’s of dollars). The current Tax Rate is $0.83 per $100 of assessed value. To figure your current tax liability, divide your home’s assessed value by 100 and multiply by .83. The Tax Rate is set by the Board of Supervisors. Assessed value is determined by the county based on sales of comparable homes in your area.
What happens if your assessed value goes down because homes don’t sell for at or above the asking price as they have in the last few years?
- ONE THOUSAND new homes each year is a lot and well over the average growth we’ve seen for the last 10 years.
What happens to your taxes if the new home “goal” isn’t met?
- This debt becomes a “must pay” bill.
If revenues fall short, what discretionary spending, such as law enforcement, first responder, or teacher raises, aren’t going to get funded?
This affects everyone who pays property tax in JCC.
I’m asking for your support during the campaign and if you live in the Jamestown District, your vote either during early voting, starting on on September 19, or on election day, November 4.
JCC has set out on a tax and spend path. Together we can change that.