The Roanoke City Council will consider personal property tax exemptions for two more nonprofit organizations during Monday night’s public hearing.
The organizations requesting personal property tax exemptions are Restoration Housing and Behavioral Health Navigators Center. Restoration Housing rehabilitates historic buildings in the city to provide affordable housing. BHNC is “dedicated to advocating for legislative policies and evidence-based programming for vulnerable populations,” according to its website.
The council recently approved similar exemption requests.
During its Nov. 18 public hearing, it unanimously approved personal property tax exemptions for both the Wellness Wagon and Good Samaritan Hospice.
The Wellness Wagon provides reduced-cost or free acupuncture care, and Good Samaritan is the only nonprofit, community-based hospice serving Southwest Virginia, according to its website.
Before the vote on Nov. 18, Councilwoman Stephanie Moon Reynolds voiced concerns about how many exemptions the city is granting.
“Others will come too and say they do good work,” she said. “Where do you stop?”
Kelvin Bratton, director of real estate valuation, approached the podium with some data for the council:
Roanoke currently has 2,137 exempt properties, totaling $2.5 billion in granted exemptions. This is 19% of the city’s entire financial portfolio.
With this, 4.6% of the city’s properties are exempt from personal property taxes. These numbers don’t include the two exemptions made on Nov. 18.
“Council may have to look at that policy, or we’ll continue losing revenue,” Moon Reynolds said.
The full agenda for Monday’s meetings can be viewed here. The 2 p.m. regular session and the 7 p.m. public hearing session will be held at the Noel C. Taylor Municipal Building, city council chamber, fourth floor, room 450. Meetings can be viewed on Facebook here.
