Louisa City Council sets vehicle, property tax rates

By TONY FYFFE

BSN Editor

LOUISA — The Louisa City Council last week approved the first reading of an ordinance that would close a portion of Franklin Street.

Mayor Harold Slone said during the council’s regular meeting last Tuesday, Aug. 9, that the ordinance would officially close a portion of the street and allow a property trade between the city and Addiction Recovery Care (ARC).

The area in question is on the Riverview Clinic property where a portion of Franklin Street crosses the parking lot and goes to the river. The issue had been discussed at prior council meetings, and an attorney for ARC, which owns the clinic property, told council members in June that initial plans were to give the city access to the road down to the river. He said ARC would give the city an easement through the parking lot and a fee transfer for actual acreage on the riverfront.

Slone said last Tuesday that the ordinance would “give us more riverfront property than we had before and still maintain river access to the property, but let them (ARC) do what they need to do.”

Slone said the city has to legally close the section of street “before we can make the trade.”

City Attorney Bud Adams said surrounding property owners would also have to give their consent to the street closure.

In other business during the meeting, council members set the city’s motor vehicle and watercraft tax rate at 20 cents per $100 of assessed property value, which was the same as last year’s rate.

The council also set and kept the property tax rate at .24 cents, which Slone said would bring the city $405,780 in revenue. The city received $386,000 in property tax revenue last year, Slone said, and said the slight revenue increase was because “we gained just a little bit of new property.”

Council members also approved adjustments to the city’s 2022-2023 budget to correct a “calculation error” and to add the city’s American Rescue Plan Act funds.

The council also held a brief executive session to discuss potential litigation, but no action was reported.