Both the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee and the House Finance Committee took up legislation on Wednesday, January 19. Of interest to local governments were the following bills:
HB 199 (Webert) allows a locality to provide by ordinance that a parcel of real property that is part of a land use program may not be removed from the program due to taxes being delinquent if the taxes are paid no later than December 31 (current Code provides that if taxes for any prior year are delinquent on April 1, the property owner must be notified, and if the taxes remain unpaid on June 1, the parcel is to be removed from the program). The bill also provides that no parcel of real property shall be removed from the land use program for delinquent taxes if the taxes become delinquent during a state of emergency declared by the Governor due to a disaster, the treasurer determines that the disaster giving rise to the state of emergency has caused hardship for the taxpayer, and the delinquent taxes are paid no later than 90 days after the deadline. The bill was reported unanimously from House Finance.
HB 200 (Webert) provides that the tax exemption for an organization that is tax exempt by classification extends to the property of a single member limited liability company whose sole member is an organization that would be tax-exempt under this category. The bill was reported unanimously from House Finance.
HB 368 (Williams Graves) increases the maximum amount that the governing body of a locality may authorize its treasurer to issue for a refund of taxes paid as a result of an erroneous tax assessment. In 2020, this maximum amount was increased from $2500 to $5000; HB 368 further increases the amount to $10,000. The bill was reported unanimously from House Finance.
SB 25 (Ruff) requires a locality or regional cigarette tax board that increases its cigarette tax rate to allow a transition period of one year for retailers to pay the tax increase on unsold inventory by filing a return (rather than having to plan for stamping, or re-stamping, individual packs). The bill reported unanimously from Senate Finance and Appropriations.
SB 77 (Norment) allows a county to conduct a general reassessment of real estate every three years if determined by majority vote of the board of supervisors. The bill reported unanimously from Senate Finance and Appropriations.
VACo Contact: Katie Boyle