NEW! Fact Sheet! 

NEW! Dredge Plan Analysis:

The costs are too high.

• The Special Service District (SSD) = 51.5 cents
• Is a self-imposed property tax increase of 55% for 16 years
• Increases our taxes from 93 to 144.5 cents—highest in the city
• Over twice the SSD tax rates proposed in the 2012 dredge proposals
• SSD rate is considerably higher than other dredge proposals

Inequitable Dredge Plan: Channels inequitably distributed—properties circled pay disproportionally higher costs but are farther from the city-subsidized channel.   They pay more, but get less, while some pay a lot less and get a lot more. Why?

Exhibit A:

• Channels inequitably distributed—properties circled pay dis-proportionally higher costs and are 100 – 300 feet from the channel
• Do you know what your costs are, and what you are paying for?

• Properties not near neighborhood channels may pay tens of thousands more for individual driveways to access channels
• “driveways” costs range from $0 - $20K for each 7 year dredge cycle* ; up to $60K for some owners
• Annual SSD costs range from $1,905 to $6,965
• 16 year cumulative SSD costs range from $30,480 to $101,168 PLUS the cost of Individual driveways ($60K)**
• 40% of the properties pay approximately 70% of the costs
• Neighborhood channels dredged to the shallow cove reaches doubles the costs due to dredging cuts 3.5 to 4 feet deep

• Total costs to property owners not finalized until after voting
• Chesopeian planning SSD increased 22% from estimate of 23.95 cents in 2011 to actual 29.13 cents in 2013.
• Owners need cost estimate for driveways before vote
• 16 years is an extraordinary length of time to make a significant financial commitment
• Home buyers will want concessions for buying into an excessively high taxed area
• Will reduce the volume of buyers for our properties

Exhibit D:
OPTION B The Equitable, costly plan (everyone gets near access to channels)

Everyone gets a channel so that no property owners are exploited and everyone minimizes their costs of  a driveway.

This entails adding up to 9 additional channels ranging from distances of 100 – 300 feet.  See green dotted lines 1 – 9. 

This option corrects the unfairness of the 7 May plan on determining which properties get channels or not.  

The additional costs would be similar to channels 5,20, 23, 24 -- all costing approximately $30K for each dredging.   Note:  these values are higher than the $20K stated by the city in the

Old Donation Policy letter, which calls into the question that estimate’s accuracy. This is why owners need to be provided an estimate of any driveways prior to voting to make an informed decision.  

This would increase the cost to:

$30K x 9 channels x 3 dredgings =  $810,000

$810,000 + $5,068,357 = $5,878,357 / 16 years = $367,397

367,397 / 6,147.09 =  59.76 cents SSD

Compared to individual SSD for coves 2 (73.34) and 3 (56.29)  this cost does not seem that unreasonable.  

For property owners that would have to pay for their own driveways, this cost is probably more  affordable than having to pay the SSD and the additional driveway costs of $60K. 

Many cost saving measures could be incorporated into this option and the others as well to lower the SSD:  

Exhibit E:

OPTION C, Each Cove separately (The right to determine your own neighborhood plan)

Each cove’s neighbors determines their needs and requirements for designing the specifications for their cove and they fund with a combination of SSD and driveways

The city spur includes channel 6

Each cove decides widths, depths and lengths of channels

Exhibit F: Cove 1 Analysis

Channel costs

              2  $682,358

              3    211,959

              4    162,771

              5      96,482

 Total      $1,153,570

$1,153,570/16 years = $72,098 annual cost

Average property value:  $640,028

Property range:   $261,900 – $1,140,800

Total assessment 25 properties =  $16,000,700  $16,000,700/100 = 160,007 x .01 = $1600.07

$72,098 / 1,600.07 = 45.06 cents SSD

For channel 2 only, SSD = 26.6 cents

Exhibit G: Cove 2 Analysis

• requires dredging up to 3.5 - 4 feet deep for channels.
• channels are within tens of feet to properties/piers, significantly reducing need for driveways.
• 2 properties are tax relief – they do not pay the SSD and costs are absorbed by all other property owners.
• The property assessments are significantly below the project average of $749,648.

Exhibit H: Cove 3 Analysis

Channel costs 

1/3 of 6  $100,710

  21          117,596

  22          122,670

  23          105,917

  24            90,466

  25          131,123

  Total     $668,482

$668,482 / 16 = $41,780 annual cost

Average property value:  $686,93

Assessment range $279,600 – 1,114,800

Total assessment 11 properties $7,556,300

$7,556,300 / 100 = 75,563 x .01= 755.633

$41,780 / 755.63 = 55.29 cents SSD

Exhibit I:

Sum is estimated true cost over 16 years, not counting increases to assessments and/or tax rates

Background:

On May 7, 2014, the city of Virginia Beach presented a dredge tax plan for Witchduck and Thoroughgood that:

• Increases our taxes by 55% (highest in the city) for 16 years.

• Costs each resident a minimum of $31K – to over $103K.

• Makes you pay for driveway channels for a select few residents’ properties, while others will have to pay up to tens of thousands of dollars more for their own private driveways.

• All property owners must exercise due diligence before signing the willingness petition as you are granting the city the rights to your property and sole design of the project. (See "Legal Document" tab above).

• All the risks are borne by the residents, while the city benefits from increased property assessments.

Residents would save 50% of the costs with these changes:

• No taxpayer-funded "neighborhood channels" that go right to properties the way the privately funded "driveways" do.

• Reduce lengths and widths of channels paid for by taxpayers.

• Break up the neighborhoods/coves separately so that each pays their own respective costs.  

                                        or else

• increase the number of neighborhood channels so that everyone receives the same benefit as the select residents.

You should know the exact costs and the rights you have to sign away before you send back a single letter or sign a petition.